So I was surprised that they made this movie, because it didn’t seem possible to make it in a way that fits in with the relentless mundanity of Hollywood superhero movies. And it’s not. This movie doubles down on the ultra-cosmic insanity, setting up an ancient interstellar war between Frost Giants and Aesir, who are both alien races with magical powers, and then gives us a techno-Viking-magic Asgard, and it embraces the over-the-top awesomeness in a way that no comic book movie has successfully done so far.

I loved it, and I’m really curious now how they’re going to integrate this cosmic Thor with the techno-geek Iron Man and regular dude Hulk (and WW2-era geezer Captain America) into the Avengers movie. That kind of unworkable syncretism is at the core of the Marvel Universe in the comics, and I hope they can pull it off in the movies, too. (Also, we have a Hawkeye cameo in this movie, and who was the strong dude that Thor tangled with. Luke Cage?)