Here come the spoilers!!! I'm trying my best not to read too many of these either! It's harder than you think!
Movie starts off with Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård in a van out in the New Mexico desert observing a phenomenon in the sky. This is when Thor drops to Earth... Natalie Portman accidentally hits him with her van (which she does again later in the film)
-We cut to a flashback of Thor back on Asgard. He's about to be anointed king by his dad (Anthony Hopkins) when two frost people or whatever they're called infiltrate the palace and try to steal a "casket" which Thor's dad got during a battle with the frost people on their planet.
-Thor tries to convince his dad to wage war against the frost people after they broke the truce with Asgard. Thor's dad refuses; Thor, Loki and 3 other soldiers (Jaime Alexander and two dudes) end up going to the frost planet alone
-Thor's dad comes to the rescue just as the Frost people are about to kill Thor and his warriors (despite Thor kicking *** for much of the scene)
-Inside his detention cell; Thor is visited by Loki...who tells him that his father has died
-Thor confronts the Destroyer, and apologizes to Loki (via a conduit with the Destroyer) about what caused him to be resentful of Thor after becoming king of Asgard.
-It was actually Loki who helped the frost people infiltrate the Asgard palace; Loki made a deal with the frost king in that Loki would help the frost king kill Thor's father in exchange for Loki assuming complete control of Asgard (this was a LIE)
Thor destroys the Destroyer by a blow to the head by his Hammer
-Thor shares a kiss with Natalie Portman before going back to Asgard to confront Loki--who kills the frost king just as he is about to kill Thor's father (Loki essentially did everything as a way to earn Odin's respect)
-Out on the rainbow bridge, Thor defeats Loki. He and Loki are hanging along the edge of the bridge and are about to be sucked into a wormhole when Odin (who regained consciousness when Thor returned to Asgard) comes to their rescue.
-Loki tells Odin that he "did this all for him" (killing the frost king and about to destroy his planet)...but Odin replies that he didn't want peace "like this." Loki realizes he failed his father once again and lets go of the bridge...falling into the wormhole
-Back in the Asgard palace, all is well. But we see Thor on what remains of the Rainbow bridge...asking the Gatekeeper (Idris Elba) what Natalie Portman is doing back on Earth.
-Thor had to destroy the rainbow bridge (with his Hammer), which was his only way to get to Earth, because Loki threaten to go to Earth and kill Natalie Portman
-The Gatekeeper replies with "She is searching for you." Final shot of the film is of Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård inside a room working on their science equipment.
1.) The special FX in the bridge scene was obviously not complete...but I think it will look really cool when Thor uses his Hammer to shatter it. Most of the fight took place in the Asgard palace
2.) From what I remember we only see the helmet during the flashback scene at the beginning of the film
3.) Nope... Thor doesn't wear the helmet at the end
4.) Didn't notice any easter eggs. Can't remember if Hawkeye was shown in the flick
5.) Nothing really stands out with the dialogue...except the "What you consider magic is science to us" or however the quote goes in the trailer
6.) The romance bits. The comedy was fine...but I wanted the "intimate" scenes between Thor and Portman to end quickly
Loki is relatable evil. Everything he does is to earn the respect of Odin and even Thor. But he becomes corrupt when he finds out he was actually the son of the Frost king, and becomes King of Asgard after Odin falls into a coma
In terms of cameos, Stan Lee plays a truck driver who tries to pull the Hammer out of the ground (in the crater scene shown at the end of Iron Man 2) by chaining it to the back of his truck. He fails in the attempt.
Thanks to our friends over at Comicbookmovie for drawing this to our attention!
