taika waititi

Because Thor: Ragnarok is a gift for all of us who wondered what the two M.I.A. Avengers had been up to during the events of Captain America: Civil War, it’ll be combining two very exciting comic arcs from Thor and the Hulk. Rumors of Planet Hulk have abounded for most of this year, and Marvel seemed to confirm that parts of that storyline would make it into the new Thor movie when they revealed Hulk’s gladiator armor back in July. Now, the director himself confirmed that not only would Thor: Ragnarok reference Planet Hulk, they’ll actually be going there during the movie.

Late yesterday, Taika Waititi treated Marvel fans to a surprisingly lengthy video from the set of Thor: Ragnarok, which offered our first look at Tessa Thomspon’s Valkyrie makeup (or some of it) and showed off a few of the characters and props we’ll see in the new sequel (among other things). You might have missed a followup to that video over on Instagram, where Chris Hemsworth shared a photo to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe — and revealed his sleek new Thor costume.

Thor: Ragnarok will take us back to Asgard to show us what our favorite God of Thunder and his large green buddy have been up to since Age of Ultron, and with a director like Taika Waititi, we’re willing to bet this could the funniest Marvel movies ever made. Waititi is one of the most talented directors around (if you haven’t seen What We Do in the Shadows, what have you been doing with your life?) and when we heard he’d be directing a Marvel movie we were extremely hopeful that he’d breathe new life into the Avengers saga. With filming on Ragnarok wrapped, the director shared a Facebook Live video of the last day on set.

While I tend to enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve always felt so far that the two Thor movies are the weak link in that particular comic book chain. They’re well-cast for sure, but the plots tend to be underwhelming, the settings and effects aren’t always up to the scale of god beings soaring through the stars, and the villains (apart from Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, of course) have been even more forgettable than the typical Marvel baddies.

There were two glaring omissions from Captain America: Civil War: namely, Avengers Thor and Bruce Banner, who were nowhere to be found in the film’s whopping two hour and 27-minute runtime. Thor: Ragnarök director Taika Waititi obviously noticed this and thought he’d have some fun with it, so he created a short mockumentary about what the God of Thunder got up to during his absence that was screened at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and recently released online. While that video was only a one-shot, there might be a chance that Thor’s Australian “roommate” Darryl might make another appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Last month, after a handful of set photos from Thor: Ragnarok made their way onto social media, fans stumbled across a possible little easter egg for the new movie. Thor was seen holding a business card with the street address for Doctor Strange, suggesting that somewhere along the way, Thor would be in need of a magical consultation. This seemed to suggest that Benedict Cumberbatch would make a guest appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, offering perhaps his first real exposure to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.

Is Chris Hemsworth’s Thor looking for a new primary care physician? Probably not, but he might be looking for a certain doctor.

Marvel really delivered the goods at Comic-Con last weekend, and while the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 footage got everyone in Hall H pretty pumped, nothing was as awesome as the short film Taika Waititi made for Thor: Ragnarok. Although that footage hasn’t made its way online (and probably won’t anytime soon), Waititi has shared a couple of pieces from the short, which shows us what Thor was up to while the Avengers were off fighting in their big Civil War.

If you heard a distant rumble of thunder in the distance over the holiday weekend, it might not have been inclement weather on the horizon. Marvel’s Thunder God is back.

The Thor franchise never quite did right by Natalie Portman. Sure, she had good chemistry with her superheroic co-star, Chris Hemsworth. But through two films, she never really got any true standout moments, and mostly just played an effective (if very intelligent) damsel in distress for the God of Thunder. She certainly never got the kind of scenes or dialogue that made other Marvel women like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts or Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter such crucial and beloved parts of the wider Marvel Universe. If we’re being honest, the role of Dr. Jane Foster, at least as it was written, wasn’t worthy of her talents.