How Thor: Ragnarok's Pitch Meeting Went Wrong

Screen Rant

What Went Wrong in the Thor: Ragnarok Pitch Meeting

We imagine what Thor: Ragnarok's pitch meeting was like in order for Marvel to make a funny movie that's supposed to be about the apocalypse.

Our new comedic video imagines what the Thor: Ragnarok pitch meeting might have been like. The third solo film for the God of Thunder was a huge departure from the previous movies. New director Taika Waititi called the shots, but that alone wouldn't explain why it was so different from what we have seen before. Maybe the writers were trying something new in their meetings. It's hard to argue with the results, since Ragnarok is the best received Thor movie to date. But we do have to wonder what steps got them to that point.

Unfortunately our mission to get cameras into the pitch meeting for the latest Thor was a failure, so we can’t say for sure what happened. But after putting our heads together, we’re pretty sure we’ve got an accurate idea of what went down. Watch the video above.

For starters, a common complaint of the previous Thor movies were that they were too serious, and comedy has worked well for the MCU. Unfortunately, Ragnarok means apocalypse, which admittedly doesn't sound very funny. To help with that, the writers decided to merge Hemsworth's performance as Thor with his turn in 2016's Ghostbusters. As long as fans are laughing, characters can be in danger or get killed off without the movie feeling so serious. As for the dangling plot threads from The Dark World, Thor just immediately discovers Loki is masquerading as Odin, and his relationship with Jane never gets serious closure because all the characters are too busy having fun.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Thor Ragnarok

Things can’t be all fun and games, though. The writers knew the villain had to be intimidating. Luckily this is where the criticism about the MCU’s villains works in the movie’s favor, because so many fans talk about how the villains wind up being so one note. But in Ragnarok that cliché becomes a perk, because Hela gives us a break from the comedy by showing off how evil she is all the time.

Lastly, while the writers were freshening things up, they figured Thor could use some new friends. So first they had to have Hela kill off his old friends so fans wouldn’t be asking about them (don’t worry, though, this won’t interfere with the movie not taking itself seriously), and then they introduce Thor’s new buddy Valkyrie. She’s from Asgard, so she can relate to him as a friend. Plus she’s a woman, so she gives Thor a new romantic option so people will stop talking about Jane. Plus she’s fought Hela before and just so happens to already be on the same planet Thor travels to, so she can conveniently help him immediately. Now that’s killing two birds with one stone.