The MCU Finally Reversed Thor 2’s Most Insulting Moment

WARNING: Spoilers for Ms. Marvel episode 3.

The MCU is constantly evolving and Ms. Marvel episode 3 has gone some way to correcting an insulting mistake from Thor: The Dark World. With a central character as intimately rooted in the lore of the MCU as Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel was always going to have to address the superheroic world that surrounds it. The show has done this in a variety of ways over the course of its first three episodes, using anything from subtle nods to full-blown re-enactments of events to explore how the previous Phases of the MCU have affected the people that lived through it.

Aside from connecting Kamala to her wider superhero landscape, these references have also served to correct or expand upon prior events in the MCU that may now be considered a mistake. This has occurred throughout the Disney+ series, from Loki explaining the intricacies of the MCU timeline following Avengers: Endgame, to Moon Knight filling in the gaps in the franchise’s conception of the afterlife. Ms. Marvel episode 3 continues this trend, providing a sense of retribution to a previous MCU character whose arc has long appeared incomplete.

This change comes for Dr. Erik Selvig – Thor’s Earth-based companion who played a large part in Thor, The Avengers, and Thor 2 as well as a small role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. As a famed scientist, Selvig was one of the smartest characters in MCU Phase 1, and while this continued into Phase 2 and 3, his corruption from the Tesseract depicted him uniquely in a manic state, decreasing the legitimacy of his scientific work in the process. Last defined in the Captain Marvel Prelude comics as intelligent with a fondness for nudity, Ms. Marvel episode 3 ensures that Selvig’s work is once again positioned as his defining attribute, suggesting his legacy won't be the Tesseract-affected version of him seen in Thor: The Dark World.

After Kamran’s mother was revealed to be the woman from Kamala’s visions at the end of Ms. Marvel episode 2, the mysterious figure revealed herself to be a Djinn trapped on Earth, who requires Kamala’s help to return to their native dimension. Asking Bruno if he knows anything about interdimensional travel, Kamala’s best friend responds, “That reminds me of a paper I’ve read. I think it’s by Dr. Selvig.” This paper proves vital to Kamala and Bruno’s understanding of the task at hand, outlining all the dangers that punching a hole between dimensions could cause.

Initially seeming to be nothing more than a call back to an early MCU character, in trusting Selvig’s work, Ms. Marvel establishes that the scientist is once again a respected part of the universe. Following the order of the MCU, Selvig’s last major public appearance is in the Thor 2 news report scene which found him streaking in Stonehenge after suffering from the effects of the Tesseract. This lasting image served to undermine all Selvig’s work that had come before his breakdown, meaning that despite his reinstation in the Avengers facility, he was still somewhat looked down upon for his previous public displays.

By establishing not only that Selvig is still publishing work, but that this work remains to be respected in the scientific community, Ms. Marvel reverses the scientist’s previously corrupted image. The full extent of Selvig’s discoveries on interdimensional travel remains to be seen, but Bruno’s research could prove to be the first of many references to his findings – potentially explaining what characters know of the multiverse and fixing the Marvel universe’s identity problem in the process. Moments such as this prove that these Ms. Marvel references are not just Easter eggs - instead, they can serve to expand the universe and explain what has happened to characters who have remained off-screen for many years.

Next: Marvel Has Introduced Another MCU Threat Worse Than Thanos

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