Thor: Ragnarok Filmmakers Say Movie Is Much Funnier Than Previous Two

Thor may lose his hammer when he returns for the third movie in his self-titled series this November, but he'll also gain the one thing that's been largely absent from his series to this point: a sense of humor.  

In new coverage on Thor: Ragnarok from Collider, the filmmakers behind the stylish comic book movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe promise the new adventure will see the Asgardian prince bringing the jokey sensibility he developed on Earth in the ensemble Avengers movies back home to Asgard. 

"He understands sarcasm in a way he didn't in the first film," said producer Brad Winderbaum. "We're bringing all of that personality into space with him. It's a flip on the fish out of water because now he's not the butt of the jokes, wandering around, not realizing why things are the way they are.  He's the one looking at the world and bringing a certain sarcasm and irony to this cosmic landscape."

"This could be a flat out comedy if we wanted," added actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor.

Winderbaum talked about how the decision was made to steer the third Thor movie towards comedy after seeing how effective the character was at getting laughs in Avengers: Age of Ultron. "He won scenes even with Tony Stark," Winderbaum said. "We wanted to base a movie around that empowered, smart Thor, who the other cosmic figures in his mythology would maybe be a little bit unprepared for."

Another part of the reason why the producers felt it was natural to move the movie in a more comedic direction has to do with Chris Hemsworth's own comedic talents, which continually seem to be getting discovered by directors the actor works with. Playing off the actor's natural wit, a lot of the humor in the movie came out of an improvisational looseness. "I've never improvised so much with this character," Hemsworth said. "Taika will just yell suggestions while rolling. 'Try this, try that.' That has really changed the game."

Director Taika Waititi also emphasized how important it was for his Thor movie to stand alone, calling the series' third installment his own personal "Thor One."

"I don't really want to make an episode of some other larger thing," said Waititi. "I've seen the other films and I respect them, but I can't spend too much time thinking about this as a three-quel because then I'll get tied up too much in respecting what went before and respecting what's to come after." The director also said he wanted his movie to stand as independently as possible "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."

"We didn't want to get bogged down in Infinity Stones and da-da-da-da," said Hemsworth.

If Waititi and company stick the landing, Ragnarok could prove to be a turning point for the series in both tone and style going forward. "To me, Ragnarok means stripping down the establishment and then building it up in a new way," Waititi said. "'Ragnarok' is what we're doing to the character and to the franchise."

Thor: Ragnarok lands at theaters in the United States on November 3. Check out the trailer here, and reacquaint yourself with Marvel's deep bench of players with our feature on every superhero that will appear in Avengers: Infinity War.