Warning: Spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok follow.
Thor: Ragnarok marked a shift in tone for the Marvel franchise to a more comedic and colorful cosmic adventure. With this shift came the introduction of exciting new characters, both heroic and villainous. Unfortunately, this also meant ignoring or discarding some of the characters from the first two films. Some of the characters who were discarded, somewhat unceremoniously, were the Warriors Three. Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral, played by Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson and Zachary Levi respectively, had become fan favorites in the Thor franchise, but they met their end at the hands of Hela. However we now know that Fandral originally had a much more heroic and noble end. Zachary Levi explained that much of what was shot got cut from the final version of the film, noting,
What ends up on the cutting room floor is me charging at Hela and getting impaled and going, 'For Asgard.' No shit. I had my last line, my last words in the Marvel Universe were, 'For Asgard.' Cutting room floor. And when I shot that, it was a bummer.
Zachary Levi is a known fanboy and he did sound kind-of disappointed when telling his story at Heroes & Villains FanFest. Having Hela dispatch the Warriors Three with such ease was meant to build her up as a threat, but the only time we really see the Warriors Three in this film is when they are being killed. They didn't have a short little reunion moment with Thor when he returned to Asgard and thus the audience was never reintroduced to them and given time to emotionally invest in their fates before they were killed.
If Fandral's final charge had not been cut, I feel it would have been a better way for the Asgardian warrior to go out that still showed the power of Hela. But alas, it was taken away from the film and at best may make it onto the deleted scenes of the Blu-ray. Despite this disservice to Fandral, Thor: Ragnarok was still the biggest hit critically and financially in the franchise and marked a fun and exciting path forward for the son of Odin.
While Fandral and the Warriors Three never really got their due, Zachary Levi will soon be the star of his own superhero film. The upcoming DC film Shazam!, to be directed by David F. Sandberg, has cast Zachary Levi in the role of the magical superhero. The film, scheduled to hit theaters on April 5, 2019, will see Zachary Levi play the magical adult superhero to Asher Angel's Billy Batson. Zachary Levi has recently spoken about how this film could be DC's answer to Guardians of the Galaxy. For all the latest in superhero news, keep it here on CinemaBlend.
