You don't have to read comics to love Thor: Ragnarok, because director Taika Waititi and
his crew have made such a genuinely fun movie.
But for longtime Marvel Comics fans, it's even more special because of all the hidden
goodies inside.
Here are some of the small references in Thor: Ragnarok that you might have missed.
And of course, spoilers ahead...
Immigrant Song
Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is the perfect music to accompany a high-octane action sequence
like the ones at the beginning and end of Thor: Ragnarok.
Even better, the lyrics fit perfectly.
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page wrote the song after visiting Iceland and being impressed
with its landscape and history, and the song's full of references to the same Scandinavian
mythology upon which the Thor comics were based:
The line "The hammer of the gods" is a reference to Thor's hammer Mjölnir.
And of course when Robert Plant croons about Valhalla, he's talking about the realm of
the honored warriors who fell in battle.
The Norse afterlife is left out of the Thor movies, but after the events of this one,
Valhalla would be crowded with Asgardians.
Korg and Miek
Korg is a Kronan, one of the Stone Men who were Thor's very first enemies in his debut
appearance in the pages of Journey Into Mystery #83.
Korg himself first appeared as an individual character in the Planet Hulk comic book story
from 2006.
That story also introduced Miek, a weird little insect creature who turns out to be surprisingly
bloodthirsty.
In the movie, Miek doesn't speak at all, and Korg — played by director Taika Waititi
— is much more soft-spoken than he seems in the comic.
"It would pull me off.."
"Oh my god, the hammer pulled you off?"
"The ground!
It pulled me off the ground up into the air and I would fly."
They're fun characters.
But if you only see the movie, you won't have a clue about Miek's original nature as a character,
or Korg's long comic book history with Thor.
He's a Thing
Of course, Korg is far from the most famous rock man in Marvel Comics.
That honor unquestionably goes to Ben Grimm, the Fantastic Four member better known as
the Thing.
The Thing has a long rivalry with the Hulk in the comics, but he can't appear in movies
with them because of licensing agreements.
That's why it's funny when Thor first meets Korg and takes him for a pile of rocks, and
Korg replies, saying, "I'm actually a thing, a being."
For fans of Marvel Comics, there's only one image that pops in your head when a rock man
introduces himself as a thing.
This guy.
"It's clobberin' time for me!"
Point Break
To activate the voice recognition security system on the Quinjet, Thor has to refer to
himself as "Point Break," a call-back to the nickname Tony Stark gave him in The Avengers.
"No hard feelings, Point Break.
You got a mean swing."
Before his haircut at Stan Lee's hands, Thor bore a pretty strong resemblance to Bodhi,
the character Patrick Swayze plays in the 1991 film Point Break.
Bannerless Hulk
Waking up as Bruce Banner after such a long time as the Hulk is understandably jarring,
and it obviously has a negative impact on Banner's psyche.
This sort of thing has also happened in the comics a few times.
During the Planet Hulk storyline, Banner rarely appears because the planet is so dangerous.
The most famous Bannerless Hulk storyline, however, was published in 1988, in The Incredible
Hulk #347.
Thanks to a wizard's spell, the Hulk is freed of Banner, and gets a job working for the
mob in Las Vegas.
He even begins wearing tailored clothes in his own size rather than Banner's torn pants,
and generally lives the high life.
It's usually a mark of these "Bannerless Hulk" stories that the Hulk speaks more and acts
more rationally the longer he stays himself, so it makes sense that he's relatively talkative
in Ragnarok.
Sokovia forgotten
Who even remembers Sokovia?
When Bruce Banner brings it up and asks what happened to the city, Thor doesn't even answer
— he just points out that the battle with Ultron happened two years ago.
Sure, at the time, seeing a city lifted into the sky by Ultron seemed like a huge Earth-shaking
deal.
It played a part in the events of Captain America: Civil War, although even then, they
barely followed up on what happened there after the battle.
This exchange between Banner and Thor conveys how long Banner has been out of it, but Thor's
reaction is also a bit of a joke about how little the huge action sequences that end
each movie tend to matter once the credits roll.
Fenris
Ragnarok doesn't explain much about Fenris the Wolf.
He's treated mostly as an ally and mount for the Death Goddess Hela.
Interestingly, in the comics — and the Norse myths on which they're based — Hela and
Fenris are actually straight-up siblings, and their father is none other than Loki.
In the movie, Hela becomes Odin's daughter, and therefore Loki's adopted sister, while
the wolf's origin is left completely unexplained.
But the closeness between Hela and Fenris, and that green glow in his eyes, hints at
their true relationship from the comics.
Valkyrie's digs
She may look a little different, but the character played by Tessa Thompson is very much the
same Valkyrie who has appeared in Marvel Comics since the 1970s.
Valkyrie's gold and silver armor and blue cape come directly from the comics, along
with her sword, Dragonfang, and the flying horse.
But more than anything, it's her characterization that makes her recognizable.
Valkyrie is a swaggering, hard-drinking warrior woman who's worked hard to get away from her
long and troubled past, before eventually making peace with it.
Thor's eye
When Thor loses an eye in battle with Hela and starts wearing an eyepatch at the end
of Thor: Ragnarok, it's an obvious way of visually depicting his transition into his
father's role as King of Asgard, since Odin was famously one-eyed as well.
But it also resonates with a version of Thor from the comics who bore an even closer resemblance
to Odin.
King Thor, as he's often called, is a version of Thor from the future who first appeared
in Thor, God of Thunder #1.
Like so many things in Thor: Ragnarok, it works perfectly well if you haven't read the
comics — but if you have, it takes on even more meaning.
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