The Thunder God’s Roommate Darryl Returns in New ‘Team Thor’ Short
It doesn’t matter if you’re some regular schmo or the Asgardian God of Thunder, living by yourself can get a little lonely. Thank Odin for Darryl then, the milquetoast desk-jockey roommate of the Avengers’ resident hammer-thrower Thor. We first met the mild-mannered pencil-pusher in a short called “Team Thor,” directed by upcoming Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi, that was bundled as an extra with the Captain America: Civil War home media release. That amusing glimpse into the tensions between the two cohabitants was a fan favorite, not to mention a brief preview of the comic sensibility that What We Do in the Shadows (another film about roommates sniping at one another) director Waititi would bring to the Marvel universe.
It was first rumored that “Team Thor” would get a proper sequel back in January as an extra on the Doctor Strange home release, and now Marvel has done its fans the solid of putting that video online for all to see. A squabble has broken out in the household, as Thor has yet to pony up his half of the rent. He’s got plenty of Asgardian currency (worth “gajillions” of our pathetic human dollars, by Thor’s off-the-cuff exchange rate) but doesn’t seem too preoccupied with paying up. He’d rather just mess with poor Darryl, suggesting that rippling muscle pretty much serves the same function as brains. They end up agreeing to get a servant, and by “they” I mean Thor.
These shorts are harmless fun, but they get at something deeper about the appeal of the Marvel movies. People keep coming back to the franchise because they’ve grown fond of the characters and their easy charms. These shorts effectively prove what the feature-length movies have always suggested: at a certain point, audiences would be willing to watch these figures do pretty much whatever. Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters on November 3.