Marvel’s Infinity Saga boxset not only comes with every MCU movie thus far, from 2008’s Iron Man to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, but also deleted, never-before-seen footages that did not make the final cut of their respective movies.
This includes one from Thor: Ragnarok where Hela (Cate Blanchett) was initially supposed to return in a dingy New York City alleyway.
A number of key plot points remained in the deleted scene, including Hela destroying Thor’s Mjolnir and Odin dying. Only this time, instead of peacefully passing away in an open field in Norway, Odin was stabbed to death by Hela not long after her return.
In the scene, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) track down Odin (Anthony Hopkins) only to find that their wise, kingly father Odin is now a homeless man living in the streets of New York City picking at trash. They try and persuade him to return to Asgard only for Odin to angrily proclaim that Ragnarok is here and he tells Thor to “seek out the fire”.
Though it is not entirely made clear how Hela would have returned with Odin still alive as it was stated in the film’s final release that Odin was the one thing keeping Hela imprisoned in Hel. In the final theatrical release, it was Odin’s peaceful passing in Norway that released Hela from her imprisonment. Only in the deleted scene, it is obvious that Odin is very much alive, but not for much longer.
Hela and Odin face off in the alleyway, only for the Goddess of Death to kill her father by stabbing him.
In 2017, not long after Thor: Ragnarok’s release, director Taika Waititi joked that the alleyway scene was changed to the one in Norway instead as it was not “cool” enough.
“Here’s the thing, alleyways aren’t cool. Fields are cool. Ask anyone,” said Waititi.
He added, “We originally shot some of that stuff on the set of our stuff in New York. What we wanted to do was have them go down to Earth and they see Doctor Strange and stuff but it felt too convenient that he was suddenly just down the road in an alley and also everything, up to then, everything was so fast-paced and all over the place. We wanted to go somewhere peaceful and actually chill out with those characters and be with Odin while he imparts this wisdom and stuff and not have to hear stupid yellow cabs honking out the back.”
Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth film in the Thor series, will be released on 5 November 2021. Meanwhile, you can catch Thor: Ragnarok on Disney+.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
