The Immigrant Song
Featured in Thor: Ragnarok – and heavily used in its marketing – is Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song.” It’s not just a cool-sounding track that works well when played over images of Thor punching people, though, as the lyrics actually fit with the content of the film almost perfectly.
Take a look at the first verse below, for example:
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
We’ll drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, and sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming
The reference to “the hammer of the gods” and “Valhalla. I am coming” speak for themselves, but the fourth line is an eerie match to the climax of Ragnarok, which sees Thor lead a refugee ship full of Asgardians to find a new home.
It turns out that “The Immigrant Song” was key in Taika Waititi landing the job as the movie’s director as well. Marvel chief Kevin Feige explained that the filmmaker used it in his initial pitch:
“Filmmakers sometimes will say, using clips of other movies, ‘Here’s what I have in mind.’ And sometimes they’re not good. Most of the times, they’re okay. His was amazing, and was scored to that Led Zeppelin song. So from the beginning, that song kind of defined what Taika was going to do with this. That it’s in the trailer, that it’s in the film – all from that first meeting, and from one of his first instincts of this movie, is very impressive.”
