Tales of Asgard takes place well before Thor would become the mighty God of Thunder. His strength is anything but superhuman. He wields no otherworldly powers. This teenager has yet to seize hold of Mjolnir, the mystic hammer that would go on to be the adult Thor's weapon of choice. There's nothing vaguely heroic about him at all, really. The Thor we're introduced to at the outset is a sheltered, arrogant whelp. He's never stepped foot outside the palace grounds of Asgard. He's so wrapped up in himself that Thor fails to recognize that the warriors he battles in the arena are letting him win. His father Odin and brother Loki do their damndest to keep propping up that façade. When Thor with his masterfully crafted, jewel-encrusted sword is effortlessly bested in battle by Sif -- a teenaged girl with nothing more than a bucket and a broken pitchfork -- his illusions come crumbling down. Thor thirsts for a real adventure, so he and Loki stow themselves away on the flying ship of the Warriors Three. The prize is the legendary sword of the fire giant Surtur...a treasure that countless Asgardians have chased but never been able to unearth. The treasure hunt at first glance seems to go according to plan, but the sword's dark power proves to be more than Thor can handle, and a war between the Frost Giants and Asgard quickly erupts because of it. Returning the sword should quell those fires, but Thor and his companions are still a world away...
Thor: Tales of Asgard 2011 Free Online Megavideo
As much as the Star Wars prequels have trained me to wince at the prospect of a "when they were young" story, Thor: Tales of Asgard pulls this off remarkably well. It's intriguing to see how different these characters are at the outset. Loki would in later years be Thor's arch-nemesis -- responsible for the deaths of untold legions, to blame for the destruction of Asgard -- but here he's easily the more likeable of the two brothers. He's fiercely protective of his family, genuinely innocent, cautious, and only just now dipping his toes into sorcery. Thor, meanwhile, is an arrogant, impulsive braggart incapable of looking far enough ahead to think about consequences. At least at first, no one would mistake him for a hero. The events of Tales of Asgard nudge both of Odin's sons towards the directions they'd take later in life, but instead of feeling like a heavy-handed origin story, it's a really well thought out and very effective chapter from these early years. Both Thor and Loki are believably fleshed-out as characters, and their arcs feel meaningful and wholly earned. As
