The evolution of the Thor film series has been one of the best within the MCU. Of course, moviegoers have Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to thank for the change. He leaned more into the humor that was only sprinkled in the first two Thor films. That route seemed to work for the character and Waititi, as the director came back for Thor: Love and Thunder. However, there was one aspect of the filmmaker's work that was only meant as a one-off joke, but it was Thor star Chris Hemsworth’s reaction to this particular character that led to them staying in the MCU.
Taika Waititi spilled how Chris Hemsworth’s love for his improvisation skills turned a joke into a pivotal side character in The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (via Yahoo). The character in question is fan-favorite Ragnarok standout Korg, who Waititi continues to play. Korg’s comedic timing and straightforward opinions made audiences fall in love with him. The Jojo Rabbit director broke down how riffing with Hemsworth on the Ragnarok set spawned the beloved character.
I started messing around as a joke, giving Korg different voices and giving other characters different voices. I played with Korg's voice, which is a very colloquial New Zealand accent, a very rural accent, and Chris cracked up at that. Then we riffed on that a little bit more and Chris was like, 'You should play that. It'd be really funny.'
Thankfully, Chris Hemsworth recognized comedy gold when he saw it. The scenes between Thor and Korg were among the best in the Thor: The Dark World sequel. It helped that Hemsworth and Taika Waititi were already friends before filming the sequel. Having that much freedom on the set of a studio-funded blockbuster was unheard as Waititi pointed out.
The Thor: Love and Thunder director believed filming in another country helped foster the fan-favorite character, saying:
We were having so much fun with that character, and then Chris said, 'We should do more. Find more scenes to put him in.’ I guess, because we were in Australia - and they couldn't really find us or control us - we were able to just start shoving Korg in here and there. And now he becomes this ridiculously prominent character.
As the multihyphenate pointed out, having creative freedom allowed one of the MCU’s best side characters to form. Of course, the Marvel executives must’ve liked what they saw as Korg made the final cut. That led to him playing a prominent role in Avengers: Endgame. He even popped in an episode of Disney+’s What If…? , as well as the viral Free Guy reaction short with Deadpool.
Marvel fans won’t have to wait much longer for Korg’s MCU return as Thor: Love and Thunder will arrive in theaters on July 8, 2022.
