A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer is unique within the MCU for stepping outside the comics in one major way. Marvel's plan to make solo movies based on what were then considered b-list characters like Iron Man, and then unite them for a team-up in The Avengers, sounded like madness to some Hollywood veterans when it was announced. That plan looked a lot more feasible due to the surprise success of 2008'sIron Man - particularly the praise for Robert Downey Jr's take on Tony Stark - and the excitement over Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) post-credits cameo.

Over a decade later, the success of the MCU is well-cemented by now, especially thanks to Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. One fan favorite who emerged during Phase One was SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who tended to be the connective tissue after his introduction in Iron Man. The character was later killed by Loki during The Avengers, with his demise proving to be a uniting force for the superheroes in the finale, but Coulson was so popular he was later resurrected for Agents Of SHIELD.

In 2011 a series of shorts dubbed Marvel One-Shots began with The Consultant, featuring the return of Coulson that also tied up some loose ends from The Incredible Hulk. There were five of these shorts in total, including the Agent Carter One-Shot and Item 47. The second entry was A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer, which saw Coulson driving to New Mexico before the events of Thor and getting caught up in a gas station robbery. The short lives up to its name as it's only four minutes long - even less when taking the end credits into account - but it's unique within the MCU for a specific reason.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer sees Coulson casually foil two robbers, pay for his donuts and insist the awestruck gas station clerk take credit for subduing the robbery when the police arrive. One thing fans may not realize watching the short is that it's the first - and to date, only - MCU project with absolutely zero characters originating from the comics. Coulson was created for the first Iron Man, though he was later introduced in the comics, while the robbers and clerk are original to the short.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer itself is ultimately a fun but forgettable little short, but its lack of connection to the comics makes it an interesting footnote in the MCU. Also of note is that the filming of Coulson taking down the robbers ate up most of the budget for the first Marvel One-Shots, which led to The Consultant basically being a conversation between Coulson and Jasper Sitwell.

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Padraig Cotter (3637 Articles Published)

It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he'd like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. He's super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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