If there is one thing we’ve learned from Taika Waititi’s post-launch assessment of Thor: Ragnarok, it’s that the threequel enjoyed (endured?) a lengthy creative process.
Not only did Ragnarok‘s early cuts “fail miserably,” but Waititi and his team trimmed a fair amount of footage in the build-up to release, including one LGBT scene featuring Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie.
Turns out that Marvel also toyed around with multiple post-credits scenes, before settling on the two included at the very end of Thor: Ragnarok. And as Taika Waititi tells Collider, one such alternative featured The Grandmaster seeking passage on an Asgardian ship, one that would presumably take him to Earth…just in time for Avengers: Infinity War.
We were determined to not have too many of them. The thing [with Loki and Thor], that was the thing we did in reshoots. It was a last minute decision. And the other thing at the end, with The Grandmaster, was something we shot on Gold Coast that was something I planned for a long time. It was either going to be that or it was going to be Topaz and Grandmaster stowing away on the ship at the end.
And though some deleted scenes are never released publically, Waititi then hinted that The Grandmaster’s alternate post-credits stinger may find its way onto the Thor: Ragnarok Blu-ray.
That could be on the DVD in the deleted scenes, those two in the crowd of the Asgardians and he pushes through and goes, ‘I’ve never heard of this Earth place but… We got to keep a low profile.’ And they kind of put these blankets over their heads and disband into the crowd.
Similar to Korg and Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum’s wonderfully eccentric Grandmaster has been tipped for another appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the future, so there’s a chance he’ll be part of the massive ensemble cast featured in Infinity War. The Russo Brothers did promise a slew of unexpected characters, after all.
