This article contains spoilers for Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor #1.
Marvel Comics has brought back a forgotten weapon from Thor: The Dark World - and shown just how dangerous it could truly be. Released in 2013 as the second film in the MCU's Phase 2, Thor: The Dark World is generally considered one of the weakest films in the franchise. Its critic score on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes sits at a mere 66 percent, in large part because of its inherent weaknesses in direction and characterization.
For all that's the case, though, Marvel Comics has been trying to fix one of the MCU's worst films. Jason Aaron's "War of the Realms" transformed its villain Malekith into a terrifying threat, one who came close to conquering the Nine Realms. Meanwhile, Jane Foster has been given agency in a battle against forces that seemed rather similar to the MCU's Aether. It's often felt as though comic book writers took the movie as something of a dare, to see if they could find a way to make its disparate ideas work.
The latest example is in Torunn Gronbekk and Ryan Stegman's Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor #1, in which Asgard's enemies launch an attack on the Realm Eternal - after first stripping Asgard of its greatest defender, Thor himself. The Dark Elves launch the first strike, hovering over Asgard and releasing singularity bombs that consume anything they encounter. Readers will find them very familiar indeed, because these were used by the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World. The key difference, however, is one of scale; in Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor #1, these singularity bombs can consume massive chunks of buildings. They're a far more chilling weapon.
Marvel Comics has fixed another part of Thor: The Dark World. The MCU's singularity bombs were essentially hand-grenades, tossed at an enemy and creating a localized implosion. But the ones seen in the comics are massive weapons, obliterating swathes of Asgard. There's no defending against them, because when they strike a structure they destabilize it, bringing it down. Armed with these singularity bombs, the Dark Elves truly do feel like a threat to all Asgard.
This, frankly, is how the Dark Elves should have been in the MCU; a marauding force who reveled in destruction, causing mayhem on Asgard even as they pressed in to obtain the Aether. The Dark Elf leader Malekith is a far greater enemy to Asgard here, simply because he wants revenge and is delighted at the chance to get it. Ironically, Marvel Studios originally considered giving Malekith a similar personal vendetta against Asgard as well, but the key scenes were cut from the final theatrical release - although some of them can now be watched on Disney+'s deleted scenes.
All in all, Jane Foster & the Mighty Thor #1 really does feel like a reminder that Thor: The Dark World really did have so much more potential.
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