The following contains a major SPOILER for Thor: Ragnarok. Come back after you've seen the new movie!
Thor: Ragnarok was a big movie for its title character, seeing Thor go through quite a lot. Exactly how all these events will carry through to Avengers: Infinity War is unclear, but at least one has been confirmed to last for the foreseeable future. If you've seen Thor: Ragnarok you know that the Asgardian does not survive his battle with Hela unscathed. He ends up losing one of his eyes. At the end of the film, he fits himself with an eye patch, similar to the one his father had worn. Our own Eric Eisenberg spoke with Eric Pearson, the writer of Thor: Ragnarok, who explained that the eyepatch will be a part of Thor throughout the events of Avengers: Infinity War, even though Chris Hemsworth isn't a huge fan...
He loved the idea. And I think he was a big participant in it. But I'm sure he regretted it once he had to wear an eye patch. I think that he wanted to cut his hair because he was sick of the wig, and then he was just like, 'Well, I got rid of one cumbersome thing, and now I've got another one.' So, he can't win.
As badass as Thor looks with an eyepatch, it can't actually be the easiest thing in the world to deal with. Having one eye permanently covered certainly messes with your vision, which means shooting Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 couldn't have been that easy for Chris Hemsworth. For what it's worth, it would seem that Thor's new shorter haircut will also be hanging around. It sounds like Hemsworth at least appreciates that much.
Part of the reason that the eyepatch won't be going away seems to be that the idea of giving it to Thor had been a long-discussed idea to be part of Thor: Ragnarok. Eric Pearson says that destroying Thor's eye made sense as something Hela would due to hurt Thor. It also made sense for Thor to have the visual similarity to his father since, by the end of the film, he'd be taking over as the leader of the Asgardians. According to Pearson...
That was something that we thought would be cool right from the beginning... And it became a thing for Hela too, who was looking forward to the idea of killing Odin, and didn't get the opportunity. I think it's almost like he's Hela's mouse and she's toying with it. It's like, 'Well, I'm winning this fight. Let's see if I can get a little catharsis out of this and make him look more like Dad.' So, yeah, so that I thought -- it was an idea that we brought out late that existed from the beginning of the talks. And should we do it? Should we not do it? And when we kind of came to that idea of her going through her own fight there, it seemed to make sense and it did a lot symbolism-wise for Thor's ultimate journey.
Where Thor's journey will take him during Avengers: Infinity War is anybody's guess at this point. The film's mid-credits scene certainly implies that things won't be starting off well for him. We're only a few months away from learning the answer as Avengers: Infinity War is set for release May 4, 2018.
