Marvel superhero Thor first appeared in live-action in the 1988 TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns. However, it was only when Chris Hemsworth took the hammer many years later in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that the character became widely popular.
In as much as MCU's Thor has been fun to watch, there are plenty of things about him that don't make sense. Most of these are tied to plot holes and character inconsistencies. Since Thor is still a surviving Avenger, audiences can hope these baffling things about the Asgardian will be erased in future films.
Getting Incapacitated By Electricity
In Thor: Ragnarok, Valkyrie incapacitated Thor using an Obedience Disk. These were disks used by The Grandmaster to tame the gladiators that were fighting in the arena. The disks worked by shocking the gladiators and making them lose their strength.
So, how does the God Of Thunder end up getting incapacitated by Obedience Disks? It really doesn't feel logical given Thor's powers. It's like sending bats to stop Batman. It would have made more sense to use something else to stop the Mighty Thor.
Not Needing The Mjolnir
How useful is Thor's hammer to him? In the first film, his hammer privileges were taken away by Odin after he went to another realm to battle the Frost Giants. Without the hammer, he appears to struggle in everything he does. But when he gets his hammer back, he's back to being Almighty Thor.
However, in Thor: Ragnarok, things are different. Since Thor and Hela aren't ordinary siblings who fight for fun, he attempts to knock her out with the Mjolnir but she destroys it. At that point, audiences expect him to be weak again but he still continues to be powerful. He even manages to fight Hulk with normal weapons.
Sometimes He Needs His Hammer To Fly... Sometimes He Doesn't
Thor has often been shown swinging his hammer to propel himself forcefully to the air when he needs to fly. But does he really need it? In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor has a brand new hammer called the Stormbreaker. While using it, he is able to pause mid-air, before heading for a landing ship belonging to Thanos.
And when he's fighting his sister Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, he flies to the Bifrost to assist the Revengers without needing the hammer. It's a brief flight but it's still quite a distance, so how does he do it?
Thor Doesn't Get Sent Back To Earth By Heimdall
In Infinity War, Heimdall sends Hulk back to earth using his sword before Thanos impales him. This is baffling since Bruce Banner had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Infinity Stones. It made more sense to send Thor since he knew where the rest of the stones were.
Sending Thor would have ensured he got to earth earlier to help stop Thanos before he collected all the stones. Thanos was weaker without the other stones so the best thing for Thor to do would have been to go back to earth first. Instead, he decided to go get a new hammer.
Struggling Against Iron Man
In the first Avengers film, Thor got to fight Iron Man for the first time. In the comics, they had fought several times before and it was clear that Tony Stark was no match for the Asgardian. In the case of a man without powers versus an alien/god, it is clear who will win.
However, in Avengers, Iron Man gives Thor quite a hard time. The fight lasts several minutes and only gets stopped by Cap. In the comics, Tony had to create a special suit using Asgardian Uru metal to stand a chance against Thor. But in the MCU, all he had to do was be himself. So why is MCU Thor weaker?
Thor Is Old... And Likes Travelling... But Had Never Been To Earth
The first film marks the first time that he visits Earth. This is baffling since he has been around for 1500 years. Thor also happens to love traveling and knows how to fly most spaceships. So why didn't he ever think about touring earth?
Earth also happens to have one thing he loves a lot—beer. Given how much he loves his drink, he probably would have even made an effort to end Prohibition in the 20s. Given that he speaks English, it's also a mystery where he learned the language that was invented on earth.
Thor Knows How To Fly Spaceships But Earthly Machines Give Him A Hard Time
When Thor first lands on earth, he has a hard time with all the technology. He doesn't even know basic things like coffee. This is surprising because, in outer space, he is portrayed as smart. Thor even knows how to fly most spaceships without having to go to any form of Alien Flying School.
Judging from the numerous buttons in the cockpit, most spaceships appear to be more complicated than ordinary planes. Given how easily Thor operates them, he shouldn't struggle with earth's gadgets, should he?
The Time Stone
How did Thor know Doctor Strange had the time stone? Thor asked Doctor Strange for assistance in finding Odin, but there had been nothing to suggest that Strange was in possession of the Time Stone. It wasn't even visible on him so its a wonder how Thor knew.
The only knowledge had was that Vision had the Mind Stone and The Collector had the Reality Stone. Perhaps it's all down to superior Asgardian knowledge. But this still brings the question of why Thor struggles with some things and excels with others if he is so smart.
Thor Doesn't Ask For Help To Deal With A Major Threat
In Thor: The Dark World, Earth gets invaded by the Dark Elves. They do plenty of damage and even manage to destroy London. Interestingly, Thor decides to deal with the threat by himself. Normally, the Avengers come together to deal with threats of such magnitude.
The Manhattan attack in Avengers required a team effort. Even the government got involved. Perhaps Thor knew how to deal with the attackers better than any other Avenger would. They were from another planet after all. But so was Thanos.
Odin's Powers
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony revealed that Mjolnir was encoded to Thor's fingers using science. or Asgardians, the line between science and magic is a blurry one. In the first Thor movie, Odin wasn't shown using any form of science to strip Thor of his powers.
If Odin does indeed rely on magic and not science, why hasn't he ever taught or transferred some of these powers to Thor? Since Thor is designated to be the next King of Asgard, he surely needs them. He'd also need them to fight the numerous enemies he faces on a daily.