When Thor Odinson returns for Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, he won’t just have his fellow Asgardians to help him against the forces of evil. For his third solo adventure, the God of Thunder is joining forces with his Avengers teammate Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk. That’s enough to differentiate this movie from its predecessors, but according to Mark Ruffalo, the story will also fit into the fun travel genre.
While the previous Thor movies have explored a few areas of the Nine Realms, some fans have complained about them spending too much time on Earth. Fortunately for them, Ruffalo compared Thor: Ragnarok to a “classic odd-couple road movie” in an interview with Empire. He said:
There’s a little bit of Midnight Run, with [Charles] Grodin and [Robert] De Niro. I feel like that’s kind of where we’re heading with this relationship between Thor and Banner. … It is a universal road movie – that’s where we’re heading, It’s not where you'd think it will be, so it’s not your classic road movie but it has that structure, I think.
Given that Thor has helped save Earth four times already on the big screen, it will be welcome to see him and his green ally dealing with threats in other areas of the Nine Realms. They may need to spend a little time on Earth if Thor ends up snatching Bruce Banner from wherever he’s been hiding, but the more time we can spend exploring other worlds, the better. This includes Asgard, which Mark Ruffalo confirmed Banner will visit. The galactic adventure will also let the two heroes get to know each other better, much like how Captain America and Black Widow grew closer in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Plus, as Ruffalo noted, their relationship will have a “smart-comedic bent” this time around.
With Thor: Ragnarok still a little under two years away, few details have been revealed about its plot. All we know so far is that it will revolve around the the Norse apocalypse mentioned in the title. If Ragnarok comes to pass, Asgard and nearly all of its citizens will be destroyed. This was the event foreshadowed in Thor’s vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so he’ll do whatever it takes to prevent it from happening. While not officially announced, several reports and an off-handed comment from Mark Ruffalo indicate that Cate Blanchett will play the main villain. Ruffalo also mentioned last month that we’ll start to see the Banner and Hulk personalities merge in Thor: Ragnarok, resulting in a more intelligent version of the Green Goliath. This was at hinted at in Avengers: Age of Ultron as he flew away in the Quinjet from Black Widow and the other Avengers during the climactic battle against Ultron.
Directed by Taika Waititi and written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, Thor: Ragnarok storms into theaters on November 3, 2017.
