Hela in New York, a badass Loki twirling knives, Valkyrie scenes, and alternate end-credits
are just a few of the things cut from the theatrical release of Thor: Ragnarok.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and today I'm discussing Thor: Ragnarok deleted
and alternate scenes, reshoots, rejected concepts, and everything else we never got to see in
the third Thor movie!
While you're here, my Thor: Ragnarok giveaway is still running, so for your chance to win
a Ragnarok Funko Pop or a very cool Obsessed With Marvel book, just make sure you're subscribed
to my channel and leave a comment below with your thoughts about the movie or the deleted
scenes.
Obviously, I'll be talking spoilers, so take care if you haven't seen the film yet.
OK, let's start with the deleted scenes from the trailers that never made it in to the
final movie.
The most significant change is the scene of Hela destroying Thor's hammer, the setting
for which was moved from New York to Norway.
Reshooting this scene was much more important than it might at first appear because it completely
changed how the movie dealt with Odin and his death.
During the film's production, set photos popped up of Anthony Hopkins dressed as a hobo.
At the time, it was reported that in the film we'd discover that, after Loki had usurped
Odin from his throne on Asgard, Odin had escaped to Earth where he was wandering the streets
of New York penniless, making dire predictions of the end of the world.
In the final movie though, we discover Odin in Norway instead, contemplating life in a
field overlooking the sea.
Director Taika Waititi has explained that he moved the location to Norway because it
felt like a more appropriate setting for Odin to have a heart-to-heart talk with his sons
before he died.
Waititi also implied that perhaps feedback from test screenings was that the audience
didn't understand why a character as powerful as Odin was now a homeless person bumbling
around New York.
So, the director felt that an open green field in Norway was more respectful of the mighty
king Odin.
The location also ties in with real-world Norse legends which are, of course, the basis
for the Thor Marvelverse.
I also liked the way that when Odin died, his body evaporated into flecks of light mirroring
what happened to his wife Frigga during her ceremonial funeral in Thor: The Dark World.
I can see that this is a more noble death for the former king of Asgard than perishing
on the streets of New York.
The alleyway scene in New York was pretty cool in the trailer, though, and did a great
job of hyping fans for the movie, even if the reshot scene felt more appropriate in
the context of the film.
And that's not the only great moment in the trailer that ended up being chopped from the
movie.
There's several moments cut from the final showdown on the Rainbow Bridge, including
the four Revengers squaring off against Hela.
Sadly, in the final film, we never saw our four heroes line up like this.
Instead, there was a moment of Thor, Valkyrie and Loki together, but Hulk was busy battling
Fenris Wolf at the time.
It also looks like some extended fight scenes with Hela might have been chopped as I don't
think this shot of Hela spinning and sending out a swirl of knives made it in.
And this iconic shot of Hela with her full headgear turning slowly to the camera appears
to have been cut from Valkyrie's flashback scene.
Now, there's a very intriguing deleted scene with Loki twirling a pair of knives on a bridge.
It feels like this might have been part of a longer deleted scene where Loki helped the
Asgardian refugees down from their mountain shelter to the Rainbow Bridge where the rescue
ship was waiting.
Loki did get some good action scenes in the final battle, but it still feels a shame that
we never saw this moment.
I guess it was cut for time to prevent the final showdown from getting too long.
Speaking of Loki, in an early story draft there was going to be more of the God of Mischief
via some flashback scenes to a young Loki antagonising his brother Thor.
The tone Taika Waititi wanted for those flashbacks was similar to the classic 80s films of writer-director
John Hughes, such as Sixteen Candles.
One of the flashbacks would have popped up during the scene on Sakaar where Loki is tied
up and Valkyrie, Banner and Thor are all talking about how he wants to kill them, which leads
Thor to recount the time when he and Loki were eight years old, and Loki transformed
himself into a snake, before quickly transforming back and stabbing Thor.
A flashback here could have been a fun moment, but according to Waititi, in the end, it was
one thing too many to add to the movie and the story was funnier the way Chris Hemsworth
told it.
Waititi also revealed to MTV that another John Hughes-inspired scene ended up cut from
the movie.
The idea was that when Thor and Valkyrie met in the film they realised that they already
knew each other.
Then there was going to be a flashback to 1980s Asgard where everyone had mullets and
wore huge shoulder pads.
In the cut scene, Thor was going to be an overweight child who was being picked on by
other kids and Loki would have been an "emo goth" character a bit like Draco Malfoy from
Harry Potter.
The problem with this scene was that, in the final story, they needed Thor not to have
met Valkyrie before, so the flashback wouldn't have worked.
There's also a deleted promo scene between Dr Strange and Thor at Strange's Sanctum Santorum.
"Destiny has dire plans for you my friend."
"Well I have dire plans for Destiny!"
I wonder if this deleted scene suggests that Doctor Strange had some foreknowledge of the
events of Ragnarok that are about to be unleashed?
There's also a nice Star Wars-esque shot and line that was teased in the trailer but ended
up cut from the movie as well.
"Hi there!"
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tessa Thompson, who plays Valkyrie, revealed that
a scene alluding to her character's bisexuality was cut from the final film.
Thompson said that after researching her character in the comics, she learned about Valkyrie's
relationship with archaeologist Annabelle Riggs, so she convinced Waititi to film a
scene of a woman leaving her bedroom, implying the two had been intimate.
However, according to the interview, the moment was deleted because it took focus away from
the main narrative at the time.
But with Valkyrie back for a small role in Avengers: Infinity War, and Thompson having
recently pitched an all-female team-up movie to Marvel, Valkyrie's sexuality could be something
that's addressed in a future movie.
And talking of female Asgardian warriors, one fan favourite missing from the movie is
Lady Sif.
Jaimie Alexander recently confirmed that she was indeed asked to return to the role, but
scheduling conflicts with her TV series Blindspot meant she couldn't make it.
The curious thing though is that back in 2015, Jaimie Alexander said she would definitely
be back for the latest Thor film and that she would have a pivotal role.
This makes me wonder whether, at that time, Valkyrie wasn't supposed to feature in the
movie, or at least not as heavily, and whether the original plan was for Sif to play a part
similar to that instead.
I guess Alexander's lead in Blindspot, the first two seasons of which are over 20 episodes,
meant it was too hard to give Sif a major role in the new film.
But at least her absence means Sif wasn't killed off by Hela as happened to the Warriors
Three.
So, Sif could still reappear in the MCU, which Alexander says she'd be very happy to do.
Beta Ray Bill is a popular character from the comics and although there's an easter
egg to him via a statue outside the Grandmaster's palace, he never actually appears in the movie.
According to Kevin Feige, though, at one point Beta Ray Bill was going to be in the film,
however, they felt they weren't doing his character justice so they canned his appearance
altogether and just left the easter egg, though they may well introduce him in a later movie.
Hela was one of the highlights of Thor: Ragnarok thanks to an interesting backstory, great
swagger, and an actress to match.
She's also the first female lead villain in an MCU movie, however, Taika Waititi revealed
that another Marvel comics villain called Perrikus was originally going to be in the
film.
Waititi didn't elaborate on whether the character would have been instead of Hela, however,
it's interesting that Perrikus, who's a much more obscure villain, shares some similar
comic book history to Hela's arc in Thor: Ragnarok.
In the comics, Perrikus is a Dark God, who is defeated by Odin when he and the other
Dark Gods attack Asgard.
To punish Perrikus, Odin imprisons him in a special cell in a distant part of the universe
that only the Allfather has access to, in a similar way to how he keeps Hela locked
away in the MCU.
Also like Hela, Perrikus destroyed Thor's hammer when he chopped it in half in the comics.
Some of the parallels between the two characters are close enough that I wonder how much Perrikus
provided inspiration for Hela's backstory in the movie.
I'm still glad that Hela was the final choice though as she gave us one of the better MCU
villains so far, and I'm also glad she didn't end up being the villain in Thor: The Dark
World, as was originally going to be the case.
Another Ragnarok highlight is Jeff Goldblum's take on the Grandmaster, with the veteran
actor bringing some great off-the-wall humour to his eccentric Sakaaran dictator.
However, if you look at the comic-book version of his character, you'll notice he has blue
skin.
According to Taika Waititi, the reason for the change in the movie was that Goldblum
already played the part of a blue alien in the 1988 sci-fi musical comedy, Earth Girls
Are Easy.
Still, Ragnarok does include some little allusions to the Grandmaster's original comic-book look,
with blue eyeliner and a little blue strip on his face, which is also a nod to the fact
he's related to the MCU's Collector.
Set visits for Thor: Ragnarok also reported seeing concept art of a meeting between the
Grandmaster and Guardians of the Galaxy character The Broker.
In the first Guardians movie, The Broker planned to buy the Orb which contained the Power Stone
for the Collector.
SlashFilm also reported that an item called a Xandarian Cube was included on the prop
list in the movie's production office and that concept art of the Guardians' Milano
ship was found on set as well.
None of these Guardians connections ended up in the movie and I wonder if they were
possibly Infinity Stone-related in some way.
Talking of Infinity Stones, Marvel fans waiting for the final reveal of the Soul Stone in
Thor: Ragnarok were disappointed.
There were hints and theories that seeing Hela bathed in an orange light after destroying
Thor's hammer in the trailers indicated she had acquired the soul stone from Mjolnir,
or after killing Odin, but with that scene reshot and relocated it's possible that Marvel
midway through production decided to remove any Soul Stone connection in the movie.
There is, however, speculation that the Soul Stone was in the Eternal Flame which brought
Surtur back to life at the end of the film and that this could tie in with Thanos's arrival
at the very end in the mid-credits.
And on the subject of end-credit scenes, Jeff Goldblum told Digital Spy that, thanks to
Taika Waititi's strong preference for improvisation on set, they filmed around twenty different
versions of his post-credits scene.
Some of them include the Grandmaster trying to start a new revolution to overthrow the
current revolution and in another he starts singing the Sakaaran national anthem.
Speaking to Fandango, Waititi also said there was an extended version of the 'Melt Stick'
scene featuring the Grandmaster speaking at length to his cousin Carlo before he zaps
him.
And in the scenes at the arena, there were much lengthier versions of the Grandmaster's
speeches to the crowd, during which Goldblum riffed on all kinds of subjects that Waititi
threw at him including licensing a car!
Plus, there's a deleted scene involving mime between the Grandmaster and Topaz, after he
sends Loki and Valkyrie off to find Thor and the Hulk.
Waititi's emphasis on improvised comedy in Thor: Ragnarok means we can probably expect
a lot of unused comedic gems, some of which will hopefully appear on the Blu-ray and DVD.
Now, what do you think about any of the deleted scenes or things which didn't make it into
Thor Ragnarok?
Is there anything you wish had been included or are you happy with the final movie?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe for your
chance to win a Marvel Funko Pop or an Obsessed With Marvel book.
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Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers!