Warning: SPOILERS for The Man Who Fell To Earth Episode 1 - "Hallo Spaceboy"
Many aspects of Chiwetel Ejiofor's new Showtime TV show, The Man Who Fell To Earth, will be familiar to fans of Thor. Based upon the 1963 novel by Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell To Earth is an expansion of the 1976 cult classic film starring David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton and directed by Nicholas Roeg. In The Man Who Fell To Earth, Ejiofor plays Faraday, an alien from the planet Anthea who comes to the third rock from the sun to save us and his own homeworld from an environmental catastrophe.
2011's Thor was one of the first Marvel Cinematic Universe films and it introduced the concept of the Asgardian gods of Norse mythology to the MCU. Long before writer-director Taika Waititi successfully revamped Thor to take advantage of Chris Hemsworth's natural comedic talents, the original Thor movie was director Kenneth Branagh's blend of science and myth, where the God of Thunder is banished to Earth without his powers to teach him humility. Thor meets astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and they quickly develop romantic feelings in what was the MCU's first foray in the rom-com genre. Meanwhile, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) took over Asgard and sent the Destroyer to kill Thor, while the thunder god's presence on Earth is also being tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D. As an early MCU movie, Thor holds up better than its sequel, Thor: The Dark World, and it was an important milestone that led to The Avengers in 2012.
Whether intentional or not by director Alex Kurtzman and his co-writing partner, Jenny Lumet, The Man Who Fell To Earth's premiere episode, "Hallo Spaceboy," is very reminiscent of Thor. Like the God of Thunder, Faraday arrives on Earth in New Mexico, with the series making great use of the state's dusty desolation to convey how daunting the alien's mission is. Just as Thor met Jane, who is one of the world's leading astrophysicists, Faraday needs the help of Justin Falls (Naomi Harris), who is also a scientist. Jane was struggling to prove her theories in Thor but Justin is in even more dire straits in The Man Who Fell To Earth. Formerly a scientist at MIT, Justin's failed attempt to create a cold fusion power source left her in disgrace. Now, Justin works dangerous odd jobs to scrape enough money to buy medicine for her sick father, Josiah (Clark Peters), while she also cares for her young daughter.
There's no romance (yet) between Faraday and Justin, and their team-up in The Man Who Falls To Earth is much more reluctant than the infatuated Jane Foster wanting to help Thor. However, both Jane and Justin deal with how their alien friends don't have proper human social graces. Haughty Thor smashed coffee cups in a diner but this was far less embarrassing than how Faraday arrived on Earth not knowing any kind of human behavior and had to learn on the fly, making everyone from the police who arrested him to the diners they encounter at a roadside rest stop extremely uncomfortable. But Thor spoke perfect English and could blend into society while Justin, who initially doubts Faraday was extraterrestrial, believes he's on the spectrum.
Of course, Faraday's arrival was noticed by the CIA and their agent, Spencer Clay (Jimmi Simpson), who is more dangerous and amoral than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) could ever be. The ending of The Man Who Fell To Earth episode 1 also sees Faraday bringing Justin to a location in the desert, which ends up being the middle of a tornado where Faraday meets his alien predecessor, Thomas Newton (Bill Nighy). It's reminiscent of the final battle scene in Thor when the Destroyer came to Earth to meet the God of Thunder, who leveled up and defeated the Asgardian robot. The Man Who Fell To Earth's premiere focuses on Faraday and Justin and lacks Thor's comic relief of Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), which highlights how important the supporting cast was to making Thor an enjoyable watch.
The Man Who Fell To Earth airs Sundays @ 10pm on Showtime.