This past weekend was a major one for the TV and film world. San Diego Comic-Con ran for days at a time, providing new footage and trailers from a variety of highly anticipated projects like The Walking Dead and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The latter debuted a handful of new information, but one of the most thrilling was the new trailer for Thor: Ragnarok. Thor's threequel looks like a game changer for the franchise, especially regarding the limitations of the title character's superpowers. One particularly popular shot from the trailer features Loki and Thor shooting up some enemies with some futuristic guns, and now director Taika Waititi has explained the reasoning for this choice: Thor needs to use whatever he can without Mjolnir.
Following the release of Thor: Ragnarok's comic-con trailer, Taika Waititi spoke to IGN about the new footage. Regarding Thor's brandishing of a space gun, he said:
I think we really wanted to challenge Thor in this film. He's challenged more than in any of the other films. He loses the hammer, which is the source of his power, and he's really on the back foot most of the film. We didn't want him to be able to utilize magic, or to have Loki's magic. We didn't want him to have too many advantages. He had to really find his way out of this predicament using his brain and using his friends.
This certainly make sense, and makes me even more excited to see Thor: Ragnarok when it hits theaters in a few months. One of the most powerful Avengers will be up shit's creek without a hammer, and it's going to bring a much different type of action sequences to the table.
The events of Thor: Ragnarok will see the titular hero stripped of everything that previously made him a god. During an early confrontation with Cate Blanchett's Hela, the new villainess destroys his hammer, and therefore his access to the electrical powers that made him so powerful. From there, he's kidnapped by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and trapped on Sakaar to battle in an intergalactic colosseum. In order to escape the planet and save Asgard from Hela's destruction, he'll have to assemble a motley crew of fighters to battle themselves off of Sakaar- and that includes a fair amount of gun toting by all.
It should be interesting to see how Thor's journey in Ragnarok affects his character development moving into Avengers: Infinity War. He'll presumably be much closer to Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk after their team up, and he'll also be bringing Valkyrie into the fold. But with Thanos soon arriving on Earth to claim the Infinity Stones, the Avengers and Guardians are going to need all the help they can get to save the planet. Maybe this will even include Loki.
Thor: Ragnarok will arrive in theaters on November 3, 2017. In the meantime, check out our 2017 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
