Thor - 3 stars

I went into Thor the same way I went into Iron Man. I knew very little about the superhero, having never read the comics. From what I have read, the superhero Thor is based on the Norse mythology of Thor, God of Thunder, with some liberties taken by the writers.

Thor lives on Asgard. His father is Odin, his brother is Loki, and he has a bunch of warrior friends. When he disobeys his father and goes to fight their enemy, the Frost Giants, his father takes away his powers and banishes him to Earth. This takes up the first act of the movie.

The second act begins on Earth when he is found by scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her asistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), and her mentor Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard). They are afraid of him at first, but they warm up to him quickly. He has some odd mannerisms, but he adapts pretty quickly. They could have had a bit more fun with the idea of a man like him seeing modern technology (Warlock, Beastmaster 2), but they don't.

Meanwhile, Thor's hammer was also sent to Earth. It was sent a few seconds after he was, and Thor didn't see it land. But people find it, and when they are unable to pull it out of the stone it's embedded in, it becomes a local sensation. A hundred people are gathered around it trying to retrieve the hammer. They even hook it up to a truck and try to pull it free. Eventually SHIELD finds out about it, and they set up a base camp around it. When Thor learns about his hammer, he breaks into SHIELD's camp to retrieve it.

The movie is simple enough that you don't need to know the character or his history to enjoy it. It also has enough humor that it appeals to more than just the comic fan base. It isn't as good as the first Iron Man, but it is better than Iron Man 2.

Just to recap: there are now 4 movies that have taken place in this Marvel universe: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and now Thor. In a couple of months, Captain America will be released. Each movie is introducing characters that will all team up for The Avengers, which will be released next summer. And as with the previous movies, you have to stick around after the credits for a little teaser.