Thor: Ragnarok – New Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

Marvel released a new trailer for Thor: Ragnarokat their big Marvel Movies panel at SDCC 2017, and we dug through it to see what we could glean from the screenshots for you! 

A word of warning: the best way to watch this trailer is with someone who has read and committed to memory Walt Simonson’s legendary run on Thor. It is factually and provably the greatest run with the character of all time, and one of the best superhero comics ever. If you have the opportunity to read it, do so ASAP.

Watch the trailer here in case you haven’t seen it yet…

Here’s what we saw!

The trailer opens on what is likely the Grandmaster’s world, where Hulk and Thor fight in gladiator combat. In addition to drawing heavily from Walt Simonson’s Thor, the movie looks like it will also draw extensively from Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan, and Aaron Lopresti’s Planet Hulk, where Hulk gets shot off into space by the Illuminati for being too dangerous and ends up taking over a planet through gladiator fights. If you’ll recall, at the end of Age of Ultron, Hulk takes himself out of the game for the same reason.

Thor himself lays out the start of the story, talking presumably to Hulk, who promptly pastes him…

…in full Planet Hulkgladiator gear.

Hela, the goddess of death and ruler of Hel, invaded Asgard and messed some stuff up, including Mjolnir. Hela is played by Cate Blanchett in the best casting in the entire MCU so far. Behind her is Karl Urban’s Skurge the Executioner. More on him soon.

Hela faces down an army of Valkyries. Hel is the Asgardian realm where the common dead are sent after they pass. The Valkyries’ job is to guide honored dead who fall in battle to Valhalla, where Hela has no power. They fight a bunch. Thor explains to Hulk (probably) that he’s putting together a team to fight back against Hela, who is trying to bring about Ragnarok, the end of Asgard.

That team includes Thor, Hulk…

The Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson – Brunnhilde, the leader of all Valkyries – and…

Loki, last seen at the end of Thor: The Dark Worldposing as Odin and ruling Asgard. You can catch a glimpse of him leading Asgard’s army against Hela’s initial invasion a little earlier in the trailer.

Loki actually has a role to play in Ragnarok of myth. Get ready for a bunch of likely spoilers.

In Norse mythology, Fenrir is one of Loki’s three children (along with SURPRISE! Hela, though that relationship isn’t made explicit in the comics). Fenris, as he’s known in Marvel, is a wolf who is prophesied to kill Odin during Ragnarok. This is probably Fenris, who gets unchained by Hela to help spur Ragnarok. For more on this part of the myths, check out Michael Avon Oeming’s arc writing Thor, back during Thor: Disassembled.

This is Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, a cosmic entity like the Collector from Guardians of the Galaxy. He runs games on his planet, rumored to be Sakaar from Planet Hulk. With him is The Valkyrie and someone I can’t pin down, but also likely a valkyrie, which makes sense, what with the whole “dying in combat” schtick they have going and this being a gladiator game.

A bunch of stuff flashes by real quick now.

Skurge and his two favorite M-16s in a shot lifted pretty much straight from the best moment in Simonson’s tale. It was a really emotional moment – Skurge had been a thrall of the Enchantress, but eventually realized she didn’t love him back so he left and made a hero turn.

In the comics, he was already dead when he helped Thor and a huge group of unjustly claimed human souls cross the bridge out of Hel and away from Hela. He held the Gjallarbru bridge alone, just him and his axe and his two M-16s, long enough for everyone to escape before he eventually fell. It was awesome. I hope they can do that justice here.

And that’s Korg, a member of Hulk’s warbound (his fellow gladiators who joined the uprising against their masters in Planet Hulk).

The final easter egg, the one that made me scream in a room full of coworkers, is Hulk getting ready to punch Surtur, the fire giant ruler of Muspelheim and the reason anyone who’s read Simonson’s run gets excited when they see “DOOM” sound effects on a comics page.

For more information on Thor: Ragnarok, or for more Dad-ish lectures on how good comics used to be back in my day, or for any more information from this year’s San Diego Comic Con, be sure to stick with Den of Geek.

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!