In the mind of many a Marvel fan, Thor: Ragnarok was the funny, silly forerunner to Avengers: Infinity War’s gloomy chain of events, but let’s not forget that the God of Thunder went through some tough times last year in his third solo movie.
While Taika Waititi’s MCU debut was certainly one of the zanier entries in the franchise, the bulk of the film’s story is bookmarked by two moments of great loss for its lead: the death of Thor’s father and the destruction of Asgard. By the start of Infinity War, our hero doesn’t even have his trademark hammer anymore, and is left drifting through the galaxy in search of a new place to live for himself and his fellow Asgardians.
From here, things only go downhill for him and his associates, but as Anthony Russo recently observed, the son of Odin’s not the only Avenger to have to start more or less from scratch. In the commentary track on the new Infinity War home video release, the film’s co-director noted parallels between the arcs of Thor and a certain hundred-year-old captain who was thrown out of his time.
“One thing we all really responded to about Thor is where he’s left at the end of Ragnarok with the destruction of Asgard. We all have a history, obviously, with the Captain America character. I think there’s an interesting connection in that Cap was also a character who lost everything and there’s something fascinating about exploring these people as you strip away who they are and their built out identities and find out what’s left and we’re going through a very similar process with Thor in this movie.”
Continuing on, he explained:
“We’re sort of completing the experience that Ragnarok brought to Thor in the sense that we’re taking the rest of everything away from him. Everything that remains. He’s starting with nothing after that point and trying to climb his way back. It’s a very underdog arc, a very rousing arc, I think. Very empathetic.”
That being said, you may have to wait until Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd, 2019 for this underdog saga to get its happy ending. Until then, if you’d like to revisit the time when things went horribly wrong for Thor, Steve Rogers and their currently dusted friends, Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital HD and will be coming to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD on August 14th.
