As someone who enjoys his own long, luscious, headbanging hair, I was disappointed to see that Thor was no longer rocking his (at this point) iconic metal 'do in the new RAGNAROK photos. It reminded me of the time another God of Thunder, Raiden, showed up looking like a meth-addled Bart Simpson in MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION. Not a good look.
Chris Hemsworth, admittedly, fairs better than James Remar did, but still the question remains: why the change?
Well, another story from EW has helped shed some light on the situtation with some new, juicy plot details. SPOILERS from here on out, so you've been warned!
Anyway, here's what they had to say:
When we last saw Thor, he was flying off to figure out who was manipulating the Avengers at the end of Age of Ultron. Eventually, he hears rumblings of trouble in Asgard: His evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), has been impersonating their missing father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Loki’s rather lax governing leads to the reemergence of an imprisoned Hela (Cate Blanchett). Thor’s initial encounter with Hela gets him blasted to Sakaar, a barbaric planet ruled by the charming but nefarious Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), a tough, hard-drinking warrior hiding out on Sakaar brings the god to the Grandmaster. “Thor is a bit of a fanboy for the Valkyrie, the elite women warriors,” Hemsworth says. Thor is then forced into becoming a gladiator, which leads to his haircut and the loss of his trusty hammer.
Well, that explains it.
The article goes on to confirm what we pretty much already knew, such as the best gladiator on Sakaar being Hulk (riffing on the PLANET HULK storyline from the comics a few years back) and that it later "becomes a sort of road-trip film, with director Taika Waititi drawing inspiration from movies like 48 HRS., Withnail and I, and even Planes, Trains and Automobiles." The only other interesting tidbit is that the film will apparently not be set on Earth for any length of time, a departure from the first two THOR films. So that's definitely a plus.
But what do you Schmoes think? You down for what you've seen of THOR: RAGNAROK so far? Sound off below!
Either way, you can see preppy Thor in theaters November 3rd, 2017
