Christopher Eccleston is playing Malekith

[Oscorp]

He was basically evil. He was revenge ridden, but he was evil before the war as well. He reminds me a bit of Sauron actually. There was this powerful thing he was looking for. I enjoy those "pure evil" villains as well. In fact, I think the Spidey movies would need one of those. But if they are going to be "pure evil" they also need to be thought provoking to be any interesting.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

I'm fine with Malekith and pure evil one dimensional villains. I just didn't need to always come back to him in the movie; just like how they don't have scenes of Sauron in LotR.

It also would have been better if he was able to come across as a threat, like Sauron. That eye is terrifying. Malekith is just kind of flat.

 

[jmc]

It basically comes down to this - he's the bad guy for the sake of there being a bad guy. He's in the same vein as Nero from Star Trek.

 

[Mjölnir]

The easiest comparison for me is Darth Vader in A New Hope, much because this movie kind of is a mix between LotR and Star Wars.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

He was a Warlord. The Final Thor vs Malekith fight was cool.
With Great I meant it was nice to have a really different Villain than Loki.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

The easiest comparison for me is Darth Vader in A New Hope, much because this movie kind of is a mix between LotR and Star Wars.

On paper, yes. But Malekith has not 1/10th presence of Darth Vader.

 

[Mjölnir]

On paper, yes. But Malekith has not 1/10th presence of Darth Vader.

My post was an addition to the talks about his role in the movie.

As for your comment I'll just say that making Sauron into an eye that's atop a tower in Mordor is one of my least favorite choices of those movies. It works great when he spots Frodo through the power of the ring, otherwise it's inaccurate to the source material and just felt a bit off for me. It might have worked better if I wasn't familiar with the source material though and at least they changed their minds on actually having Sauron fight Aragorn at the gates, which would have been terrible.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I haven't seen the film yet, but how is he like Darth Vader? Vader is basically "The Black Knight" or Sheriff of Nottingham in Star Wars, just you know, far more deadly.

 

[jmc]

He's nothing like Darth Vadar.

 

[spider-neil]

He's nothing like Darth Vadar.

He (Malekith) is 'kinda' like Vadar in that you have no idea what motivates Vadar (in Star Wars) also Vader (in Star Wars) is pretty one dimensional but Vadar has far more menace and presence. The Jedi throat lock is pretty scary. Vadar (in Star Wars) is one dimensional but memorable, Malekith is just boring and forgettable.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He (Malekith) is 'kinda' like Vadar in that you have no idea what motivates Vadar (in Star Wars) also Vader (in Star Wars) is pretty one dimensional but Vadar has far more menace and presence. The Jedi throat lock is pretty scary. Vadar (in Star Wars) is one dimensional but memorable, Malekith is just boring and forgettable.

Who is Vadar?

Vader has motivation in Star Wars. He is a high ranking Imperial officer attempting to crush the rebellion, who has a grudge to settle when his old master returns.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Now that I think of it Malekith was a lot like Nero, which is odd because that's the type of villain you'd use for an origin film. Elccleston was great, but the character was pretty simple. He was serviceable. Maybe could have done with the family scenes that were cut.

 

[Mjölnir]

He's nothing like Darth Vadar.

Of course he is. Both are mainly mystery threats as they aren't expanded that much upon. Both have old grudges with the hero side. Both are dark lords coming to form the galaxy/universe in their image. Both wield some mystic power while commanding masked armies that use technology. Etc.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Now that I think of it Malekith was a lot like Nero, which is odd because that's the type of villain you'd use for an origin film. Elccleston was great, but the character was pretty simple. He was serviceable. Maybe could have done with the family scenes that were cut.

Nero from Star Trek? That was exactly what I was going to say when I clicked on this thread. Malekith had the visual menace and presence but was pretty basic as a main villain.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Yeah, he was serviceable but basic

 

[Tec15]

Another non-entity of a villain from the MCU. So far the only MCU villain to make much of an impression has been Loki. Hell, he was even more interesting than the supposed main villain this time around. No wonder they increased his scenes and shortchanged Malekitzzzzz.

 

[jmc]

Of course he is. Both are mainly mystery threats as they aren't expanded that much upon. Both have old grudges with the hero side. Both are dark lords coming to form the galaxy/universe in their image. Both wield some mystic power while commanding masked armies that use technology. Etc.

Eh.....no. He's Nero from Star Trek.

 

[Mjölnir]

Eh.....no. He's Nero from Star Trek.

So you're trying to say that a character can only share traits with one other character? Or what's your point?

You wrote that he had nothing in common with Vader, and you put "nothing" in italics which means that you meant it literally. I proved you wrong and you apparently had nothing to say about my examples.

 

[jmc]

So you're trying to say that a character can only share traits with one other character? Or what's your point?

You wrote that he had nothing in common with Vader, and you put "nothing" in italics which means that you meant it literally. I proved you wrong and you apparently had nothing to say about my examples.

The only one taking the meaning literally is you. You were being very lenient with your connection to both characters painting them with very broad strokes in order to show similarities. I could pick it a part to death if I so wished and make comparisons which are far more equivalent to Nero of Star Trek but no doubt it will end in just another bunch of back and forth posts that ends in a stalemate - in other words I can't be bothered arguing. They do both have something in common however - they are both bad guys.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He's nothing like Darth Vadar.

You completely missed the point of what he was saying.

 

[Loki882]

Nero at least had the whole "world destroyed and family died, so a once good man goes insane" thing. It's not much, but it's more than we got here.

 

[Feenix]

Nero at least had the whole "world destroyed and family died, so a once good man goes insane" thing. It's not much, but it's more than we got here.

I disagree. We got the beginning scenes with Bor and the battle and later Malekith's desire to keep his race of people alive and wanting to plunge the universe into darkness because, well, he prefers it that way. It's motivation enough.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It killed me how underplayed he was. When he was screen, he was great, but he doesn't get enough to do like so many others in the film. He might as well have been a henchman the way they treated him in the climax. It was like he was in a different movie at that point. A better one.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

It killed me how underplayed he was. When he was screen, he was great, but he doesn't get enough to do like so many others in the film. He might as well have been a henchman the way they treated him in the climax. It was like he was in a different movie at that point. A better one.

It seems like Marvel has yet to or is unwilling to develop its villains (besides Loki) past a one-time-only type of villain. The only series that kept a villain around long-term was the X-Men series with both Magneto and Mystique.

 

[Loki882]

I disagree. We got the beginning scenes with Bor and the battle and later Malekith's desire to keep his race of people alive and wanting to plunge the universe into darkness because, well, he prefers it that way. It's motivation enough.

No it's not, it simply makes him boring and uninteresting. The whole "he's obsessed with keeping his race alive" thing was done much better with General Zod in MOS.