Roger Ebert's Thor Review Was Remarkably Wrong About One Marvel Character's Appeal

Though he was known as a tastemaker, film critic Roger Ebert often stepped far outside the consensus. One such fringe opinion that might make Marvel fans raise their eyebrows arrived in his review of 2011's "Thor."

Ebert gave the picture a dismissive 1.5/4 stars: "'Thor' is failure as a movie, but a success as marketing, an illustration of the ancient carnival tactic of telling the rubes anything to get them into the tent," he wrote, a rather prescient and damning statement of how the Marvel Cinematic Universe would unfold. In Ebert's pan, he described the screenplay and characters, including Thor (Chris Hemsworth) himself, as paper thin. You might find yourself nodding along to these criticisms ... until Ebert describes Tom Hiddleston's Loki as "sadly lacking in charisma." 

In particular, he criticized the twist-that-isn't of Thor's wicked stepbrother being the bad guy. "[Loki] might as well be wearing a name tag: 'Hi! I can't be trusted!'" Ebert wrote. "Will you be thinking of Loki six minutes after this movie is over?"

Sorry Roger, but history proved you wrong on that rhetorical question. People love Hiddleston's Loki. He's continually bucked the more-often-than-not trend of superhero movie villains dying (or at least, staying dead) because people just can't get enough of him. Loki made Hiddleston into a sex symbol, and in 2021, Loki even got his own TV show.

But hey, that's not the worst comic book movie villain criticism Ebert has been party to. He and his review partner Gene Siskel once did a segment on "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm," a spin-off feature of "Batman: The Animated Series." They both loved it ... except for Mark Hamill's voice as the Joker, which Siskel negatively compared to Jack Nicholson's and Cesar Romero's live-action Joker performances. That's not just wrong, that's sacrilege!

Perhaps knowing that Loki would go on to be the villain of 2012's "The Avengers," "Thor" presented him as a sympathetic villain. In Marvel Comics, Loki has historically been a snickering, power-hungry trickster who feels only contempt for his brother Thor. The Marvel Cinematic Universe changed him into a sadboi, and it worked!

Hiddleston's Loki genuinely loves his family, especially his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Loki wants the throne of Asgard not for power's sake, but because he feels Odin has overlooked him in favor of his big brother his whole life. Then he learns he's not even a true Asgardian, but a Frost Giant of Jotunheim. Odin found the infant Loki, abandoned to die for his scrawniness, and raised him. 

For Loki, Odin's "favoritism" of Thor seemingly clicks into place with this truth. Even then, Loki doesn't betray his family; he tries to destroy Jotunheim, as if only that can convince Odin he's a true Asgardian and worthy prince. Compared to Thor's more simple arc of learning humility, Loki's tragic fall from grace is far more compelling, almost worthy of director Kenneth Branagh's Shakespearean catalogue.

Then 2012's "The Avengers" happened. Loki came into his super-villain self and Hiddleston proved he can play megalomania as well as broodiness. Fans loved the devious new Loki even more, so much so that the 2013 sequel "Thor: The Dark World" was reworked to give Loki more screentime.

Ebert's 3/4 star review of "The Avengers" doesn't mention Hiddleston or Loki outside of plot recapping, so it's unclear if Hiddleston-as-Loki impressed him more the second time around. Regardless, Loki's army of fans is still strong 15 years later.