Thor 2011: Cast, Plot, Ending and Where It Fits in the MCU

The full plot of Thor 2011 is the story of an arrogant prince who earns back his strength by giving up his pride, while his brother takes the throne he left behind.

When Frost Giants try to steal a relic from Asgard's vault, Thor leads his friends and his brother Loki into the Frost Giants' realm and starts a fight. Odin steps in, ends the clash, and banishes Thor to Earth without his powers, sending Mjolnir down after him.

Thor lands in New Mexico, where the astrophysicist Jane Foster, her mentor Erik Selvig and her assistant Darcy Lewis find him. The government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. takes control of the hammer's crash site, and Thor tries and fails to pull the hammer free.

Back in Asgard, Odin falls into a deep sleep and Loki takes the throne. Loki then learns that he is secretly a Frost Giant by birth, adopted by Odin. He sends the Destroyer, a huge metal being, to Earth to kill Thor. Thor offers his own life to save the townspeople, and that selfless act makes him worthy again, so his powers return. He defeats the Destroyer and returns to Asgard to confront his brother.

Loki plans to use the Frost Giants' king, Laufey, to kill Odin, and then to wipe out Jotunheim with the Bifrost bridge. Thor and Loki fight, and Thor destroys the Bifrost to stop it. The destruction cuts the path between Asgard and Earth. Odin wakes, Loki lets himself fall into space, and Thor stays in Asgard while longing to see Jane again.

The ending of Thor 2011 shows a prince who finally chooses duty over glory, and it costs him the one thing he wants most, which is a way back to Earth.

Why does Thor destroy the Bifrost? Because Loki intends to use it to wipe out Jotunheim, and destroying the bridge is how Thor stops him. Thor opens the film by starting a fight with the Frost Giants out of pride. He closes it by protecting them from his own brother, and in my opinion that reversal is the cleanest piece of character writing in the film. It also answers the question of the villain: Loki is the real threat, with the Destroyer as his tool, while the Frost Giants are cast first as enemies and later as victims.

What happens to Loki? He lets go and falls into space as Odin and Thor mourn him. It could be argued that the film wants you to read this as a death. The Avengers (2012) describes him as the exiled brother of Thor, and Thor: The Dark World finds him in an Asgardian prison, so the fall was not the end.

What does Thor promise Jane? He tells her he will find a way back. The Bifrost is broken, so the promise is not easy, and Jane and Selvig keep studying the science behind the bridge on Earth. Perhaps the best way to read the ending is as a deliberate cliffhanger on Thor's heart rather than on his world, with the larger story handed off to the post credit scene.

Thor (2011) has one post credit scene, and it sets up The Avengers (2012).

Selvig is taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, where Nick Fury shows him a mysterious glowing cube and asks for his help. Loki, unseen by the others, pushes Selvig's mind to agree. The scene was directed by Joss Whedon. In The Avengers 2012, Loki seizes the Tesseract and puts Selvig under his control, which is the payoff for this short moment. For more on the character, see Nick Fury.