Where to watch Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Trivia & production notes

• Director Alan Taylor declined to return for Thor: Ragnarok because his experience on The Dark World left him feeling creatively sidelined during post-production, with the studio substantially altering his work after shooting wrapped.
• Taika Waititi pitched himself for the director job by creating a sizzle reel using clips from other films, including Big Trouble in Little China, set to Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song,' which Kevin Feige found so compelling that he used the song in the final film and marketing.
• Chris Hemsworth personally requested that Marvel film Thor: Ragnarok in his native Australia, leading the production to shoot exclusively in Queensland and spend over $100 million in the state.
• The ending of Avengers: Age of Ultron originally showed Hulk's Quinjet traveling near Saturn, but Marvel changed it to an Earth-based location to leave his whereabouts ambiguous and kill rumors of a Planet Hulk adaptation in development.
• Including Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok emerged from discussions about adapting the 'Planet Hulk' storyline; the team reframed it as 'Planet Thor' and realized incorporating Hulk into the Thor franchise was a natural fit.
• Screenwriter Eric Pearson joined late in development and was tasked with assembling multiple established puzzle pieces—including Cate Blanchett as Hela, the Hulk, Valkyrie, and Skurge—while being told to disregard continuity from previous Thor films.
• Jaimie Alexander, who played Sif, initially expected to reprise her role in a pivotal capacity but ultimately could not appear due to scheduling conflicts with her television series Blindspot, though the character appears in a stage play within the film.
• Natalie Portman did not return as Jane Foster, with Marvel never asking screenwriters to include Earth-based characters from previous Thor films and confirming between the films that Thor and Foster had broken up.
• Taika Waititi initially had stated in 2012 that he had no interest in directing big-budget features where art was sacrificed for profit, but reconsidered when Marvel offered him creative freedom within their universe.
• Mark Ruffalo's deal to return as Hulk was finalized in October 2015, with the actor later describing the film as a 'road movie' when pre-production began in January 2016.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Thor: Ragnarok, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.