Thor: Ragnarok

**Thor: Ragnarok** is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fifth film of Phase Three. It is the sequel to 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World. The film is directed by Taika Waititi from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing team of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

## Plot

Thor has been captured by mysterious enemy forces on Muspelheim. He rambles toward a skeleton sharing his cage about his efforts to defeat some robots on Earth, and laments about his inability to find any of the Infinity Stones he had set out to locate. He notes that sometimes you have to get captured in order to get a straight answer out of someone (the someone in this instance being Surtur). Surtur releases Thor from his cage, chained and dangling, and taunts him with the knowledge of Odin no longer being on Asgard, also mentioning that Thor's absence has left it vulnerable. He announces that Ragnarok is coming to Asgard by his hand, and that all he must do to achieve this is to join his crown with the Eternal Flame, which burns in Odin's Vault.

Thor takes the cue to call Mjølnir, break out of his chains, and fight off Surtur's minions before taking his crown as a trophy. When he attempts to return to Asgard, however, Heimdall does not respond. His replacement, Skurge, only notices Thor's call when one of the women he is trying to impress points it out. Returning to Asgard for the first time in years, Thor is told by Skurge that Heimdall has been declared an enemy of the people and is on the run. Thor is unimpressed and goes to find Odin, who is watching a play about the valiant death of Loki, whilst lying about and being pampered by various women. Thor sees through "Odin's" deception and forces Loki to drop the charade. After ordering for Surtur's crown to be delivered to Odin's Vault, Thor has Skurge transport him and Loki to Earth to find the real Odin. Unfortunately, upon arrival, Thor and Loki quickly discover that the retirement home Loki had placed Odin in has been demolished. At this point, some passer by reveals that Jane Foster has broken up with Thor (although Thor insists to them that it was a 'mutual dumping').

Suddenly, Loki is snatched away, leaving a mysterious address card behind, pointing Thor toward Bleecker Street. Here, he finds Doctor Strange, who insists on knowing why Loki has been brought back to Earth. Thor explains that they are simply trying to find Odin and will immediately leave as soon as he is retrieved. Strange reveals that he knows of Odin’s whereabouts (Norway, incidentally), but notes that Odin asked not to be disturbed. Nevertheless, he sends Thor and Loki to him.

Thor and Loki find Odin, having shaken off Loki’s spell, but he is despondent and dying. In his last moments, Odin makes a confession - Hela, the sister Thor and Loki never knew they had (and the Goddess of Death) will be released from her prison once he dies. She is far more powerful than her brothers and will grow stronger when she returns to the fires of Asgard. Odin tells his sons he loves them one last time, before transforming into energy and dying.

Thor becomes enraged at Loki, blaming him for Odin’s death (his life expectancy having been presumably shortened during his time on Earth). Any thoughts of revenge however are put aside as a black mass forms in the air and Hela emerges from her prison. When the brothers refuse to kneel to her, Hela attacks them (she appears to be able to summon any sort of blade/spear-based weapons from thin air, in quick successions). Thor throws Mjolnir toward her, but she easily catches it with one hand and shatters it.

Loki panics and calls for the Bifrost. However, during their transport, Hela intercepts them and forces both Loki and Thor out of the beam. Volstagg and Fandral, awaiting inside of the Bifrost dome, are killed almost immediately as Hela arrives. Skurge, present only because he has been given janitorial duty, is recruited to her side as Hela sets her eyes on the kingdom.

Meanwhile, we find Thor, deposited on an alien planet covered in junk: Sakaar. There are portals and wormholes of different shapes and sizes all across the sky, from which junk and debris from other worlds fall through to the surface. Thor is approached by hostile scavengers, who he manages to fight off without Mjolnir until one of the scavengers uses an electrified net to capture him. The scavengers proceed to beat Thor until a spaceship lands near them.

From within, a drunk woman appears, claiming Thor to be "hers." The woman kills the scavengers with her ship's guns, seemingly rescuing Thor. Unfortunately, she ends up throwing a small disc at his neck, allowing her to electrocute and render him unconscious at the push of a button. With the disc connected to his neck preventing him from escaping, the woman takes Thor onto her ship.

Back on Asgard, the Asgardian army, led by Hogun, has assembled to stop Hela from entering the kingdom. Unperturbed by the hundreds of soldiers and several gunships facing her she announces Odin's death and that she has also disposed of Thor and Loki, demanding their recognize her as their new queen. Naturally, Hogun and the soldiers refuse to do so, leading Hela to instead fight army. Despite the sheer numbers against her, Hela makes quick work of the entire fleet as she is quick, invincible and able to summon an endless arsenal of swords and spears which she uses to impale the majority of the soldiers.

Hela finishes off with Hogun, defiant to the last, who gets a large spear sent through his chest. She takes the throne and destroys the royal mural above it, revealing the original hidden behind. It's revealed that she had always been Odin's most powerful weapon in his efforts to create the mighty Asgardian empire, and that only when her ambition outgrew his did he imprison her.

Hela breaks into Odin’s Vault, declaring the Infinity Gauntlet as fake, the Casket of Ancient Winters as weak, and Surtur's crown 'smaller than she thought.’ She becomes briefly interested in the Tesseract but declares the Eternal Flame the greatest of all. She smashes through the floor, revealing the mausoleum beneath. With the power of the Eternal Flame, Hela revives the fallen Asgardian soldiers from her time, along with her massive pet, the Fenris Wolf.

While sitting in her throne, Hela notes that when Odin was king, she was his executioner, and that now she is queen, Skurge is her executioner. Meanwhile, Heimdall sneaks into the Bifrost dome and steals the sword, rendering the Bifrost useless. It’s revealed that Heimdall has been slowly organizing a resistance against Hela. Without the sword, Hela’s cannot complete her conquest of all the realms, and she sends her soldiers to hunt down this resistance.

Thor awakens to a holographic presentation about Sakaar and the Grandmaster, the ruler of the planet and host of the gladiatorial Contest of Champions. The Grandmaster pays the drunk woman from earlier and obtains Thor, whom he decides to pit against his "champion" during a match. He states that Thor will earn his freedom, should he be the victor. Still restrained, Thor discovers Loki, who is mingling and getting on with the Grandmaster and his company quite well. Due to the unusual relativistic effects of how they both arrived, and the planet in general, Loki has been there for weeks, earning the Grandmaster's favour.

Thor is thrown into the gladiator's quarters where he meets Korg, an exiled Kronan resistance fighter, and his friend Miek. Korg states that no one has ever escaped or beaten this champion. Thor is prepared to fight this man, having his hair cut by someone strangely familiar and choosing his weapons. He finds the woman there who he recognizes as an Asgardian Valkyrie. When she is unsympathetic to the plight of her home, he calls her a coward before being forced to go out and fight.

The champion is revealed to be the Hulk. Thor, overjoyed at seeing his former teammate, attempts to talk as well as negotiate with him but makes the mistake of calling him 'Banner'. He even tries Black Widow's calming technique, but it fails to work. Hulk overpowers him during the battle and is close to killing him, but Thor sees a vision of his father causing his powers to surge. As the fight continues, the tables have turned and Thor is winning but the Grandmaster, unwilling to see Hulk lose since he is a fan favourite, cheats and "fixes" the fight by activating the disc on Thor's neck.

Thor awakened in a luxurious quarters with Hulk. Hulk refuses to return Earth because he believes he is hated there and therefore will not leave. He is shown to be friends and sparring partners with Valkyrie but agrees to trick her into coming to his quarters so Thor can steal her control device and remove the disc from his neck.

Thor tries to get to the Quinjet that brought Hulk to Sakaar but Hulk damages it, not wanting to leave. It is only when Thor accidentally activates a recording of Natasha's attempts to get Hulk to turn the Quinjet around that Hulk is pacified and transforms back to Bruce Banner himself. Banner has been in Hulk form since Sokovia and, as a result, the Hulk had completely taken over. Because of this, Banner was powerless and does not remember anything that has happened for the past two years since. He fears that if he becomes the Hulk again, Banner will be gone forever.

The Grandmaster orders Valkyrie and Loki to track Thor and Banner down. Valkyrie finds them but agrees to help, having knocked out Loki after he made her see a vision of herself and her sisters falling at Hela's hands millennia ago when she was the only survivor which caused her to turn to drink in misery on Sakaar. Loki, not wanting to be stuck on Sakaar, tells Thor he has the Grandmaster's security codes which give him control over his systems. Heimdall has told Thor that they need to go through the largest portal in the sky (which has the unfortunate nickname 'The Devil's Anus') to escape but Valkyrie's ship is not up to the job. They break Korg and Miek out so they can begin a slave revolt as a distraction so they can steal the Grandmaster's personal ship.

Back on Asgard, Skurge has civilians rounded up to demand the location of the sword. When nobody would speak, Hela tells him to execute a randomly chosen woman, though Skurge seems to be uncomfortable with this. Just before he can do so, a civilian agrees to tell Hela what she wants to know rather than see an innocent put to death.

Loki, inevitably, betrays them as they are escaping but Thor quietly placed one of the discs on his back, leaving him being shocked on the floor. Thor tells his brother that he knows Loki will always be the God of Mischief but had hoped that he would have shown some capacity for growth before leaving (with Loki still being shocked and the remote intentionally left out of reach). However, Korg arrives with a group of slaves and turns off the device later. Loki takes leadership of the group and steals a large ship with them.

Thor, Valkyrie and Banner arrived on Asgard. Hela begins an assault on the fortress where Heimdall is hiding the Asgardian civilians, but Thor calls her back to the throne room to fight. Banner and Valkyrie fight to help the civilians escape via the Bifrost but they are cut off from behind by the undead army and in front by the enormous Fenris.

Despite knowing he may never turn back, Banner jumps off the ship and is splayed on the Bifrost in front of Fenris, failing to transform himself. As Fenris lunges towards the Asgardians, Banner transforms into the Hulk seconds later to fight Fenris and Loki arrives with Korg, Miek and his Sakaaran allies who all take on Hela's forces to buy time for the refugees to get aboard the ship.

Thor is overpowered by Hela who strikes him across the face, cutting out his right eye. She is about to finish him off when he once again has a vision of his father in Norway. Odin tells his son that Asgard is not a place, it is their people and anywhere could be Asgard. Thor states he cannot defeat Hela without Mjølnir, but Odin reminds Thor that he is not a god of hammers. Mjølnir was never the source of Thor's powers but was simply a focus for them. Odin assures that Thor's powers are greater that his ever were. Hela tries to stop the ship carrying the Asgardian refugees and Sakaaran slaves from leaving but Skurge, who has sneaked aboard in disguise in deep regret over how he betrayed Asgard, turns on Hela kills the rest of her soldiers before she kills him.

With his powers in full force, Thor manages to resist Hela and carves through her army, but he realises she is still too much for him. He and Loki agree that as long as Asgard exists she will grow more powerful. The prophecy says that in order for Ragnarok to happen, Asgard must fall and it is their place to ensure it, not to stop it. Thor and Valkyrie hold her off while Loki goes to the trophy room to retrieve Surtur's crown, noticing the Tesseract unguarded along the way. Loki places the crown in the eternal flame of Asgard, allowing Surtur to be reborn.

As Hela approaches a weakened Valkyrie, Thor tells his sister that their fight is over and she can have Asgard, seconds before the resurrected Surtur emerges and destroys the palace. The now more powerful Surtur begins laying waste to Asgard, and Thor takes advantage of the distraction and knocks Hela off the bridge. Thor and Valkyrie discuss the fact that Surtur must be allowed to destroy Asgard as the prophecy foretold, just as Hulk attacks Surtur.

Thor manages to call him off, and Hulk grudgingly gives up on the fight and carries Thor and Valkyrie aboard the ship, which escapes. Hela suddenly emerges from the water and begins to impale Surtur, who kills her once and for all. Everyone watches from the ship as Asgard is utterly annihilated, killing Surtur and leaving only asteroids behind. Thor understands now that the destruction of his home was inevitable, and that Asgard still exists but now in its people.

Thor begins wearing an eyepatch, similar to the one worn by his father. He thanks Loki for returning for him, and the two brothers finally reconcile. Thor then goes to the bridge and, with the surviving Asgardians watching on, takes the 'throne' (really the captain's chair) and assumes his birth right as king of Asgard. With Loki, Hulk, Heimdall, Valkyrie, Korg and Miek by his side, the new king decides to set a course for Earth.

In a post-credits scene, Loki asks Thor whether he will be welcome on Earth after the Battle of New York, and Thor assures that he will be. Thor is sure that everything will be fine until a much, much larger ship appears behind them. In the second post-credits scene, the Grandmaster is faced down by the slaves he had previously been a master of, tries to declare a revolting draw, but they are not impressed.

## Cast

* Chris Hemsworth as Thor
* Tom Hiddleston as Loki
* Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
* Tessa Thompson as Brunnhilde / Valkyrie
* Idris Elba as Heimdall
* Anthony Hopkins as King Odin
* Karl Urban as Skurge / Executioner
* Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster
* Ray Stevenson as Volstagg
* Zachary Levi as Fandral
* Tabanobu Asano as Topaz
* Cohen Holloway as Lead Scrapper
* Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange
* Taika Waititi as Korg / Hajo / Surtur
* Clancy Brown as Surtur
* Steven Oliver as Cousin Carlo
* Luke Hemsworth as Thor (Fiction)
* Sam Neill as Odin (Fiction)
* Matt Damon as Loki (Fiction)
* Charlotte Nicdao as Sif (Fiction)
* Gabby Carbon as Jane Foster (Fiction)
* Stan Lee as Sakaaran Barber
* Shane Rangi as Hajo
* Ryan Tarran as Roscoe
* Stephen Murdoch as Miek
* Unknown Actor as Biff
* Unknown Actor as Doug
* Unknown Actor as Tasba
* Unknown Actor as Fandral
* Unknown Actor as Hogun
* Unknown Actor as Volstagg

## Production

### Development

While promoting the release of Thor: The Dark World in October 2013, Chris Hemsworth expressed willingness to portraying Thor for as long as "people wanted more", adding that he was contracted for another Thor film and two more Avengers films. Producer Kevin Feige stated that the next Thor would build from elements at the end of The Dark World. In January 2014, Marvel announced that Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost would write the screenplay for a third film, with Feige again producing; the story was being outlined that July. At the end of October 2014, Feige announced that the film would be titled Thor: Ragnarok, with a scheduled release date of July 28, 2017. Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were set to return as Thor and Loki, respectively. Hemsworth earned $15 million for the film. Feige added that the film would be "very important" in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and also confirmed that, in the context of the film, the word Ragnarok means "the end of all things". He felt that "people will not read into that title alone what the movie's going to be."

In February 2015, Marvel pushed back the release date to November 3, 2017. That April, Feige was expecting a draft for the film soon, and a month later he stated that a director, additional screenwriter, and further casting announcements would be revealed "towards the end of the summer", with filming set for June 2016. The Dark World director Alan Taylor explained that he would not be returning, as "the Marvel experience was particularly wrenching because I was sort of given absolute freedom while we were shooting, and then in [post-production] it turned into a different movie. So, that is something I hope never to repeat and don't wish upon anybody else." During the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, Jaimie Alexander said that she would reprise her role as Sif in "a very pivotal part" of the film.

By October 2015, Taika Waititi had entered negotiations to direct Thor: Ragnarok. Other directors under consideration included Ruben Fleischer, Rob Letterman, and Rawson Marshall Thurber. Marvel presented the prospective directors with "the ten different ideas that we had for the movie", asking them all to come back with a clearer picture of what the film should be. Waititi created "a sizzle reel for the tone, and some joke stuff" using clips from other films, including Big Trouble in Little China, and scored it with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". This is a practice that Marvel discourages because it "oftentimes can be really terrible", but they thought Waititi's reel was "amazing", particularly its use of that song which Feige felt "defined what Taika was going to do with this"; "Immigrant Song" was later used in the film itself, and for marketing it. On why he decided to pursue directing the film, after stating in 2012 that he had no interest in "big features, where the art of the project was sacrificed for profit", Waititi said he felt "like a guest in Marvel's universe but with the creative freedom to do what I want". Waititi was confirmed as director of the film by multiple news outlets later in October.

Mark Ruffalo was also finalising a deal that month, to reprise his role as Bruce Banner / Hulk from previous MCU films; he soon confirmed that he would appear. Hulk was last seen at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron traveling in a Quinjet, which was originally planned to be shown flying near Saturn. Feige explained that this was changed to an Earth-based location to leave Hulk's fate ambiguous and dispel rumours that a film based on "Planet Hulk" was in development, since Marvel Studios had no plans to adapt the storyline at the time. According to executive producer Brad Winderbaum, the idea to include Hulk in Ragnarok came early on in development, when the production team looked at the "Planet Hulk" storyline and felt it was a "no brainer" to integrate Hulk into the Thor franchise, exploring "the idea of a planet where there's gladiatorial games as a Thor predicament. That storyline was a really cool idea to us." Feige further explained that initial discussions had focused on doing "something totally different with Thor", and that centred on continuing the relationship with Loki and ideas for Hela, Valkyrie, Balder, and Beta Ray Bill, "but we were like, 'We need something big.'" This turned to discussing Thor going to space, and jokingly calling it "Planet Thor", which led to including Hulk in the film and revealing that he ultimately went to space at the end of Age of Ultron.

Also in October, Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop announced that filming would take place in the country, exclusively throughout the state of Queensland, including at Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, Gold Coast. According to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the production was to spend over $100 million in Queensland and employ 750 Queenslanders. Hemsworth had asked Marvel to produce the film in Australia, where he lives. At the end of November 2015, Stellan Skarsgård, who portrayed Erik Selvig in the previous Thor films, said that he was contracted to appear should Marvel want to include him, but he was uncertain at the time if they did. He later confirmed that he would not appear in Thor: Ragnarok. The next month, Stephany Folsom was hired to work on the script, and Cate Blanchett entered final negotiations to join the cast.

### Pre-Production

In January 2016, with the film beginning pre-production, Ruffalo described it as a "road movie" and indicated that additional filming would take place in Sydney. Waititi stated that he was working on the script "a little bit", mainly adding humour to the screenplay, with Eric Pearson joining the project to rewrite the screenplay. Pearson felt joining presented many challenges, as "there were so many puzzle pieces already there," such as having Blanchett as Hela, who was confirmed in the role a month later, and including Hulk, Valkyrie, and Skurge, that he was asked to assemble. Pearson was told not to be restrained by anything from the previous films, and Waititi asked him to make the film fun and have Thor "be the coolest character." Alexander said in early March that she was no longer sure if she would appear in the film, due to scheduling conflicts with her television series Blindspot. She later indicated that this may not be the case, but ultimately was unable to appear in the film due to the conflict. Sif does appear as a character in the play based on the events of The Dark World, portrayed by Charlotte Nicdao.
In April, Tessa Thompson was cast as Valkyrie, with Natalie Portman not returning from the previous films as love interest Jane Foster. Marvel never asked the screenwriters to include the Earth-based characters from the previous films, and Feige said that Foster and Thor have broken up between films. In May, Marvel confirmed Blanchett and Thompson for the film, announced the casting of Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster and Karl Urban as Skurge, and revealed that Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins would reprise their respective roles of Heimdall and Odin from the previous films. In early June, Palaszczuk and Marvel Studios executive David Grant announced that filming would begin on July 4, 2016, with Weta Workshop creating props for the film. Before the sets for Marvel's Doctor Strange were demolished, Waititi wrote and filmed a scene for Ragnarok where Thor meets Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange. Marvel and Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson felt the scene was "kind of perfect" to show Strange joining the wider MCU, so the scene also appears during the credits of Doctor Strange.

Feige noted that Thor: Ragnarok would primarily take place in the "cosmos" rather than on Earth, a departure from the previous Thor films. He expanded by saying, "Tonally and geographically there are a lot of different planets outside of the nine realms that we visit" in the film. Waititi consulted with theoretical physicist Clifford Johnson on space travel. Johnson viewed early drafts of the script, and gave Waititi physics ideas that could "wink at some of the classic old Thor stuff"; Johnson previously consulted on the second season of the MCU television series Agent Carter. Astronomer-physicist Adam Frank was also a consultant on the film, advising on wormholes and interstellar travel. Comic artist and Thor co-creator Jack Kirby was one of Waititi's major visual inspirations for the film. Winderbaum also called Walt Simonson's "Ragnarok" story arc an inspiration for "really fun elements ... both stylistically and narratively", as well as Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron, which was the inspiration for Hela's design and abilities. Waititi said the planet Sakaar, which is featured in the "Planet Hulk" storyline, was "the biggest shift for the film and these characters", with Winderbaum describing it as "the toilet of the universe", surrounded by "wormholes that have been spitting things out into this place for eons". Also featured is Muspelheim, one of the Nine Realms, ruled by Surtur. Production designer Dan Hennah described it as a Dyson sphere, with the realm drawing power out of a dying star to energise its inhabitants. Hennah hoped to give Asgard "more of a humanity" than in previous films, by adding smaller building perspectives to help the realm seem more practical and utilitarian. For Saakar's gladiator arena, Hennah looked at Roman gladiators, but differentiated from previous similar ideas by going "all alien with it". The arena is surrounded by "standing up bleachers".

Waititi said that the film would reinvent the franchise, as "a lot of what we're doing with the film is, in a way, kind of dismantling and destroying the old idea and rebuilding it in a new way that's fresh. Everyone's got a slightly new take on their characters, so in that way, it feels like [this is] the first Thor (2011)." He added that he had seen the other films and respected them, but wanted to focus on making a "standalone film because this could be the only time I do this. I just want to make it my version of a Marvel film in the best way possible." This is something Hemsworth had hoped for, looking to have a lighter tone in Ragnarok compared to the previous Thor films, especially the second one, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. He said, "I feel we had less of the sort of the naivety or fun or humour that the first Thor might have had. I wish we had more of that in the second movie... We've done regal. We've done Shakespeare, and we've shown that. I think now it's time to go, 'Ok, cool. Let's try something different.'" Hemsworth continued that in order to prevent the character or film from becoming "predictable", there was "definitely a goal to do something unexpected... I think we want to get back to more of a sense of adventure and fun".

The events of Ragnarok are set four years after the events of Thor: The Dark World, two years after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and around the same time as the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), with Winderbaum noting that "things happen on top of each other now in Phase Three." The events of Ragnarok also set up Avengers: Infinity War, and Hemsworth spoke to Infinity War directors Anthony and Joe Russo before receiving the script for Ragnarok to see how it would link to Infinity War. He said Ragnarok "definitely bleeds nicely into those [films]", and Winderbaum likened Ragnarok's impact on the larger MCU to that of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), saying it would break down ideas regarding Asgard that were previously established similar "to how Winter Soldier broke down S.H.I.E.L.D."

### Filming

Principal photography began on July 4, 2016, under the working title Creature Report, at Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, exclusively using all nine of the studios' sound stages. Additional filming was to occur throughout the state of Queensland, including Tamborine National Park. The Brisbane central business district, where filming took place from August 22 to 25, was used to double as New York City. Javier Aguirresarobe served as cinematographer on the film, describing his work on the film as "a rare combination of satisfaction and frustration", feeling that he was mostly there to service the director and visual effects supervisor, but felt "very happy to have been able to respond to such incredible technical requirements".

Later in July, regarding the film's "buddy-style comedy" nature, Waititi said that the script had changed from then and it was still unclear what the final film would look like, but there "are buddy elements to it between Thor and the Hulk". He said it would be a "'70s/'80s sci-fi fantasy" and "the most 'out there' of all the Marvel movies", with the tone closest to that of Big Trouble in Little China. Inspiration for the road-trip aspect of the film included 48 Hrs. (1982), Withnail and I (1987), and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). Waititi also asked the heads of each department to watch Flash Gordon (1980) before beginning work. Concept art released at San Diego Comic Con 2016 revealed that the character Fenris Wolf would appear.

By August, over 100 set and construction workers were given termination notifications, with some complaining that they had been promised work until October or November 2016, and that New Zealand crew members were receiving preferential treatment over the Australian locals. However, Premier Palaszczuk stated that the work for set builders simply "finished", and that other jobs would become available as actors arrived for filming. Sets constructed for the film were for Sakaar, including the Grandmaster's palace and surrounding junkyard, as well as Asgard (based on the aesthetics of the previous Thor films). The interior of the Avenger Quinjet, which was built for The Avengers (2012), was shipped to Australia. Waititi, who is Māori, made hiring Indigenous and Aboriginal Australians, along with New Zealanders, a priority for the various departments, saying, "It's a responsibility you have to the Indigenous people. You're coming to a country and you're bringing money into the economy and creating jobs but I think you have an even bigger responsibility to look after the people that have less opportunities." He added that having these people on the crew "feel[s] very much like family" and "helps calm me down and makes me feel relaxed". The Indigenous and Aboriginals were hired as part of an initiative by Screen Australia's Indigenous Department, whose mission is "to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a foot in the door of the film industry".

In mid-September 2016, concept art seen during a set visit indicated Midgard Serpent would appear, and that Sif and the Warriors Three, allies of Thor in the previous two films, would be addressed in Ragnarok. Towards the end of the month, Sam Neill, who worked with Waititi in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, revealed he had a role in the film. Shortly after, Waititi teased the inclusion of the characters Korg, who Waititi portrays through motion-capture, and Miek, who is not portrayed by an actor as he does not speak in the film, and is depicted as "a larva-like creature... with cybernetic legs and arms". In mid-October, Waititi revealed that new camera technology had been used for a shot in the film, and that he had hoped to include John C. Reilly's Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey in the film, but there was "no real way to pull it off". Principal photography wrapped on October 28, 2016. Second unit filming took place on Dirk Hartog Island off the coast of Australia, and in the South Island of New Zealand. According to Waititi, 80 percent of the dialogue in Thor: Ragnarok was improvised, in order to create a "very loose and collaborate mood" among the cast, and as an attempt to replicate the tone and sensibility from his previous films. He stated, "My style of working is I'll often be behind the camera, or right next to the camera yelling words at people, like, 'Say this, say this! Say it this way!'"

### Post-Production

In January 2017, it was revealed that Pearson would receive sole screenwriting credit on the film, with the story credited to Kyle, Yost, and Folsom. These credits were later updated the following September, with Pearson as the screenwriter and story credit for Kyle and Yost. Folsom took issue with Marvel marketing the film with these credits, noting the Writers Guild of America (WGA) had yet to determine the final credits for the film. She later said that Marvel had given her a story credit on the film, but it was denied by the WGA due to their regulation that a maximum of two individuals can receive story credit, with an allowance for a writing team to count as one individual; Pearson and the team of Kyle and Yost received the story credit on Ragnarok. Folsom added that she planned to appeal the decision, and that Marvel has been supportive of her throughout her attempt to receive credit. By the end of the month, the writing credits were updated once again, this time simply crediting Pearson, Kyle, and Yost as screenwriters.

In February 2017, Rachel House said she had a small role in the film, having worked with Waititi before. Additional filming took place in Atlanta in July 2017, over three weeks, including filming post-credit scenes. One of these introduces the spaceship Sanctuary II, which belongs to Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, while the other, shown at the end of the credits, features the Grandmaster. Goldblum and Waititi improvised multiple versions of the latter scene; one unused version involved the singing of the Sakaarian national anthem, which was "made up on the spot". Also filmed in Atlanta was the completion of a sequence where Asgardian actors perform a play based on the events of The Dark World. Neill appears in the sequence as the Odin actor, and Hemsworth's brother Luke portrays the Thor actor. Explaining the sequence, Waititi said, "if I was Loki and I was ruling Asgard, I would write a play about myself and force everyone to go and see it, change the details of the play and get a huge celebrity to play myself." For the Loki actor, they "really wanted someone good and someone who's funny", and Chris Hemsworth suggested that Matt Damon, whom he knew personally, take on the role. Damon was in New York City at the time, and flew to Atlanta just to shoot the cameo "on a lark". Also changed during reshoots was the location of the sequence where Thor and Loki find Odin on Earth, and Hela subsequently destroys Mjolnir. Originally set in a New York City alley, Waititi decided that the environment was distracting from the emotions of the sequence. The location was changed to Norway, which Waititi felt gave more weight to the scenes, made Odin's storyline more "authentic", and also allowed the characters and the audience to "chill out for a second, and have that moment, because the rest of the film basically just runs at a clip".

By the time the reshoots for the film were completed, the film had been cut down from Waititi's initial version of two hours and forty minutes to around ninety minutes, with that expected to increase slightly with the newly filmed scenes. However, after the film's 2017 Comic Con panel, it was decided to add back a lot of the jokes that had been removed, with the final runtime being two hours and ten minutes. Joel Negron and Zene Baker served as editors on the film. Waititi described the process of deciding exactly what jokes to keep as "very tricky... sometimes it would be funny in the beginning of the film and then not funny at all [or] it was funny in the wrong places and in the end, we had to just keep testing jokes and testing parts of the film". Ragnarok also clarifies that an Infinity Gauntlet seen in Thor was a fake. Feige expanded, saying that it had been included in Thor as an easter egg, since Marvel Studios was "working on The Avengers and trying to [put] that all together for the conclusion of Phase One." However, shortly after The Avengers released and the studio began to solidify plans for Avengers: Infinity War, they realized that the gauntlet seen in Thor could not be the actual one, creating an internal theory that it was fake; this resulted in the scene in Ragnarok, which was created "just [to have] the opportunity to call it a fake".

#### Visual Effects

Visual effects for the film were created by Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) San Francisco and Vancouver studios, with help from Base FX, Animatrik, and Virtuos; Framestore; Method Studios Vancouver; Digital Domain; Rising Sun Pictures; Luma Pictures; D Negative; Iloura; Image Engine; Trixter; The Secret Lab; WhiskeyTree Inc; Fin Designs + Effects; and Perception. Previsualisation work was provided by The Third Floor and Day for Nite. Luma Pictures produced over 200 shoots in eight sequences, particularly for the characters Korg (receiving assets from Framestore) and Miek. Method Studios provided over 450 shots, including Thor's opening fight against Surtur in Muspelheim and Hela's fight against the Asgardian guards. D Negative worked on over 190 shots, creating the environment for the planet Sakaar, including its junkyard landscape and wormholes, with the wormholes also created through a collaboration with Digital Domain.
ILM, who worked on previous incarnations of the Hulk, had to add much more detail to the character's facial features in Ragnarok due to the Hulk's increased dialogue. ILM visual effects supervisor Chad Wiebe explained that Ruffalo's expressions were captured fresh for the film using Medusa, a performance capture technology. With 90 different expressions captured, ILM "built an entirely new library that would allow [Hulk] to cover a full range of normal human visual characteristics." To help create the Hulk, a person on set was covered in green body paint, and would replicate the intended motions of the character to aid the visual effect artists. Additionally, stunt actor Paul Lowe, who is under 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, stood in for Hemsworth during some of his interactions with the Hulk so that the Hulk's stunt men would be proportionally correct. In some instances when Thor and the Hulk interacted, a digital double was used for Thor, also created by ILM, to have greater flexibility for the shots. ILM worked on all of the Hulk moments in the film outside the final fight sequence, which was completed by Framestore using ILM's assets, as Framestore was primarily responsible for rigging that sequence. Framestore completed nearly 460 shots, which featured digital doubles of Thor and Hela, Fenris, Korg, Miek, the giant Surtur at the end of the film, and over 9,000 buildings for Asgard, based on assets D Negative had from The Dark World, resulting in over 263-character, vehicle, prop, and crowd rigs.

Rising Sun Pictures produced more than 170 visual effects shots for Thor: Ragnarok. They worked on the Valkyrie flashback sequence, with the sequence's surreal ethereal appearance achieved through a combination of motion capture, computer graphics, a 900-fps high-speed frame rate, and a special 360-degree lighting rig containing 200 strobe lights to bathe the scene in undulating patterns of light and shadow. Rising Sun also helped create the various CGI aspects of Hela, such as her "hair wipe transition" to her horns, and her original introduction in New York City. Following the reshoots, ImageEngine completed the new Norway introduction since Rising Sun was focused on the palace fight by then.

## Music

See Also: Thor: Ragnarok Soundtrack and Music of Marvel Cinematic Universe

By August 2016, Mark Mothersbaugh was hired to score the film. The synthesized score is influenced by the work of Jean-Michel Jarre. Waititi stated he would have asked the band Queen to work on the soundtrack for the film if their lead singer Freddie Mercury was still alive, because the film is "a cool, bold, colourful cosmic adventure" which would have suited the "feel" of the band. Additional music featured in the film include "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin and "Pure Imagination" from the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Patrick Doyle's themes from Thor and Brian Tyler's themes from The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron, as well as Joe Harnell's "The Lonely Man" theme from The Incredible Hulk series, are also used in the film. Hollywood Records released the film's soundtrack digitally on October 20, 2017, and physically on November 10, 2017.

## Marketing

At the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, a physical model of Hulk's gladiator armour was revealed, concept art and rough animatics were shown, and a "mockumentary" short titled Team Thor was screened. Directed by Waititi, it showed what Thor and Banner were doing during the events of Civil War, with Daley Pearson appearing as Thor's Australian flatmate Darryl Jacobson. The short was released online in August 2016, and with the digital download of Captain America: Civil War the following month. Team Thor: Part 2 was released on the home media of Doctor Strange in February 2017, with Pearson reprising his role. Footage and concept art for the film were shown at CinemaCon 2017.

On April 10, 2017, the first teaser trailer was released. Sandy Schaefer of Screen Rant felt it was "a strong start" for the film, having "a distinctly playful vibe" by setting it to "Immigrant Song". The Verge's Chaim Gartenberg said "this may be the weirdest Marvel movie to date" thanks to the costumes, makeup, and '80s aesthetic. Michael Arbeiter for Nerdist was pleased with the teaser, stating, "nothing in the MCU thus far can hold a candle to the imagination promised by this ... have any of [the previous MCU films] felt this beholden to what we've always known and loved as the adventure genre?" The teaser was viewed 136 million times in 24 hours, the third-highest in that time frame, behind The Fate of the Furious (139 million) and It (197 million). It also became Disney and Marvel's most viewed trailer within that time period, surpassing Beauty and the Beast (127 million) and Captain America: Civil War (94 million), respectively. The line from the trailer of Thor saying Hulk "is a friend from work" was suggested to Hemsworth by a Make-A-Wish child visiting the set on the day the scene was filmed.

Props and costumes from the film were on display at D23 Expo 2017 along with set pieces for photo opportunities. The costumes were also on display at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, where Waitti and cast members promoted the film. Exclusive clips were shown, along with a new trailer. Ethan Anderton of /Film felt "the blend of comedy and bright, vibrant comic book action" in the trailer was "incredible". Collider's Haleigh Foutch was "in love with this trailer" and "all in" on the film. Germain Lussier for io9 called the trailer "a two-and-a-half-minute ball of action, awesomeness, humour, and insanity that may be the most purely fun Marvel movie trailer we've ever seen." The poster also released was praised, being called by Anthony Couto from Comic Book Resources as "quite stunning", "insanely colourful", and "perfectly symmetrical", with Matt Goldberg of Collider feeling it "really lets you know that this Thor movie is going to be radically different than the first two". Due to the Comic-Con presentation, Thor: Ragnarok generated over 264,000 new conversations on social media from July 17 to 23, the most out of any film during that time period, according to comScore and its PreAct service. It remained the most-discussed film on social media for two more weeks.

In August 2017, Marvel partnered with car manufacturer Renault on a commercial supporting the release of the Kwid in Brazil. Directed by Jonathan Gurvit and shot in São Paulo, it features the Hulk destroying a satellite headed towards the city. Framestore worked on visual effects for the commercial, building on the foundation they had from working on the character in previous films. Also in August, Marvel, in partnership with Dolby Laboratories, Synchrony Bank, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Broadcom Masters, and Society for Science & the Public, announced the "Superpower of STEM Challenge", aimed at females aged 15 through 18 in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education) fields, to "create an original Do-It-Yourself project that can be replicated by others" and "help their family, community or the world be safer, healthier or happier". Five winners would attend the film's world premiere, receive a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and a $500 saving account from Synchrony Bank, with one grand prize winner attending "an immersive three-day mentorship in New York City with Disney Imagineering" to create a "professional-level video teaching other young people how to recreate" their winning project. They were also given the opportunity to demonstrate the project on Good Morning America.

For the week of August 21, Ragnarok once again had the most social media conversations, according to comScore and its PreAct service. New clips of Thor and Hulk fighting, released on the same day as the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight, helped generate the 57,000 new conversations for the week. From September 25 to October 15, Ragnarok had the second-most social media conversations according to the service, and was once again first for the week of October 16 following the release of extended clips and plot details. Beginning October 6, 2017, Disney California Adventure showed a sneak peek of the film at the Sunset Showcase Theater in Hollywood Land, presented in 3D with "special in-theatre effects". Ahead of the United States release of the film, Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Blanchett, Goldblum, Ruffalo, and Thompson appeared with James Corden on The Late Late Show with James Corden to present a "4D" version of the film, which was actually a stage play. The cast performed various scenes from the film live in low-budget costumes and with cardboard stage props. Additional promotional partners of the film included Red Robin, United Healthcare, and Screenvision Media.

## Release

### Theatrical

Thor: Ragnarok had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on October 10, 2017, and its Australian premiere took place on October 13, on the Gold Coast. It was released in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2017, with additional international releases on October 25, and in Australia on October 26. The film was released in the United States and Canada on November 3, in 4,080 theatres, of which over 3,400 were 3D, 381 were IMAX and IMAX 3D, and 204 were D-Box. The film opened in 1,187 IMAX theatres globally, which was a November opening weekend record. It was originally scheduled for release on July 28, 2017.

### Home Media

Thor: Ragnarok was released on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on February 20, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand on March 6. The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes; audio commentary; deleted scenes; a blooper reel; and Team Darryl, a continuation of the "mockumentary" short films Team Thor and Team Thor: Part 2, in which the Grandmaster moves in with Darryl after Thor leaves. In one of the deleted scenes, Michael Rooker makes an appearance as Yondu, reprising the role from the first two Guardians of the Galaxy films. James Gunn, writer and director of the Guardians films, clarified that Yondu was never meant to appear in the final film, and that Rooker was on a nearby set recording material for the Halloween variant of the theme park attraction Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!; and decided to stop by the Ragnarok set "to goof around".

The film debuted at number one on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart during its first week of release, which tracks combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc unit sales, and a dedicated Blu-ray disc sales chart. Blu-ray accounted for 83% of unit sales, with 11% coming from Ultra HD Blu-ray. Thor: Ragnarok also debuted second on the Media Play News rental chart behind Coco. In its second week, the film fell to number two on the NPD VideoScan chart, coming in behind Justice League, but rose to number one on the Media Play News rental chart.

## Reception

### Box Office

Thor: Ragnarok grossed $315.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $538.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $854 million. In September 2017, a survey from Fandango indicated that Ragnarok was the most anticipated fall film. On the weekend of November 3, 2017, the film earned $25.4 million from IMAX showings, surpassing Doctor Strange as the largest for a November weekend. The film had earned $650.1 million globally, surpassing the total grosses for Thor ($449.3 million) and Thor: The Dark World ($644.6 million), by the end of its third weekend. It became the ninth highest-grossing film of 2017. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $174.2 million, accounting for its production budget, P&A, talent participation and other costs, against box office grosses and ancillary revenue from home media, placing it eighth on their list of 2017's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

Thor: Ragnarok earned $46.8 million on its opening day in the United States and Canada (including $14.5 million from Thursday night previews), and had a total weekend gross of $122.7 million, which was the top film for the weekend, the sixth-best November opening, and the largest opening for all Thor films. IMAX contributed $12.2 million, which was the second-best IMAX opening of 2017 and its third-best November opening. The film's earnings on Sunday ($32.1 million), was the second-best Sunday in November after The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) ($34.5 million). The film had been projected to gross $100–125 million in its opening weekend. Ragnarok remained the number one film in its second weekend, having earned a total of $211.6 million, which surpassed the entire runs of Thor ($181 million) and The Dark World ($206.4 million). In its third weekend, Thor: Ragnarok fell to third at the box office, and fourth in its fourth and fifth weekends. The film surpassed its projected total domestic gross of $280 million in its fifth weekend with $291.4 million, Thor: Ragnarok was fifth in its sixth weekend, and seventh in its seventh weekend, the final weekend it remained in the top 10.

Outside the United States and Canada, the film opened in 36 markets in its first weekend, ranking first in all, and earning $109.1 million, $6 million of which came from 189 IMAX screens. The United Kingdom opening ($16.2 million) was the best October opening for a non-James Bond film. South Korea ($15.7 million), Australia ($8.4 million), Brazil ($8.1 million), Indonesia ($5.5M), Taiwan ($5.4M), the Philippines ($3.8M), Malaysia ($3.5M), New Zealand, Vietnam, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and South Africa had the best October opening weekend ever, while France ($7.7 million) had the second-best. Brazil also had the third-best debut for an MCU film, while New Zealand's opening was the biggest of 2017. In its second weekend, Ragnarok opened at number one in 19 more markets, with the largest November opening ever in China ($56.3 million, including $6 million from 446 IMAX screens), Mexico ($10.8 million), Germany ($8.9 million), and India ($5.5 million). It also remained at number one in many existing markets. The film earned an additional $13.2 million from 788 IMAX screens, the best November opening. In its third weekend, the film remained at number one in over 30 countries, and became the highest-grossing superhero film in the Czech Republic. By its fifth weekend, Ragnarok had become the highest-grossing superhero film in central and eastern Europe. As of December 10, 2017, the film's largest markets were China ($112 million), the United Kingdom ($40.4 million), and South Korea ($35.1 million).

### Critical Response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating with an average score of 7.58/10, based on 409 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exciting, funny, and above all fun, Thor: Ragnarok is a colourful cosmic adventure that sets a new standard for its franchise, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, the best of the Thor series, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 90% overall positive score and an 85% "definite recommend".

Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter praised Waititi's handling of "the clash-of-worlds CGI extravaganza", particularly for the lighter tone he brought, with "even the story's central bad guys being silly fun, hammed to the hilt by Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap wrote, "Both the banter and the fighting, it should be noted, are excellent, so whether you go to superhero movies for the glossy escapism or the pulse-pounding action, you'll get your large soda's worth." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three stars out of four, described it as "the most fun you'll ever have at a Marvel movie" while praising the film's changing tone and direction, comparing it favourably to Guardians of the Galaxy. The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle lauded the performances of Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Blanchett, Thompson, Goldblum and Ruffalo, feeling the film "has confidence in its characters and in its own invention, and so it avoids repetition and stays fresh".

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times similarly praised the film, calling the performances of the ensemble cast "outstanding" and Waititi's direction "goofy and campy and marvellously self-referential". He also said the soundtrack that was used in the climactic battle sequence, particularly Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" as being "perfectly synced". Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, positively comparing Hemsworth's performance to Cary Grant: "Hemsworth's charisma holds Thor: Ragnarok together whenever it threatens to spin apart". Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times praised Blanchett's performance of Hela, drawing a comparison of the portrayal of her character to other iconic villains such as Maleficent and Chernabog, and the film's similar themes and tone to Flash Gordon, Star Wars (1977), and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The Daily Telegraph's Robbie Collin gave the film four out of five, hailed it as "one of [Marvel's] best films to date" while commending the performances and describing Mark Mothersbaugh's musical score as "turbo-charged". Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune commended the performances of Hiddleston and Thompson as being "wonderfully matched". He also noted a similar directing style of Waititi to Edgar Wright's "parodic work" and labelled the film as "unusually lively and buoyant" while acknowledging the effect of a "Marvel Fatigue factor" towards the audiences.

Peter Debruge of Variety called the movie "preposterous", but praised Goldblum's performance. Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine stated negatively that "Thor: Ragnarok is packed tight with zooming space vehicles and noisy thunder battles, but the movie's extravagant excess is more narcotizing than energizing." Zacharek further added that "Even poor Thor seems lost in all of it, and he's supposed to be its star" while criticizing the film's visual effects as being "an instance of fun overkill" and "a special-effects coma". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the story "an uninteresting thicket of brawls, machinations and useful coincidences" but did feel that Hemsworth "looks happier and far more relaxed in Ragnarok than he did in the previous Thor vehicles, which is perhaps Mr. Waititi's truest achievement here."

Some critics claim that Thor: Ragnarok conceals sophisticated commentary under its comedic presentation, specifically on themes of colonial history and indigenous people. Key points in this discourse include Waititi's own indigenous Māori heritage; Asgard's bloody history and Odin's whitewashing of it, as revealed by Hela; Scrapper 142's burial in alcohol of her ethnic identity as a Valkyrie; and the Grandmaster's euphemizing of "slaves" as "prisoners with jobs".

## Sequel

By the release of Ragnarok, Waititi and Marvel had discussed a spin-off Marvel One-Shot short film following the characters Korg and Miek, but it was unfeasible due to Marvel's commitment to producing three feature films a year. Feige said Marvel still had plans for those characters, but did not specify. In January 2018, Hemsworth indicated his interest in continuing to play Thor, despite his contract with Marvel Studios scheduled to end after Avengers: Endgame, saying the next month "if there's another great script that comes along" he would consider playing the character again, and later added, "I’d play this character for as long as anyone would let me," crediting Waititi for revitalizing his interest in Thor. He and Waititi had discussed what they would want in a potential fourth Thor film by then. By April 2019, Thompson believed that a pitch had been made for a sequel to Ragnarok that involved Waititi returning. By July 2019, Waititi had signed a deal with Marvel to write and direct a fourth Thor film, titled Thor: Love and Thunder. It was also revealed that Natalie Portman would return to portray Jane Foster taking on the mantle of a female incarnation of Thor, in a manner similar to the comics. Thompson will reprise her role as Valkyrie who, after being declared King of New Asgard, will begin searching for her queen, revealing her to be the MCU's first major LGBTQ character. In October 2019, Waititi confirmed that Korg will return in Love and Thunder. In January 2020, Christian Bale entered talks to join the sequel, and in March was confirmed by Thompson to have been cast as the villain. In February 2020, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson was brought on board to co-write the screenplay with Waititi. In March 2020, Vin Diesel, who voices Groot in the MCU films, stated that the Guardians of the Galaxy would be incorporated in the film.