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"It's a long story, but basically I'm a bit of a hero. See, I spent some time on Earth, fought some robots, saved the planet a couple times. Then I went searching through the cosmos for some magic, colorful Infinity Stones. Didn't find any. That's when I came across a path of death and destruction which led me all the way here ... where I met you."
Thor

Thor: Ragnarok is the 2017 sequel to Thor and Thor: The Dark World, and the 17th overall film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the fifth entry of Phase 3. It is directed by Taika Waititi, with a score by Mark Mothersbaugh.

After the return of Hela, a ruthless, ancient being who had been imprisoned millennia ago, Thor Odinson finds himself and his not actually dead brother Loki marooned halfway across the universe on Sakaar, a Landfill Beyond the Stars—and without the source of many of his powers, his mighty hammer, Mjölnir. On the bright side, after being forced into the Gladiator Games of the planet's eccentric ruler, the Grandmaster, Thor discovers the games' greatest champion is... the Hulk, of all Avengers!

Now Thor, along with Hulk, fellow gladiators Korg and Miek, and a fallen Asgardian Valkyrie — and Loki — must escape the Grandmaster’s clutches and find a way back home, before Hela brings an end to Asgardian civilization once and for all.

The film directly leads into the opening of Avengers: Infinity War, and has a later 2022 sequel picking up on a number of unresolved plot threads from Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder.

Previews: Teaser, Trailer 1


Thor: Ragnarok provides examples of:

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    Tropes A to F 
  • The '80s: All the music and the atmosphere of the film is made in the spirit of the '80s.
  • Aborted Arc:
    • An example this is initially played straight on the film's release, but averted later on when Avengers: Infinity War rolls around. Avengers: Age of Ultron set up Thor's reason for leaving Earth again (he had to investigate the Infinity Stones and the threat looming ahead). In the beginning sequence, Thor explains that he's still been looking... and hasn't found a single one years after starting his search. After this is explained, Thor finds himself too preoccupied with his current situation to worry himself with finding them, and they aren't mentioned until the climax of the film, when the Tesseract/ Space Stone is shown locked away in Odin's vault. Avengers: Infinity War confirms Loki steals the Tesseract/ Space Stone before Asgard is destroyed (which was only implied in this movie), and in the first after-credits scene the surviving Asgardians are confronted by Sanctuary II, leading directly into Avengers: Infinity War. Ironically, in putting his search for the stones on hold, he misses another one right under his nose as Doctor Strange is wearing the Eye of Agamotto during their meeting, A.K.A the Time Stone.
    • A downplayed case is when Bruce realizes that when he Hulks out he's no longer partly in control, having spent two years trapped in the Hulk. He's worried that if he transforms again he'll never return. He does Hulk out for the final fight, but other than Banner doing some quick math in his head before he transforms, nobody else including Thor brings this up again. The ending subtly alludes to this arc when Bruce is still Hulked out in his final scene
    • As Ragnarok ended up being a soft reboot for the Thor series, several major threads from Thor: The Dark World are quickly tied up in the first act. The original plot for Ragnarok would have involved a more sinister Loki pulling a Kill and Replace on his father as hinted at the end of the previous film, but this was changed to Loki just exiling Odin — banished but unharmed — to Midgard to pave the way for Loki's anti-hero upgrade. The more hellish apocalypse vision from Age of Ultron, implied to be of Thor's doing and originally to be continued here, was shifted to a different threat with Hela. For the canvas of supporting characters, the Earthbound characters were hand-waved away while Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are dispensed with, with no mention of Sif and the latter killed off in a matter of seconds.
  • Acquaintance Denial: When Loki discovers his brother Thor has been captured by the Grandmaster, he denies knowing Thor as Loki had spent weeks trying to curry favor with the Grandmaster and doesn't want to risk it all being associated with a prisoner.
  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene:
    • Right before shit hits the fan, Thor, Odin, and Loki have a peaceful talk in Norway.
    • Amidst all the colorful chaos and space battles, Thor and the Hulk sit down and have a quiet, friendly conversation where they bond over their similarities.
  • Action Girl:
    • Valkyrie, obviously, as one of Odin's elite soldiers. As well as the rest of her Valkyrie sisters in her flashback.
    • There's also a few shots showing Asgardian women with swords, and some are seen fighting in the battle at the end which is not surprising considering the Proud Warrior Race mentality of Asgard.
  • Actor Allusion:
  • Actually Pretty Funny:
    • Odin is actually more impressed that Loki managed to trap him on Earth than anything else, praising his adoptive son with belief that Frigga, who taught Loki magic, would be proud.
    • Thor can't help but chuckle when Hulk describes himself as a raging fire, and Thor as merely a smoldering one.
    • Thor openly smiles when Loki refuses his proposal to talk, dryly commenting, "Open communication was never our family's forte."
  • Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, the few times they've told the Ragnarök story, Loki fights against Asgard. In the movie, Loki is basically neutral and doesn't want to get involved, until he changes his mind and comes to rescue the Asgardians. Loki is also reluctant to carry out Thor's desperate plan to invoke Ragnarok to stop Hela, claiming that it is "madness".
  • Adaptational Villainy: In the comics, Skurge is described as "the one to whom even Hela bows her head" for his last stand at Gjallerbru, and his stand against her was a result of having finally grown fed up with being openly treated as Amora the Enchantress' dumb muscle. In the film... he joins her because he's too scared to challenge her, and she kills him when he finally does.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The story combines various storylines from the Thor comics (including Jack Kirby's run, Walt Simonson's run, and J. Michael Straczynski's run) and elements from Planet Hulk.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: Korg and Miek undergo this. Miek is The Voiceless and a Flat Character, rather than the Lovable Coward turned Blood Knight of the comics, and Korg has gone from a sound and rational version of The Heart to more Cloudcuckoolander but still being the emotional center of the gladiators.
  • Adaptation Species Change:
    • In the The Mighty Thor comics, Hela and Fenris are jotun (giants) as the children of Loki. Here they are Asgardians instead since they are no longer related to Loki by blood; Hela is a biological daughter of Odin while Fenris is merely listed as an "Asgardian wolf".
    • In the original Norse Mythology, Fenris is a giant wolf despite being the offspring of Loki and a giantess (another of their children is Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent). Hela is named Hel and looks basically human, except that one half of her face looks alive and the other dead.
  • Adapted Out: In both Norse Mythology and every adaptation of the Ragnarok storyline from the comics, Jormungandr/The Midgard Serpent is present. As he is the one fated to suffer a Mutual Kill with Thor. Here, while his fellow children of Loki (Hela and Fenris) are present, he is not. Likely because Thor was Spared by the Adaptation.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: "It's a Hulk in a hot tub..."
  • Adoption Diss: Inverted. This time around Loki who has gained the favor of the Grand Master says he is adopted to distance himself from Thor, the Grand Master's slave.
  • Advertised Extra:
    • A downplayed example — Doctor Strange is only in the movie for a brief amount of time at the beginning, when Thor and Loki are looking for Odin. However, the ad campaign mostly focused on the other characters instead, only pointing out that Doctor Strange has a cameo for the sake of doing just that. The discussion he has with Thor in Ragnarok (with the never-empty pint of beer) was already shown as his film's stinger. This is played straight with D23's preview for the film, however, which definitely tried to make it seem like Strange has a larger role than he actually does:
      If you need even more intergalactic, world-saving action, Thor: Ragnarok in November brings together Thor, the Hulk, and Doctor Strange to face off against intergalactic baddies both familiar and new.
    • Played straight with Odin. He gets a prominent spot on the poster but dies in the first act, and his only subsequent appearances are in a pair of visions Thor has later in the movie.
  • Aerith and Bob: On an alien planet where the highest authority is called the Grandmaster with his assistant Topaz and the arena fighters have names like Thor, Hulk, Korg and Miek, there's also room for a guy named Doug. Also, the Grandmaster's cousin is (or was) named Carlo.
  • An Aesop: Director Taika Waititi said in the commentary that the moral of the story is basically "Talking is better than fighting."
  • Affably Evil: The Grandmaster is very friendly and upbeat for a tyrant. He has no problem enslaving people and forcing them to fight to the death for his amusement, but objects to people being insulting around his throne room and dislikes the word "slave."
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Thor starts by snarling bloody murder at the man about to cut his hair, but switches to pleading when the man shows his "hair clippers".
    The Barber: Now, don't you move. My hands ain't as steady as they used to be.
    Thor: [angrily] By Odin's beard, you shall not cut my hair... lest you feel the wrath of the mighty Thor!
    [the barber unfurls a set of whirling blades of death from his wrist]
    Thor: [meekly] Please! Please, kind sir, please don't cut my hair...
  • Alien Gender Confusion: The Grandmaster is an alien being (entity?) who is millions of years old, has an orgy ship, and plays host to many different species of alien guests, not all of whom look close to human. He is also visibly confused about Thor's gender when he first sees him, so presumably, even though he looks like a human or Asgardian, he's far from it. Notably, having no clue what gender Thor is doesn't stop the Grandmaster from hitting on him, though.
  • Alien Geometries: On Sakaar, Thor is thrown into a circular containment room with the other slave gladiators. When he runs through the room, he immediately loops back around to his starting point, way sooner than he should have. Korg explains that the room isn't really a circle, more like a "freaky circle".
  • All Animals Are Dogs: The Art of Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok reveals that the dragon on Muspelheim was designed to have dog-like mannerisms:
    Morrison: We've actually added an awful lot of dog performance into the dragon. We've made it so when he picks up Thor in the beginning and shakes his head, it's like a dog picking up a squeaky toy. Except instead of a squeaky toy, it's a god.
  • All Crimes Are Equal: Subverted — the Grandmaster is more than willing to casually execute people with his melt stick, but is clearly shocked when his chief enforcer expects him to kill Loki for talking out of turn.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
    • Hela takes over Asgard by killing everyone who would oppose her and claims the royal palace for herself.
    • Hela, Skurge, and along with some resurrected Asgardian warriors, invade the ancient stronghold where the Asgardian refugees are hiding. Fortunately, all-seeing Heimdall was aware of the incursion and the refugees had already escaped.
  • Amazon Brigade: The Valkyries were a group of all-female warriors loyal to the crown, although most of them had been killed prior to the events of the film.
  • Amazon Chaser:
    • Loki, possibly, in regards to Valkyrie. Just look at the expression on his face when she pins him up against a wall. He also gazes at her slightly awed while being tied up.
    • Thor is also a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the Valkyries, and is visibly impressed when Valkyrie downs an entire bottle of alcohol in seconds.
    • Banner, when Valkyrie is revealed in her armour standing next to a massive gatling cannon, just stares in wonder, and even before that he gushes about how "beautiful and strong and brave" she is. And don't forget he used to crush on Black Widow....
    • The Grandmaster is full of compliments for her contender-catching skills and looks terribly pleased with himself when she pats him on the cheek.
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • Thor: The Dark World and the subsequent invoked Flip-Flop of God made it unclear if Loki actually killed Odin or if he just imprisoned him. This movie reveals that Loki imprisoned Odin on Earth.
    • It's left somewhat ambiguous as to whether Hela is actually dead or not. The last we see of her is when Surtur covers the land in fire and plunges his sword through her and then the ground, seemingly causing her to explode into green energy, and then Asgard itself to implode. Logic says that this should have killed Hela, but seeing as she has been shown as being virtually indestructible throughout the film (shrugging off a soldier who impaled her), this could be a case of Never Found the Body. This has likely been done deliberately so that the character can appear in the MCU again, if necessary.
    • Fenris the Wolf, was defeated by Hulk throwing her off the edge of Asgard. However, Loki himself survived this fate in the first film.
    • The film or its tie-in merchandise never addresses who Hela's mother is even though Thor calls Hela his half-sister.
  • Ancestral Weapon: A mural shows that Thor's previously-unknown elder sister Hela wielded Mjölnir before him.
  • Anchored Ship: There's a definite spark between Thor and Valkyrie when they work together to tear down the pursuing craft, then jump back on board the Grandmaster's yacht and find themselves standing a bit too close to each other... but they quickly step apart again.
  • And I Must Scream:
    • Upon realizing that Thor and Loki are back in New York, Doctor Strange captures Loki and holds him in some alternate dimension. He doesn't release him until Thor is ready to leave.
      Loki: I have been falling for THIRTY MINUTES!
    • This is how Banner describes being trapped inside the Hulk for two years.
      Banner: In the past, I always felt like Hulk and I each had a hand on the wheel. But this time it's like he had the keys to the car and I was locked in the trunk.
    • When Thor activates the obedience disk he slapped on Loki's back, then leaves Loki on the floor twitching and writhing in pain. It's unclear how long Loki laid there until Korg and company found him, but it definitely wasn't a pleasant experience waiting.
  • And Starring: Both Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins receive this treatment in the poster by being listed as "With... and...".
  • Answer Cut: When Thor discovers Loki's deception and asks him where Odin is, Loki finally says "I know exactly where he is", and we see a montage of cuts from the Bifröst to planet Earth to New York to Thor and Loki standing on the pavement in Midgardian clothes. Subverted in that the building Loki left Odin in is being torn down and Odin is nowhere to be seen.
    Loki: I swear, I left him right here.
  • Anti-Cavalry: This trope made Hela's battle against the Valykries the Curb-Stomp Battle that it was. In a battle between a goddess who is able to summon knives, blades, and spears larger than buses, versus a battalion of Pegasus-riding Asgardians, it's a miracle that even one was able to survive (and only then because one of them took a dagger meant for her), and it suddenly makes sense why we never saw a single Valykrie previously in the series.
  • Anyone Can Die: The film is a virtual reboot of the Thor franchise given the number of previously established characters that die. In order: Odin, The Warriors Three, the entire Einherjar, Skurge, Hela (maybe), and finally Surtur (again, maybe). If we're counting iconic-but-inanimate elements, then there's both Mjölnir and all of Asgard itself.
  • Apocalypse How:
    • Hela's victory would mean anything from "Planetary/Species Extinction" to "Planetary/Physical Annihilation" for any of the nine realms given how she's looking forward to "drenching them in blood", and has the power to make good on that plan.
    • Asgard itself suffers a "Planetary/Physical Annihilation". Hela has grown more powerful than anyone, but because her power is tied to Asgard, Thor decides to unleash Surtur so he can fulfill his destiny of destroying Asgard down to its foundations.
  • Apocalypse Wow: The destruction of Asgard by Surtur is visually stunning.
  • Appeal to Inherent Nature: The way Loki attempts to justify his crimes in the In-Universe play he wrote: "I just couldn't help myself. I'm a trickster!" Thor contests it later in the movie when he notes that Loki could both be who he is (the God of Mischief) and change for the better.
  • Arc Symbol:
    • Fire appears prominently throughout the film.
    • In a movie focused on the Throne of Asgard, Thor routinely finds himself forcibly strapped to large, grand-looking chairs. Until he finally takes his place as king in the captain's chair of Asgard's escape vessel.
  • Arc Words:
    • "Asgard isn't a place, it's a people."
    • Thor has been called "God/Lord of Thunder" throughout the film. His realization that the powers of lightning and thunder are inherent to him and not granted by Mjölnir is what finally allows him unleash his full power and turn the tide of the Final Battle in his favor.
    • Thor is told that he's "Home" many, many times in many, many different locations. This is related to Odin's words that Asgard can be anywhere — thus, Thor can be "home" anywhere.
  • The Ark: The Asgardians escape on a single spaceship, the Statesman.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: After the destruction of Mjölnir, Thor believes he is nothing without it until a vision of Odin asks him, "Are you Thor, the God of Hammers?"
  • Arrogant God vs. Raging Monster: Hulk and Thor are both stranded on the Grandmaster's world and forced to participate in his gladiator games. Thor doesn't have his hammer this time, and tries to avoid the fight, but Hulk is too eager for a rematch to listen. Thor actually manages to get the upper hand for a moment, but the Grandmaster interferes.
  • Arrow Cam: When Thor is fighting Surtur's minions, Mjölnir smashes them in circles around the God of Thunder. Half of that sequence is seen from the hammer's point of view as makes its way back to Thor's hand destroying everything on its path.
  • Arrow Catch: Hela catches Mjölnir one-handed. Then she demonstrates her tremendous powers by shattering it, also with one hand.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • In the Asgardian play that Loki commissioned and, as confirmed by Word of God, wrote himself, the in-universe actor who portrays him apologizes to actor Thor for "trying to rule Earth", for "that thing with the Tesseract"... and for "that time I turned you into a frog".
    • After losing Mjölnir, and being banished to a strange planet and forced into a Gladiator-like competition, the one thing that upsets Thor the most is that he is getting his hair cut.
  • Art Evolution: While the other Thor films used mainly gold color schemes for Asgard to contrast the more muted colors on Earth and the muddy-grey looks of the other realms, this film's new settings utilize more vibrant, pop-art-style colors than any of the other installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, inspired by the works of iconic comic book illustrator Jack Kirby.
  • Artistic License – Gun Safety:
    • When Skurge is showing off his matched M-16 rifles, Des & Troy, he appears to aim right at his guests. The girls don't seem put out, but they also don't seem to fully realize what's being pointed at them.
    • When Thor and Loki get their hands on a pair of laser blasters, they wave them around as casually as if they were harmless toys. Then again, to Asgardian princes, they might be.
  • Ascended Extra: Heimdall is much more prominent this time around, being the only hero left in Asgard to stand up to Hela while Thor and Loki are trapped on Sakaar.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Thor grew up hearing stories of the bravery and valor of the Valkyries, so he's rather excited to get to team up with the last of them.
  • Ascended Meme:
    • When Skurge finally arrives on foot to announce Thor's return to Asgard, after Thor has already revealed Loki's deception, Loki yells "You had one job!"
    • Loki's Oh, Crap! reaction to seeing The Hulk in the ring could be an acknowledgement to the many jokes and memes that came out after The Avengers regarding Loki being deathly afraid of The Hulk after being the victim of his Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost: When Loki uses an illusion to talk to Thor in the dungeons on Sakaar, Korg mistakes him for a ghost.
    Korg: [kicking at the illusion] Piss off, ghost!
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Surtur at the start of the movie is already 3-4 times taller than Thor but when he is resurrected by the eternal flame and achieves full power, he grows to the size of mountain.
  • Audible Sharpness: Several times throughout the movie, for example when Thor draws his swords during the gladiator battle.
  • Author Appeal: Waititi inserted a number of subtle references to New Zealand and Australian culture in the film.
    • Look at the masks that the trash tribes wear on Sakaar.
    • The ship Thor and co use on Sakaar is named after the Holden Commodore, and is painted in the colours of the Aboriginal Australian flag. "Warsong", Valkyrie's ship, is painted in the colours of the Māori flag.
    • A line from Topaz in the Grandmaster's chamber "Tell her she's dreaming" is taken from quotable Australian classic The Castle.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Following Odin's death, Hela (as his eldest child) is the true heir to the throne of Asgard, and she is also clearly presented as being by far the strongest and most powerful Asgardian. Thor can somewhat compete with his new Super Mode, but Hela is still stronger due to her ties of Asgard.
  • Autobots, Rock Out!: The viking-themed "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin is used twice to score Thor battling a crowd.
  • Back for the Dead:
    • Thor and Loki find Odin in Norway, just as he's about to die of old age which allows Hela to return from her exile kicking off the main plot of the film.
    • Due to the element of surprise, Hela kills Fandral and Volstagg of the Warriors Three as soon as she arrives on Asgard. Hogun manages to put up a fight later before being killed as well.
  • Badass Boast: Hela gets off a great one as she's slowly choking the life out of Thor.
    Hela: I'm not a queen, or a monster. I'm the Goddess of Death. What were you the God of, again?
  • Badass Bystander: The civilians of Asgard are not powerful enough to directly stand against Hela or Fenris, but many take arms against her undead soldiers.
  • Badass Cape: Thor, Hela, Loki, and Valkyrie all sport impressive capes. During the heroes' confrontation with Hela on the Bifröst, Hulk is the only one without a cape.
  • Badass in Distress: Our hero Thor, among other things, gets suspended in chains inside a pit of glowing skulls, and captured by Valkyrie and the Grandmaster. (The first time, he's merely biding his time to get information before busting out. The second, sans Mjölnir, he actually has to work to escape.)
  • Bad "Bad Acting": The play re-enacting Loki's death in the previous movie is riddled with hammy acting and written in such a way to stroke Loki's ego. And Loki goes all out by making sure he's played by Matt Damon, while casting Sam Neill as Odin and the least famous Hemsworth brother as Thor.
  • Bad Boss: Downplayed. The Grandmaster may be a Laughably Evil despot who's forcing captured slav... er, "prisoners with jobs" to fight to the death in his arena, but he's not petty. While berating Loki and Valkyrie for the escape of Hulk and Thor, Loki interrupts him, to which his Number Two Topaz immediately hands him his "melt-stick" that he uses against enemies of the state. He's just confused why she would think that something as minor as speaking out of turn is a capital offense. Then again, he's planning a public execution if they don't bring the pair back promptly. But Hulk is also his fighting champion and the Gladiator Games are the main reason why he's maintained his power, so one can see why he'd be pissed.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment: "I pardon you... from life." Cue the Grandmaster's melt stick as he personally executes the traitor he says those five words to.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: Hela's one hell of a melee opponent, and attacking her with sharp weapons seems pointless. For instance, she blocks a spear attack by Thor by nonchalantly crossing her arms in what is basically a provocative gesture intended to show that Thor is no match for her. She also blocks a sword attack by Valkyrie with her forearm with ease.
  • Barrier Maiden: Odin, surprisingly enough, because his death is what allows Hela to break free from her imprisonment.
  • Bathos: Much of the humor comes from heroic and badass moments going off the rails and becoming awkward in some way.
    • Thor gives Surtur a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner right before summoning Mjölnir, though he mistimes it and it takes a couple seconds for it to reach him. Thor asks Surtur to give him a moment.
    • As he is leaving Doctor Strange's manor, Thor summons Mjölnir (in the form of an umbrella), and it again takes several seconds for it to reach his hand. This time, things are getting knocked down and glass is breaking as it travels through Strange's manor. Thor awkwardly apologizes as he's waiting for it to get to him.
    • In Valkyrie's introduction, she has a typical badass's entrance, taking a long slug from the liquor bottle in her hands before strutting down the ramp of her spaceship, but she drunkenly stumbles and falls off the side instead.
    • Hela introduces herself to Hogun and the armies of Asgard with a grandiose speech about her origins and her intent to bring Asgard back to its former state as a Multiversal Conqueror civilization and offers them the chance to join her. Hogun rebuffs her and tells her that whoever she is, she should leave Asgard be.
      Hela: "Whoever I am?" Did you listen to a word I said!?
    • Thor is about to make his escape from Sakaar, telling Valkyrie that he's going to get back to Asgard and save his people, complete with the phrase "Because that's what heroes do," but he's interrupted when the ball he threw at the window bounces back and knocks him to the ground.
    • Bruce Banner realizes the only way to defeat Fenris is to become the Hulk again. He leaps out of the spacecraft in a death-defying leap of faith, assuming he'll change into the Hulk before he lands. He doesn't.
    • On witnessing the destruction of Asgard, Korg gives a speech about how while the city is destroyed the foundation is still intact, and will be rebuilt and become a haven for all peoples, only for an Earth-Shattering Kaboom to tear those foundations apart.
  • Beat Them at Their Own Game:
    • Doctor Strange uses his own sorcery to out-maneuver Loki by trapping him in a pocket dimension. When Loki is released, he is livid and challenges Strange's standing as a sorcerer implying he is "second-rate". The film avoids a direct confrontation between these two magic users by having Strange shove Loki and Thor through a portal to Norway.
    • During their escape from Sakaar, Thor anticipates Loki's betrayal and secretly plants an obedience disc on him beforehand. He then delivers a Kirk Summation to him about his lack of growth and predictability.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Thor invokes this on Loki when he agrees that it might be better if they never saw each other again, commenting that "that's what [Loki] always wanted".
  • Behind the Black: Subverted for comic effect. Thor has been captured on Sakaar and sold to the Grandmaster when he sees Loki on the other side of the room and calls him over. They start whispering to each other because the camera is turned away from the Grandmaster, but since he's actually standing right next to them, he's heard their entire conversation.
  • Betrayal Insurance: During the escape from Sakaar, Thor puts an obedience disk on Loki in case he attempts to betray him again. True to form, Loki doesn't disappoint him.
  • Bewitched Amphibians: Loki's play mentions an incident where Loki transformed Thor into a frog.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Mjölnir was forged in the heart of a dying star, and imbued with magic so that only the most worthy of heroes could possibly make it move in any way. Hela catches and then crushes it with just one hand.
    Thor: This is not possible!
    Hela: Darling, you have no idea what's possible.
  • Big Bad: The all-powerful and ruthless Hela, whom Thor must race against time to defeat in order to stop her violent assault on Asgard, the Nine Realms, and then the rest of the Universe.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Miek is a maggot-like alien in a robotic suit and at one point seems to be laying eggs.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • Subverted when Valkyrie comes to save Thor who is overwhelmed by the trash tribes only to sell him to the Grand Master turning it into a Villainous Rescue.
    • Loki arrives with Korg, Miek and the rest of the gladiators Just in Time to save Heimdall and the other Asgardians from Hela's troops.
    • Skurge's Heroic Sacrifice, stepping up to hold off Hela's army while the evacuation is completed.
  • Big Entrance:
    • The Hulk isn't exactly patient and doesn't even wait for his arena door to fully open or the Grandmaster to properly introduce him — he just batters through the entrance with a mighty roar.
    • Loki, true to form, makes sure to draw all the attention to himself when he returns to Asgard with the gladiators, standing on the ramp of the Statesman with his arms stretched out shouting "Your savior is here!!!!"
  • Big Guy, Little Guy:
    • Hulk and Thor, respectively, not that Thor would acknowledge it but Hulk gladly does so with "You tiny Avenger!"
    • Korg and Miek. To the point where Korg accidentally steps on Miek, and feels very guilty about it.
  • Big "NO!":
    • The Asgardian playing Thor in the Greek Theatre–inspired play when he mourns "Loki's" death scene.
    • Thor, when the barber at the Grandmaster's arena is about to cut his hair.
    • Thor and Bruce, when Topaz shoots at Valkyrie's ship, causing it to explode, and they believe she has been killed for a second.
  • Big "OMG!": Thor, when the Grandmaster melts another prisoner with his stick right beside him.
  • Big Red Devil: Surtur, which isn't too surprising considering that he's the lord of Muspelheim, the realm of fire.
  • Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: When angrily insulting Hulk, the best Thor can come up with is childishly claiming everyone on Earth calls Hulk "the stupid Avenger", before sheepishly apologizing to him later. "You're not the stupid Avenger. Nobody calls you the stupid Avenger."
  • Big "WHAT?!": Both Valkyrie and Bruce Banner feel like they recognize each other from somewhere. Valkyrie doesn't figure out that he's the Hulk until he transforms in front of her. The expression on her face says it all.
  • Big "YES!":
    • Thor's reaction when he finds out that his gladiatorial opponent is his friend the Hulk is to shout "YES!"
    • Loki, when Hulk starts to slam Thor on the ground several times during the match, in the exact same manner that Hulk slammed Loki around in The Avengers.
      Loki: YES! That's how it feels!
  • Bittersweet Ending: Hela has been defeated, Loki is redeemed (probably), and the people of Asgard are safe, but Asgard is destroyed, the Hulk may never revert to Bruce Banner ever again, and Thanos has found Thor's new ship.
  • "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: "Slave" is such a mean word. The Grandmaster prefers "prisoners with jobs".
  • Blade Brake:
    • When Thor gets thrown around by Hulk in the arena, he slams one of his swords into the ground to cease his momentum.
    • During the escape from Sakaar, Valkyrie jumps from spaceship to spaceship to incapacitate them and plants her sword in one of them to prevent falling off.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • When one of the girls wanting to take a photo with Thor tells him how sorry she is that Jane dumped him:
      Thor: [to Loki] She didn't dump me, you know, I dumped her. It was a mutual dumping.
    • Loki tells the Grandmaster that he's never met Thor before, even though the Grandmaster just caught them whispering to each other.
      Thor: [whispering] Tell him.
      Loki: I've never met this man in my life.
      Thor: He's my brother!
      Loki: Adopted.
    • Bruce is somewhat skeptical of Thor when he says he easily won their previous fight, which involved Thor getting slammed through several arena walls by Hulk. Thor only gains the upper hand in the later stages, by unconsciously tapping into his inherent power as the God of Thunder but still loses when the Grandmaster cheats and activates Thor's obedience disk during the battle.
      Thor: You and I had a fight recently.
      Bruce: Did I win?
      Thor: No. I won. Easily.
      Bruce: That doesn't sound right...
      Thor: Well, it's true.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Played straight for the most part — any time there's a lot of violence (such as Hela's attack on the Asgardians or the fight on the Bifröst Bridge at the end) there is exactly no blood. The only time it shows up it when it's in very small amounts (such as Thor's wounds after the fight with Hulk, and when Hela slashes Thor's right eye out) or clearly non-human in nature (such as the dragon in the cold open or when Fenris bites Hulk during the Bifröst Bridge fight).
  • Blunt "Yes": Hulk, after Thor angrily exclaims "What! Are you crazy?!" when Hulk throws a heavy shield at him during their argument.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Thor, Hulk, and Valkyrie all engage in much boasting and hollering while they mow down everything in their path from Sakaaran aliens attempting to rescue Hulk to Hela's army of the undead laying siege to Asgard.
  • Bolivian Army Ending: Both of the Stingers.
    • After Thor has the spectacularly bad judgement to say, "I wouldn't worry, brother. I feel like everything is gonna work out fine.", their ship is approached by a much, much larger ship with ominous music thundering in the background. Cut to credits.
    • The Grandmaster exits a crashed ship and finds himself surrounded by the people of Sakaar, still in the process of an uprising. He declares the revolution a tie. Cut to black.
  • Bookends:
    • The movie begins and reaches its climax with Surtur.
    • "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin plays during the fight scenes from the same beginning and climax scenes. The scenes themselves would qualify, as they both involve Thor kicking all kinds of ass. The scenes also meaningfully and nicely contrast:
      • In the first, Thor is having fun, in the second he's nice and pissed off.
      • The colour scheme goes from warm to cold hues.
      • One scene emphasises circular movement and has Thor surrounded, the other is built along a straight line.
      • The first has Thor alone, the second with many witnesses, with multiple reaction shots to Thor's big entrance.
      • Most importantly, the first fight is fought to stop Ragnarok, the second — to bring it about.
    • The first Thor movie begins with Thor invading Jotunheim, confronting Laufey, and fighting a lot of Jotuns and a giant Jotunheim monster. This movie starts with Thor on Muspelheim, confronting Surtr, fighting ... Muspelers and a big lava monster. The first movie ends with the destruction of the Bifröst, this one with the destruction of Asgard.
  • Boomerang Comeback: Thor pulls a variant with Mjölnir while Loki is disguised as Odin, who enchanted the hammer to begin with. As he's not Odin, Loki can't stop it from coming back and has to drop the charade.
  • Bootstrapped Theme: "Immigrant Song" has become Thor's theme song, due to playing in two scenes and in the teaser for the movie.
  • Boring, but Practical: Despite all the fancy Magitek available on Asgard, Skurge is incredibly effective with two regular firearms.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Played with. Skurge's guns fire way more than they should, but do run out eventually, at which point he uses them to bludgeon his opponents.
  • Boys Like Creepy Critters: Thor admits that he loves snakes and would pick one up to admire it as a child.
  • Brain Bleach: Thor gets a good look at the Hulk's genitals when he emerges from a hot tub. He laments "That's naked. He's very naked. It's in my brain now."
  • Bread and Circuses: Really, the only thing that keeps a violent scavenger anarchy like Sakaar from tearing itself apart are the gladiatorial games that serve the dual purpose of slaking the populace's rage and bloodlust, and culling the numbers of rebellious warriors who can potentially start inconvenient revolutions.
  • Breaking Old Trends:
    • The first two Thor films had prologues narrated by Odin that provided exposition on the film's villain and the MacGuffin they had or desired. This film's Cold Open dives straight into the story with Thor being held in a cage after Surtur captures him (however, it also sets up Surtur's fully-powered form as the Chekhov's Gun that will be used to defeat Hela). This is rather justified if you consider that at the beginning of the film, the real Odin is missing.
    • Unlike the first two, Loki does not have a Disney Death, or any brush with death whatsoever, and is still at Thor's side at the end of the film (however, it is implied that he is keeping the Tesseract to use as a bargaining tool with Thanos).
    • Regarding the MCU as a whole, this is the first MCU appearance of the Hulk without Tony Stark (as either The Cameo in the other's movie or as part of an ensemble). Banner does find the man's clothes in the Quinjet, though, and gets to wear them for the majority of his screentime.
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: Thor retrieves a suit of old Valkyrie armor for Valkyrie to wear right before the final battle against Hela.
  • Break Them by Talking: Thor does this to Loki in the elevator after realizing that constantly just forgiving Loki everything will lead nowhere. So he gives him a heartfelt speech about how much Loki used to mean to him, but how he's made peace with the fact that their "paths diverged a long time ago", and claiming that them never seeing each other again is what Loki always wanted. All the while fully aware that he's hitting Loki hard. Later, when Loki attempts to sell him out on the Grandmaster, he proceeds with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Eventually, this works and motivates Loki to finally perform a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Early in the film, Thor is transported back to Asgard via the Bifröst and accidentally brings a dragon head with him, resulting in Heimdall's room and all within being coated with muck. Later, when Hela arrives from Earth the same way, Skurge is busy mopping the place up, and he quickly claims that he's the janitor.
    • Korg introduces himself with a line about not wanting to hurt anyone — unless you're scissors, in a Rock–Paper–Scissors joke. At the end of the film, he horrifiedly (and mistakenly) thinks he's killed the knife-handed character, Miek — i.e. that "rock" has defeated "scissors".
    • During the final battle, when Thor, Valkyrie, and Loki try to figure out how to face off against Hela, Loki says he is not doing "Get Help".
  • Bridge Logic: When she is chasing after the Bifrost sword, Hela is trying to enter an Asgardian stronghold protected by a) a deep chasm, and b) enormously tall stone doors (it's from the Unnecessarily Large Interior school of architecture). She blows the doors open in such a way that they fall outward, bridging the chasm.
  • Brig Ball Bouncing: While in Hulk's room (which, while quite luxurious, is still a prison), Hulk can be seen bouncing a huge ball against the wall in the background while Thor and Valkyrie are talking.
  • Brought Down to Badass: After the destruction of Mjölnir, Thor is forced to utilize his skills as a highly trained warrior but is no stronger than the similarly superhuman alien races around him on Sakaar and Asgard. Subverted when Thor discovers that the ability to control lightning and thunder was not something granted by Mjölnir but was his innate "god power" all along.
  • Bystander Syndrome:
    • Loki, despite knowing that Hela has been unleashed on Asgard, adapts this attitude as he begins to forge a new life for himself as a member of the Grandmaster's inner circle on Sakaar. When Thor arrives later, Loki attempts to convince his brother to take a similar stance. However, Thor, as the hero, completely rejects this option.
    • Valkyrie (a.k.a. Scrapper-142) only survived Hela's massacre of her fellow women warriors because a loved one sacrificed herself to save her. This tragedy left Valkyrie embracing this attitude and retiring to Sakaar to drink herself to death. As Loki, she tells Thor to forget about the Asgardians, but he refuses to do so.
  • Cain and Abel and Seth: With Loki and Thor as Cain and Abel respectively, in comes Hela revealed as their older sister. The two end up working together to stop her.
  • The Caligula: The Grandmaster is very hedonistic and doesn't appear to be interested in leadership. He treats his position as though he's simply on top of Sakaar's social strata, and apparently sees the power that comes with it as a bonus perk. Somewhat interestingly, he never loses his temper, treating any setbacks like a mild inconvenience; and while he hasn't shied away from killing anybody, his enforcer Topaz is actually more violent than he is.
  • Call-Back: A number of lines and character beats reference previous works in the MCU:
    • When asked by the Grandmaster if he knew Thor, Loki nervously states he's never seen Thor before. Thor angrily states that they are brothers, to which Loki adds "adopted". This references to The Avengers, where Thor reasoned the Avengers that Loki was his brother, whereupon being told of his crimes on Earth, he tells them he is adopted.
    • Loki is visibly distressed upon seeing the Hulk again, referencing the fact that the last time they saw each other in The Avengers, Hulk smashed Loki into the ground enough times to leave the "puny god" lying motionless in a hole in the floor.
      Thor: Loki, look who it is!
      Loki: I have to get off this planet.
    • The fight between Hulk and Thor has references to both Avengers movies in a row: Thor tries to calm Hulk down like Black Widow in Age of Ultron ("Hey big guy. Sun's getting real low...") only to get pounded in a Metronomic Man Mashing just like Loki from the first film, causing Loki to laugh and yell, "Yes! That's how it feels!"
    • After repeatedly being denied access to the Quinjet's computer system, Thor is sure that his voice-activation code must be "Strongest Avenger". It's not — it's actually "Point Break", which was Tony Stark's nickname for Thor back in The Avengers.
      Thor: Damn you, Stark.
    • On the Quinjet the last message received is a replay of the scene from Age of Ultron where Natasha trying to convince the Hulk to turn back around (which makes him revert to Banner once he sees it).
    • A line of Odin's from Thor is repeated by Thor and Hela towards the end of the film right before they fight:
      Thor: "... A wise king never seeks out war..."
      Hela: "...But must always be ready for it!"
    • Near the climax, Banner decides to turn into the Hulk by jumping out of the spaceship he's in, remembering he has used the trauma of crashing into the ground after jumping out of a plane for his final transformation in The Incredible Hulk. Unfortunately, he forgets that it took several seconds for him to transform back then too, causing him to splat into the Rainbow Bridge and just lay there for a few seconds, much to Fenris and the Asgardian people's utter confusion.
    • When Thor and Loki first encounter Hela, she surmises the former to be the son of Odin, musing "you don't look like him." She comments that he looks much more like Odin after she gouges out his right eye in the climax.
    • Banner tries to convince Thor that he can be a help without the Hulk, citing his seven PhDs to the Hulk's zero. While they and Valkyrie are escaping Sakaar, Thor tells Banner to put said PhDs to use, only for him to complain that none of them are in flying alien spacecraft.
    • In The Avengers, Loki tricked Thor with an illusion of himself in the prison cage aboard the Helicarrier, then sneered "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" While they're escaping from the Grandmaster's world, Loki tries to slip away and leave just an illusion of himself walking beside Thor. This time, Thor doesn't fall for it.
  • The Cameo:
    • Scarlett Johansson appears as Black Widow in a replay of her video message from the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
    • As usual, Stan Lee makes an appearance, this time as the barber who prepares to give Thor a haircut.
  • Cameo Cluster: Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth are the Asgardian actors portraying Loki, Odin, and Thor, respectively, in a dramatisation of Loki's life. Ironically, all three were runners-up for the roles in the MCU that they are portraying in the play.
  • Canis Major: Fenris is a giant wolf large enough to swallow a man whole.
  • Casting Gag: In the Asgardian play Thor witnesses upon arriving to Asgard, the "actor" playing the God of Thunder is Chris Hemsworth's brotherinvoked Luke Hemsworth. And this isn't the first time Matt Damon has played someone called Loki.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: Thor and Loki casually chat with each other while fighting off Sakaarian guards and typing in the stolen security codes.
  • Catch and Return: As she chases behind Thor and Loki inside the Bifrost beam, Hela catches the dagger Loki throws at her and flings it right back at him, knocking him out of the Bifrost.
  • The Cavalry: When Hela's undead soldiers are about to overwhelm the Asgardians on the Rainbow Bridge during the Final Battle, Loki and the rebel gladiators appear with the ship from Sakaar to defend and evacuate the people.
  • Central Theme: Self-reflection. Who the characters really are and can they leave the past behind? This is depicted in the repeated use of mirrored reflections and captured images such as: when the display in the Quinjet showing a panicked Hulk aligns with Bruce Banner's face, when Loki and Valkyrie walk over a highly reflective floor and their image turns upside down, when Thor looks at the remains of the painting of his former self or when Thor contemplates his one-eyed reflection in the mirror of his chamber on the Statesman.
  • Cerebus Retcon: Odin's harsh decision to banish Thor and strip him of his powers in the first movie takes on a much different context once you learn that his firstborn child, Hela, had to be imprisoned after she turned against him. Rather than a father simply punishing his rebellious son and trying to teach him some humility, it now becomes a father trying to stop his second child from turning out like his monster of an older sibling.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid: When Thor heads back to Asgard with Hulk and Valkyrie, Loki instead heads off on another ship with the liberated gladiators. Later, when Hela's undead troops cut off our heroes and all the Asgardian refugees from escape through the Bifröst, Loki and the gladiators show up as reinforcements and provide the ship as a ticket off of Asgard.
  • Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Thor decides to just drop the idea of visiting Miek's home planet at the end of the film after asking where it is leads Korg to go on an utterly strange Cloudcuckoolander tangent.
    Thor: Miek, where are you from?
    Korg: Oh, Miek's dead. Yeah, no, I accidentally stomped on him on the bridge, and I've just felt so guilty I've been carrying him around all day...
    [Miek wakes up]
    Korg: Miek, you're alive! He's alive, guys! What was your question again, bruv?
    Thor: Earth it is.
  • Character Development:
    • Thor never wanted to rule Asgard and is shown being strapped into various throne-like chairs throughout the movie. At the end, he willingly steps into the big chair (the captain's seat on the refugee vessel) to lead his people.
    • Loki's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder has become so predicable even Thor can see it coming a mile away. When ruling Asgard in Odin's guise, he's more interested in eating Grapes of Luxury and whitewashing his reputation than ruling the Nine Realms. However he takes leadership of the rebels and leads them to Asgard for the final battle, when he could have just run for it.
    • Having spent two years as Hulk, the Big Guy has become a bit more articulate, and has come to realize he prefers his life on Sakaar as opposed to Earth where he is hated and feared. He shown enjoying himself as the Grandmaster's champion.
    • Odin started as a bloodstained conqueror, but came to regret his actions and ruled as The Good King instead. Hela on the other hand refused to change which is why no-one on Asgard wants her in charge, even Thor who doesn't want the position and accepts that she has the right to rule.
  • Charge-into-Combat Cut:
    • When Thor and Hela charge at each other in the throne room, the camera cuts away to Heimdall leading the people over the Bifrost.
    • A few seconds after Loki, Korg and the other gladiators join Heimdall in the fight against the Berserkers, the scene cuts to Thor and Hela on the balcony of Asgard's palace.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: Thor's introduction to Sakaar is a direct parody of the film's boat ride scene as he is strapped to a chair and travels down a psychedelic tunnel of colorful lights and imagery as he is informed about his new life on Sakaar. On top of this, strains of Pure Imagination is playing within the soundtrack. As it continues, the ride becomes more and more visually frantic until there's an abrupt Smash Cut and Thor finds himself in the Grandmaster's throne room.
  • Charm Person: A subtle demonstration is done by Doctor Strange when Thor visits the Sanctum Sanctorum. Thor has seen Loki kidnapped and has yet to meet Doctor Strange. When he first appears Thor raises his hammer (disguised as an umbrella) in defense. However, Doctor Strange greets him with "Thor Odinson... God of Thunder... You can put down the umbrella" and surprisingly Thor complies. Strange then immediately teleports them to another location to temporarily separate him from Mjölnir while they talk.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • While Thor is held captive in Muspelheim, Surtur narrates that bringing his helmet to the Eternal Flame in Odin's treasure room will restore him to his true form and let him destroy Asgard. This is exactly how the climax (and Hela) ends.
    • A literal case. Skurge is first shown at the Bifröst showing off his collection of stolen items to two Asgardian girls. He shows them two M-16s, claiming that he stole them from "Tex-arse". After a Heel Realization, he performs a Heroic Sacrifice by using these guns to protect the Asgardian refugees from Hela's forces.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Surtur is allowed to fulfill his prophecy of carrying out Ragnarok.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: This is the first Thor film that doesn't include Jaimie Alexander, Kat Dennings, and Stellan Skarsgård. Unlike Natalie Portman's Jane Foster, who is briefly mentioned early on in the film, none of these characters are ever mentioned during the film.
  • Clark Kenting: Both Thor and Banner decide to disguise themselves on Sakaar. Bruce goes the traditional route of this trope by donning Tony Stark's sunglasses, but Thor points out that he's technically already in disguise since nobody on the planet knows who he is, because they've only ever seen the Hulk. Thor himself is called out for his Paper-Thin Disguise when Valkyrie points out that the blanket Thor haphazardly threw over his head doesn't even conceal his face.
  • *Click* Hello: Thor and Loki announce themselves to a bunch of the Grandmaster's Mooks by cocking two laser cannons at their backs. It's only once the mooks turn around they bother greeting them normally.
    Thor: Hello!
    Loki: Hi.
  • Cliffhanger: Courtesy of the first stinger. Thor, Loki, Hulk, Valkyrie, and all of the Asgardians are on a safe voyage aboard the escape ship... and then Thanos's gargantuan vessel stops it in its tracks. Cut to credits.
  • Climactic Elevator Ride: In the elevator on their way up to steal the Grandmaster's ship, Thor and Loki have a quiet moment to talk. Loki suggests it would be best if he remained behind on Sakaar and Thor wholeheartedly agrees, but expresses his regret as he had always thought they'd fight side-by-side forever but now realizes that their paths diverged a long time ago. This moment of honest expression clearly touches Loki but undergoes a tonal shift as Thor then suggests they do "Get Help" to which Loki declares, "We are not doing 'Get Help'." The ride ends with a Gilligan Cut as the elevator's doors open.
    Thor: Get help! Please! My brother, he's dying....
  • Cloudcuckoolander:
    • The Grandmaster exhibits all of his actor Jeff Goldblum's odd Verbal Tics, seems incapable of getting names right, calling Thor "Lord of Thunder" and his home "Ass-berg", and seems to have a constantly laid-back attitude no matter the situation — including disintegrating a man, having his champion kidnapped by "the criminally seductive Lord of Thunder", or being stuck in the middle of a rebellion by his "prisoners with jobs".
    • Korg feels that he failed in a previous revolution attempt because he didn't print enough pamphlets, tries to attack an illusion he confuses for a ghost, and does numerous other extremely odd things. Despite being a Rock Monster and prison boss, he's the most laid-back character you could meet.
      Korg: Hey, man. We're about to jump on that ginormous spaceship. You wanna come?
  • Comedic Work, Serious Scene: This film is quite a bit Denser and Wackier overall than the previous two Thor movies (Thor and Thor: The Dark World), but there are several serious and emotional scenes as well. Some of the most dramatic scenes include Thor and Loki meeting their father Odin for the first time in years, only for him to die of old age, The Hulk's reaction to being told that Earth hates him, and the flashback to Valkyrie's backstory in which we find that she's the only Valkyrie left due to an attack that killed the rest of them, including her lover.
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    • Thor asks Strange why he didn't just contact him about Odin, and says that he could have sent him an email since he doesn't have a phone. Strange asks him whether he has a computer, to which Thor answers "No, what for?"
    • Topaz reports to the Grandmaster about the ongoing revolution and uses a term that he dislikes.
      Topaz: The arena's mainframe for the obedience disks have been deactivated, and the slaves have armed themselves.
      Grandmaster: [uncomfortable] I don't like that word.
      Topaz: Which? "Mainframe"?
      Grandmaster: No. Why would I not like "mainframe"? No, the "S" word.
  • Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames:
    • Skurge isn't called the Executioner, though Hela uses the word several times and asks Skurge to serve as one for her.
    • Inverted with Valkyrie, who is only called by that name (or Scrapper 142 by the higher-ups in Sakaar), while her real name (Brunnhilde in the comics) is never mentioned.
    • In previous movies, Bruce generally referred to his alter-ego as "The Big Guy" or "The Other Guy". Here, both Thor and Banner openly use the name "Hulk".
  • Composite Character:
    • The Grandmaster takes the place of Red King as the ruler of Sakaar and the ringleader of the gladiatorial games.
    • Hela's backstory of having been imprisoned many years ago and freed during the present day is taken from Cul, Odin's brother from Fear Itself. She also catches and shatters Thor's hammer like Cul did to Captain America's shield. Skurge the Executioner is subservient to her, when in the comics he served the Enchantress. An executive producer mentioned her Spontaneous Weapon Creation was taken from Gorr the God Butcher. Her identity as Thor and Loki's long-lost sister is taken from Angela.
    • While captured on Sakaar, Thor plays a similar role to the Silver Surfer in the Planet Hulk series (and Beta-Ray Bill in the animated adaptation). He is forced to take part in the gladiatorial fights and meets Hulk there, even mentioning to their captors that the Hulk was his friend on Earth.
    • Valkyrie's place as an enforcer in the Grandmaster's entourage (as well as her costume) takes inspiration from Caiera the Oldstrong from Planet Hulk.
    • The Revengers is the name of several incarnations of evil Avengers, while the MCU version is more akin to The Defenders with the inclusions of Hulk and Valkyrie, as well as Doctor Strange's inclusion in the film.
  • Conflict Killer: Played with; when Odin dies Thor tells Loki that it's all his fault. Sparks fly from Thor's hands and it looks like they're going to fight, but then Hela arrives on the scene and they turn to confront the more serious threat.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: An unusual reverse portrayal in that a flashback shows Hela slaughtering an army of Valkyries with apparent ease. However, when Hela faces down Valkyrie face-to-face in the Final Battle she puts up a good fight and while Hela eventually gains the upper hand, she fails to kill her.
  • Continuity Nod: There are multiple background references to elements from earlier MCU films as well:
    • Mjölnir's Arrow Cam is a nod to itself in Thor, this time against fire giants instead of frost giants. The shot of it from above is one to Yondu's arrow in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
    • In the opening scene, Thor references having fought robots on Earth, a nod to Avengers: Age of Ultron.
    • Thor mistimes his "heroic escape moment" because Mjölnir doesn't arrive when expected, just like Tony waiting for the Mk 42 armor in Iron Man 3.
    • Thor remarks that sometimes one needs to be captured in order to get a straight answer out of someone, which recalls Black Widow's first scene in The Avengers.
    • Thor briefly puts Mjölnir in the mouth of the dragon from Muspelheim to prevent it from moving, similarly to how he put the hammer on Loki's chest in Thor.
    • Doctor Strange mentions that Loki is on a watch list for potential threats to Earth, and outright asks Thor what Loki's doing in New York City (again).
    • Just before Odin dies, he mentions that he can hear his wife Frigga calling to him from the afterlife, referencing her death at the hands of Malekith back in The Dark World. He also tells Loki that Frigga would be proud of him for managing to bewitch Odin for so long, which references Loki's close relationship to his mother.
    • When Thor meets Korg, he instantly recognizes him as a Kronan, as he previously fought a Kronan marauder near the beginning of The Dark World.
    • Hela goes through Odin's treasure room, which was originally seen in the first film. She dismisses most of the artifacts as weak (including the Casket of Ancient Winters from Thor). She even knocks over the Infinity Gauntlet seen from the first film, proclaiming it a fake (which also serves to resolve the Plot Hole of that Gauntlet appearing to contain all of the Infinity Stones in Thor, while later Marvel movies, from Captain America: The First Avenger on, all show the Infinity Stones as being at large in the universe, and Thanos not only on the hunt for them but in possession of the Gauntlet he intends to place them in). She is impressed by the Tesseract, the actual Infinity Stone in the room, though.
    • Thor's gladiatorial helmet uses same collapsing technology as Star-Lord's mask and Gamora's sword.
    • Thor mentions Hulk is "a friend from work," referencing them being on the same Super Team in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
    • When Bruce first appears after having been stuck as the Hulk for two years, he asks about Sokovia and is under the impression that the fight with Ultron either just recently happened, or is still ongoing.
    • While their relationship isn't expressly stated (in the comics they're both Elders of the Universe and consider each other brothers), Goldblum's Grandmaster purposefully evokes Benicio del Toro's Collector. They even have similar hairstyles and facial markings.
    • Sakaaran soldiers dressed like those manning the Dark Aster in Guardians of the Galaxy can be seen every now and again throughout Sakaar, particularly the second post-credits scene.
    • Valkyrie mentions Xandar from Guardians of the Galaxy as one of the planets they could escape to via a portal.
    • When Thor sits down in the cockpit of the Commodore, he mutters to himself "All right, I can figure this out. It's just another spaceship", referencing the time he operated a Dark Elf ship in Thor: The Dark World.
    • The mural is shown in the Asgardian throne room of Odin and Laufey signing a peace treaty.
    • Like in the first Thor, Loki is involved in the destruction of one of the nine realms and the plan is referred to as madness. While Loki's failed attempt to blow Jotunheim to oblivion is called such by Thor, this time, it's Loki himself who considers the plan madness as he successfully brings about the Ragnarok.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Downplayed. It's partially explained by Sakaar being a Super-Sargasso Sea. But it's still very convenient that Thor, Loki, Valkyrie and Hulk all end up there.
  • Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind:
    • Banner tries to transform into the Hulk to stop Fenris who is charging at the Asgardian civilians. At first he fails, face planting onto the Bifrost, and Fenris continues her attack. But right before she reaches the Asgardians, she gets pulled back by her tail by the Hulk.
    • Heimdall is kicked down by a Berserker but right before he can strike Heimdall with his sword, he gets blasted away revealing Korg and Miek standing behind him.
  • Cool Ship: Scores of them show up during the Sakaar segments, but a few deserve special mention.
    • Valkyrie's heavily armed gunship looks pretty awesome, is a powerful asset for dogfighting other ships, and has a cool hover mode which turns it upright so the pilot can use the open cockpit as a viewing platform.
    • The heroes' stolen ship — actually the Grandmaster's luxury yacht — is sleek and shiny, befitting its purpose of a leisure ship. It lacks weapons, but its supremely powerful Deflector Shields allow it to tank shots and even an Asteroid Thicket with nary a scratch.
  • Cool Versus Awesome:
  • Costume Evolution: Foreshadowing his coming Heel–Face Turn, Loki's outfit on Sakaar is a dark blue-green instead of his usual solid dark green.
  • Costume Porn: A great diversity and range of costumes is on display in the film, with Sakaarans, Asgardians, and people of other worlds, not to mention the Hulk's distinct gladiator outfit, Hela's extremely comics-accurate costume and headdress, and Valkyrie's more traditional white costume with blue cape.
  • Cowardice Callout: Thor tells Valkyrie that she's "either a traitor or a coward" for neglecting her duty as a valkyrie and hiding away on Sakaar while Asgard's people are in danger.
  • Covered in Gunge: When Thor makes his triumphant return to Asgard, accompanied by the remains of the dragon that was chasing him, Skurge and the two women he's chatting up get covered in dragon innards gunk.
  • Crapsack World: Sakaar is a lawless backwater that's in a strange pocket of space where time flows weirdly, probably due to the many wormholes in its orbit, which are constantly spewing out debris and discarded items of all sorts. Society there is hellish and lawless, held in check by the Grandmaster, an eccentric, hedonistic dictator who doesn't really care about what's going on so long as it doesn't impinge on his fun, and the grandiose gladiator fights that he runs.
  • Creator Cameo:
    • Director Taika Waititi voices Korg, one of Hulk's allies on Sakaar. He also did the stop-motion for Surtur.
    • Stan Lee has his usual cameo, as he has in every MCU installment to date, this time as a barber delivering Thor's Expository Hairstyle Change.
  • Creepy Monotone:
    • The recorded greeting to Sakaar says things that almost sound friendly but are full of dark implications and backhanded reassurances in a voice that seems soothing but isn't quite right.
    • Loki briefly speaks this way (while wearing a straight face) when he greets Banner, unnerving him.
  • Cringe Comedy: After arriving at Strange's sanctum, Thor accidentally wrecks a collection of arrowheads decoratively arranged and wrecks it further as he awkwardly tries to put them back together, until Strange tells him just to leave it.
  • Crossover: In addition to Hulk's headlining role, Doctor Strange makes an appearance, straight from the mid-credits scene of his eponymous film.
  • Crucified Hero Shot: Thor gets a brief one during his final fight with Hela where his arms are outstretched and held in place by blades.
  • Cue the Falling Object: The movie opens with Thor monologuing inside a hanging cell. Then the view moves and we see that he's talking to a skeleton. The lower jaw of the skeleton immediately drops.
  • Cup Holders: Valkyrie says that their escape ship has to have cup holders.
    Valkyrie: Because, we're gonna die, so, drinks!
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: So many of them that they actually make up the majority of the fight scenes, with balanced battles being a rather small minority.
    • Thor completely owns Surtur and his demonic army in the Action Prologue.
    • Hela annihilates everyone who dares to oppose her at any point in the story, be it a current event or some off-screen battle observed in a flashback. Among the most notable examples are her invasion of Asgard and what she did to the Valkyries during her first reign of terror.
    • The scavengers that pester Thor on Sakaar don't stand a chance in hell against the massive anti-ship firepower of Valkyrie's gunship.
    • Once Thor and his posse break free from the Grandmaster's grasp, they carve through the opposition without any problems worth mentioning. This includes Valkyrie and Thor ripping spaceships apart with their bare hands.
    • While the final battle as a whole rages back and forth for a while, the various individual fights often boil down to one side utterly dominating the other.
  • Dark Action Girl: Hela isn't just your average Dark Action Girl, she's virtually a one-woman army who can slaughter hundreds if not thousands of soldiers in one go. She's so strong and durable that not even the Mighty Thor can put a dent in her using his lightning powers.
  • Darkest Hour: Hela slaughters Asgard's army and raising an undead one. She shatters Mjölnir, of all things. Odin is gone. Thor is missing. The only thing between her and conquest of more than just The Nine Realms is the Bifrost sword that Heimdall stole. Then she finds him.
  • David Versus Goliath:
    • Thor and Hulk share this contrast when they do battle on Sakaar.
    • Hulk takes on the David position when he goes up against Fenris, then later against the massive Surtur.
  • Day of the Jackboot: Hela's reign over Asgard is a general reflection of Imperialism: Hela's just doing to Asgard what Odin had her do to other realms during Asgard's expansionist period which she plans to revive once Asgard is under control.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Loki as usual, of course, but Hela is this as well, and Thor proves that he's gotten better at this over time as well. Many other characters also get in on the action.
  • Dead Person Conversation: Odin appears to Thor in a vision during the Final Battle to share his wisdom.
  • Death Glare:
    • Loki gives one to Skurge after he fails to inform Loki of Thor's arrival in time.
      Loki: You had one job.
    • After Odin dies, Thor, hyperventilating and sparks of lightning on his hand, his rage darkening the sky with storming clouds, gives Loki a very furious glare and snarls that it's his fault this all happened.
  • Decomposite Character: The Incredible Hulk and Doctor Strange take the places of Iron Man and Captain America (both of whom already do exist in the MCU, but are busy with other things) from the original Ragnarok storyline.
  • Defenseless Transports: Grandmaster's leisure ship subverts this. It lacks active weapons, but its Deflector Shields are more than enough to tank anything thrown at it.
  • Defiant to the End: Hogun refuses to give in to Hela's campaign of bloodshed, batting away her swords and facing her one last time after the rest of the Asgardian army has been completely obliterated before finally being done in.
  • Deflector Shields: The Commodore has orange force fields and therefore remains undamaged during Thor, Bruce and Valkyrie's escape from Sakaar despite being fired at.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Valkyrie starts out as an arrogant Jerkass, but by the end she's more of an Anti-Hero.
  • Deliberate VHS Quality: The promotional material for the movie was intentionally produced to resemble the cheesy movie trailers featured on VHS rentals in the 80s and 90s, including the warped sound and grainy film quality.
  • Dem Bones: The Berserkers, the remains of Asgard's greatest warriors, are resurrected by Hela to serve as her skeleton army.
  • Denser and Wackier: Compared to the serious Thor: The Dark World, this film is more colorful, lighthearted, and has more moments of overt comedy.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: Hela craves absolute power in the cosmos and cares not whether she will make it a better or worse place — all she wants is to rule over others.
  • Design Student's Orgasm: The second poster released at Comic-Con with the cast nested inside of each other in concentric circles to signify the multiple cosmic realms in which the film takes place.
  • Didn't See That Coming: When Thor finds out that his opponent in the arena is none other than his ally the Hulk, he is ecstatic. The Grandmaster is understandably confused, before Thor spells it out for him; Loki, sitting opposite the Grandmaster, briefly shoots him a look of similar bewilderment. However, the Hulk seems more eager to fight Thor than say hello, which doesn't surprise Thor one bit.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Hulk actually goes so far as to punch out Surtur and briefly stuns him. Hulk is then tossed back to the bridge and needs to be coaxed to run away... right before Surtur completes his prophetic duty of destroying Asgard.
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: When Loki dies in the stage play, the score from the original scene is sung by a choir, and played on a zurna and panpipes.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: The original Ragnarok myth had Odin being swallowed in battle by Fenris (Fenrir), not dying of old age on Earth (Midgard).
  • Dies Wide Open: The dragon that chases Thor out of Muspelheim gets its head cut off and then glares at Skurge's girls.
  • Disappears into Light: Upon death Odin's body turns into motes of light that disappear shortly after. In the rendition of this scene in the film's credits, against the blazing sun it looks like he turns into ashes.
  • Disk-One Final Boss: Surtur is Thor's major opponent in the film's first act. He is quickly dealt with, paving the way for Hela to be the main antagonist of the film. Then he returns in the finale, having been resurrected by Loki per Thor's request as a Godzilla Threshold to stop Hela, by triggering Ragnarok and destroying Asgard.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Defied. Topaz hands the Grandmaster the melt stick thing when Loki interrupts him. The Grandmaster is rather horrified that Topaz assumed he wanted to kill Loki for such a minor offense.
  • Distinction Without a Difference: Played for Laughs when Hela is appointing Skurge as her executioner.
    Hela: When I was young, every great King had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their vision... But mainly to execute people.
  • Doing In the Wizard: In the comics and Norse myth, Hela is Goddess of the Dead and ruler of the land of the dead aka the afterlife. Here though, she is specifically the Goddess of Death which, despite chucking the previous movies motif that Asgardians are "just" Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, transforms her into something closer to a Physical God Blood Knight who makes zombies.
  • Don't Explain the Joke:
    • Skurge says that he has named his assault rifles "Des" and "Troy". 'Cause when you put 'em together, they "Destroy."
    • Korg tells Thor that he doesn't have to be scared of him unless he is made of scissors, and then explains that that was a rock-paper-scissors joke.
  • Doomed Fellow Prisoner: After Thor has been Made a Slave of the Grandmaster, he is introduced to another captive (the Grandmaster's "cousin", being the New Zealand slang for "best friend" / buddy) who is promptly executed right next to Thor with the "melt-stick".
  • The Dragon: Skurge serves as Hela's "Executioner" and enforcer with regards to taming the Asgardians who seek to overthrow her. His commitment is tenuous at best and he abandons the role as soon as the tide starts to turn against her.
  • Dramatic Drop: One of the Asgardian servants drops a goblet of wine after Thor makes Loki drop the illusion making himself look like Odin.
  • Dramatic Irony: After finding no clues about the locations of the other Infinity Stones, Thor decides to hold the quest off for a while. Unfortunately, he never realizes that Dr. Strange has been wearing one the entire time (the Eye of Agamotto/The Time Stone).
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Prior to the beginning of the movie, Thor has been having dreams about Ragnarok every night. Loki-as-Odin waves them off as Thor having an "overactive imagination", but Ragnarok eventually does come true.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Fandral and Volstagg are hastily killed off by Hela in their first scene, and the former doesn't even get any dialogue. Hogun is also killed off, but at least he gets the chance to put up a fight.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Valkyrie escaped to Sakaar in order to start a new life, earning money for the sake of drinking to forget the slaughter that Hela brought upon her fellow Valkyries.
  • Dual Wielding:
    • Among the replacement weapons Thor picks up are a pair of short swords.
    • During the gladiator battle, Hulk initially wields a massive hammer and axe to match.
    • Skurge is quite proud of his dual machine guns from "Tex-arse."
    • Loki often has two daggers.
    • Hela can conjure weapons at will. When she isn't throwing them at her opponents, she often has one in each hand during melee combat.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: This film makes mention of Korg having a mother for the sake of a joke where he brings up her boyfriend, whom he hates. By Thor: Love and Thunder, the Kronans are a One-Gender Race just as they are in the comics.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Asgard's fate at the hands of Surtur.
  • Easily Conquered World: It takes Hela, alone, a scene lasting only a few minutes to slaughter Asgard's entire army. Justified, given that Hela is a ridiculous powerhouse who breaks Mjölnir with one hand.
  • Easily Forgiven:
    • Loki. The Asgardians aren't that angry at him even after duping them as "Odin" for years. Justified though as Thor takes Loki away from Asgard right after exposing him, and when Loki returns it's as a genuine hero saving his people, rather than the fake hero of his propaganda play.
    • Thor lets Valkyrie off easy despite her being directly responsible for his imprisonment on Sakaar and having a history of bringing the Grandmaster contenders for his arena. Justified in that he is more concerned with stopping Hela and Valkyrie has a change of heart and comes to his aid.
  • Egopolis: Loki apparently spent most of his time as King of Asgard commissioning monuments and theatrical tributes to himself.
  • Empire with a Dark Secret: This turns out to be the case in about Asgard. Thor and Loki both were raised to believe Odin was the benevolent but omnipotent All-Father, beloved and kind leader of the nine realms. Hela reveals that it's all a facade and Odin rose to power by the genocidal murder of anyone in his path. It wasn't until his kingdom was assured and unquestioned that he locked Hela away and began to build the false legacy of peace that existed in present day Asgard.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The premise of the title is "Ragnarok", which is the apocalypse of Norse myths, and Kevin Feige has said the movie involves "The end of everything." Asgard suffers an Earth-Shattering Kaboom at the end...but the Asgardians will recover to live again on Earth.
  • Enemy Mine: Loki helps Thor in his first confrontation with Hela, though only until he sees a good opportunity to run away. Afterward, he's extremely vocal about not wanting to join Thor for a rematch, but he does come back to help with the big showdown.
  • Epic Fail: Bruce tries to turn into the Hulk mid-air by jumping out of the ship in order to fight Fenris, in reference to a similar scene in The Incredible Hulk. Instead his still-human body slams into the Rainbow Bridge with a loud "smack" and he only turns into the Hulk off-screen a few seconds later.
  • Epic Tracking Shot: When Loki and Valkyrie walk up to the Grandmaster, the camera dives into their reflection on the floor up to revealing the Grandmaster. Taika himself called the shot, that was developed by a storyboard artist, "one of the greatest shots in the history of cinema".
  • Epiphany Comeback: After Hela destroys Mjölnir, Thor feels he's without a major source of his strength and is only able to summon lightning sporadically. During the final battle, when Hela is strangling him to death, Thor has a vision of his father, Odin, who makes him realize the hammer was simply a way to focus his power; it was never the source of it. With this realization, Thor gains full control of his lightning powers, blasts Hela away and turns toward defending his people from Hela's army.
    Odin: Even when you had two eyes, you'd see only half the picture.
    Thor: She's too strong. Without my hammer, I can't—
    Odin: Are you Thor, the God of Hammers? Hmm?
  • Establishing Character Moment: Right after returning from the purgatory prison where Odin imprisoned her, Hela destroys Mjölnir with one hand. Mjölnir had at this point been considered one of the most — if not The Most — powerful weapon in all the MCU outside an Infinity Stone. Hela's action immediately demonstrates how powerful she is.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Granted, exactly how "evil" Loki is is a matter of debate, but he was still the Big Bad of The Avengers. Yet he is visibly heartbroken at witnessing Odin's death.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The Grandmaster has no evident compunction about killing, but never loses his temper, and is clearly appalled when his chief enforcer wants to execute Loki for speaking out of turn.
    Grandmaster: Why are you handing me the melt stick? He was interrupting, that's not a capital violation!
  • Event Title: The title refers to the prophecy of Asgard's destruction. It comes to pass, but under different circumstances than what Thor thinks.
  • Eviler than Thou: Hela to Loki. Loki spends two Thor movies as a scheming usurper and one Avengers movie as a genocidal overlord who demands that people kneel before him. When he finally succeeds in usurping Odin, he proves to be a weak ruler focused on luxury and aggrandizement. Hela, on the other hand, usurps Asgard by force single-handedly in about a day. Everything about her, from her appearance as an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette clad in black and green, to her actions, to her goals of restoring Asgard as a realm-conquering force, feels like a "That's how it's done" to Loki.
  • Evil Overlooker: Hela, the Big Bad, is commonly depicted using this trope in the movie's posters, such as the international poster and more prominently in the Japanese poster.
  • Evil Overlord:
    • Surtur rules over Muspelheim, a world populated by demons and dragons, and his destiny is to bring about Ragnarok thus destroying Asgard.
    • The Grandmaster is the hedonistic ruler of Sakaar who stays in power by keeping the populace in line and distracted with Gladiator Games.
    • Hela, once she is freed from her prison, becomes the tyrannical dark queen of Asgard with her army of undead Berserkers at her beck and call.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Hela draws her power from Asgard itself. Because she is Odin's firstborn, Thor will never be stronger than her so he decides to unleash Surtur to destroy Asgard, the source of her power, to stop her from growing even more powerful.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change:
    • The Hulk usually has noticeable curls, but his hair has been cropped in the two years he's spent as a fighter.
    • Valkyrie wears her hair up for most of the film. When she dons her traditional armor and finds a reason to fight, she wears her hair loose.
    • Thor gets his long locks cut for the gladiator arena, much to his blubbering dismay.
  • Eyepatch of Power:
    • Odin, as usual, has his eyepatch.
    • Thor also gets an eyepatch of a similar design to Odin's.
  • Eye Scream: Hela cuts out Thor's right eye, which coincides with the awakening of his full powers, genuinely turning him into his father's son. As it also comes with the realization that he doesn't need to save Asgard to save his people and causes Ragnarok to instigate Hela's defeat, the event may have also been inspired by the myths of Odin gaining wisdom as he sacrificed an eye.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Odin doesn't mind his time coming to an end, spending his last moments staring wistfully at the Norwegian coast before vanishing.
  • Facial Dialogue: During the scene where Loki and Thor locate Odin, Loki resorts to communicating non-verbally. The only word he says until Hela's arrival is "brother" after Odin's death. The rest of his "replies" are looks of surprise and pained recognition when Odin welcomes his sons and says that he loves them both, to slightly shaking his head to tell "this isn't me" when asked to lift his magic, to the "I don't know" look when Thor silently inquires about Hela, or the Meaningful Look between Loki and Thor when they decide to put aside their differences once their sister shows up.
  • Failed Attempt at Drama: So many it's a Running Gag.
    • In the prologue, Surtur tries to make a big speech about how destroying Asgard is his destiny, but the chain Thor's dangling from keeps spinning him away from Surtur, forcing the villain to stop monologuing until Thor turns around again. Shortly afterwards, Thor tries to make a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner to Surtur while breaking free from his restraints by summoning Mjölnir to him, but times it wrong and has to wait a few seconds for the hammer to get there.
    • When Valkyrie first appears, she starts to walk down the ramp of her ship... and then falls over, right off the side of the ramp and into the trash, due to being heavily drunk.
    • Thor attempts to escape Hulk's cell through a window, and throws a ball at it to break it while boasting to Valkyrie — only for the ball to merely dent the glass and bounce back in his face mid-quip.
    • In the climax, Bruce decides to become the Hulk again, tells Valkyrie she's about to see who he really is, and leaps onto the Bifröst... only to land very painfully, still entirely human.
  • Failure Gambit: Thor's initial plan is to prevent the destruction of Asgard by Surtur. After it becomes clear that there's no other way to stop Hela the heroes agree to summon Surtur to defeat Hela, with Heimdall reasoning that Asgard is where its people go. It works when Asgard is destroyed but Hela is defeated along with it.
  • Fake Ultimate Mook: Hela's undead minions are described as fallen Asgardian warriors whose deaths were honored by being buried beneath the royal palace. However, the film shows that non-combatant civilians are able to temporarily hold their own against them and the heroes tear through them with very little effort. They're also quite vulnerable to human firearms as the bullets from Skurge's M16 easily blow holes through their armored torsos.
  • Faking Another Person's Illness: On Sakaar, Thor and Loki perform a routine to get past the guards that involves Thor carrying Loki, who's limp, and shouting, "Get help!" And then he chucks Loki at the guards to take them out.
  • Faking the Dead: Loki faked his death in front of Thor in order to operate under the guise of Odin (whom he imprisoned on Earth) after tricking him. At the beginning of this movie, Thor figures it out and forces Loki to help him retrieve Odin.
  • False Reassurance: The Grandmaster tells Carlo that he is "officially pardoned...from life" before he melts him with his stick.
  • Fanservice Extra: Skurge's two Asgardian women in the beginning wear very revealing dress even by Asgardian standards.
  • Fastball Special: Thor's "Get Help" plan involves throwing Loki as a projectile. Subverted in that Loki acts as a blunt object as opposed to attacking in mid-air. Needless to say, he doesn't like it. This is apparently not the first time this strategy has been used, either.
  • Faux Horrific: The thing that horrifies Thor the most in this film: Is it facing Hela? The destruction of his hammer? The death of his father? The fall of Asgard? No, it's getting his hair cut.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Thor and Hulk are forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena. Thor doesn't particularly mind the setup, as he makes small talk with Hulk before they throw down, though he does try to insist to Hulk he doesn't want to fight or hurt him beforehand.
  • Final Battle: Thor, Hulk, Valkyrie, Loki and Heimdall fighting Hela and her army of undead to buy time for the Asgardian civilians to flee. It ends with Surtur being unleashed to kill Hela by destroying Asgard itself.
  • Finger Wag: Loki does this to Skurge when he arrives far too late to warn him about Thor's arrival but still tries to announce Thor anyway.
    Loki: You had one job. Just the one!
  • Fish out of Water:
    • Bruce Banner, emerging from two years at as the Hulk to find himself on an alien world. He is on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the moment he resurfaces until he lets the Hulk come back.
    • To a lesser degree, Thor while he's in Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. The constant shifting of locations and drink offerings, keep Thor in a state of mild confusion during his stay.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing:
    • When he first meets Strange, Thor holds out his umbrella in a vaguely threatening way. It makes the typical Mjöllnir sounds whenever he moves it around.
    • Just before the identity of the Grandmaster's Champion is revealed, green smoke is fired in the air. Also, if you look closely at the crowd, some of them are wearing Hulk masks and waving memorabilia.
    • This also happens in the finale battle with Hela. Just before the fight, Thor looks down at a piece of the mural she destroyed, which happens to be a painting of him. There's a crack through it that goes over the same eye he's about to lose.
  • The Flame of Life: The Eternal Flame, which contains the true power of the Fire Demon Surtur, which Hela uses to resurrect her deceased pet wolf Fenris and her army of Berserkers.
  • Flat "What":
    • Loki's use of "Beg your pardon?" can be seen as an alternative to this, given Hela just stole his line.
    • The Grandmaster switches from a smile to a confused, totally blank face after Thor responds to seeing Hulk with a Big "YES!". Moments later, when Thor slams the Hulk into the walls of the arena with his own weapon, the Grandmaster even utters a Flat "What".
  • Foregone Conclusion:
    • Thor, Loki, Hulk, Valkyrie and Doctor Strange will all survive, given that they will all appear in Avengers: Infinity War.
    • For those who know the story of Ragnarök in Norse mythology, they were probably able to correctly assume that Asgard would be destroyed in some manner (although unlike in the myths, Thor and Loki survive).
  • Foreshadowing:
    • The use of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is no coincidence, given that the Asgardians are searching for a new home at the end of the movie.
    • Why would Thor be carrying an umbrella? Why would he threaten Strange with it? Why would it make Mjöllnir's sound?
    • When Doctor Strange asks Thor for a lock of hair, Thor refuses and says his hair is not to be meddled with. Later on, Thor loses much more than one lock.
    • When Thor introduces himself to Valkyrie (whom he at that point only knows as "Scrapper 142") for the first time, he declares that he is "Thor, son of Odin." While other people outside of Asgard have no idea what this means or why it's significant, Valkyrie replies in an indifferent tone, "Many apologies, Your Majesty," hinting at the fact that she is actually Asgardian.
    • Hela is able to catch Mjölnir without being slammed down to earth, hinting at the later reveal that she was the hammer's original wielder.
    • While en route to the Grandmaster's garage, Thor gives Loki a firm pat on the back. In the garage, after Loki tries to double-cross him again, it's revealed that this was how he planted his containment disk on Loki's back.
    • In the opening scene, Surtur refers both himself and Thor as "Asgard's Doom". It may seem like a mistake at first, but come the climax Thor has Surtur reborn with the Eternal Flame to cause Ragnarok.
    • Loki pauses in the vault to take a look at the Tesseract.
  • Fourth Wall Psych: Thor appears to be speaking to the audience as the film begins, but he's merely talking to the skeleton inside his cage.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: While Dr. Strange is casting the spell to send Thor and Loki to meet Odin in Norway, the Tre-Foil symbol that appeared on Mjölnir during the first movie appears.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang: In the first two Avengers films, Thor doesn't interact with Bruce Banner that much due to Bruce being more focused on science and Thor on fighting (and his interactions with Bruce's alter ego always consist of them fighting a foe or each other with no time to socialize). Ragnarok ultimately subverts it by having Thor bond with the two of them while they're trapped on Sakaar and work together to escape and save Asgard.
  • Friendship Moment: Loki looks genuinely touched and regretful when Thor tells him "I thought the world of you. I thought we'd fight side by side forever."
  • Funny Background Event:
    • When the Grandmaster introduces himself to Thor, you can see an out-of-focus, happily chatting Loki in the background for several seconds between cuts before Thor notices him and the camera focuses on Loki.
    • At several points throughout the movie, Miek is training (waving about his knife-arms) by himself in the background.

    Tropes G to O 
  • The Gadfly:
    • Doctor Strange spends his entire appearance using his powers to keep Thor and Loki off-balance. Thor may have used calling Mjölnir as an opportunity to trash the Sanctum Sanctorum a bit as payback.
    • When Thor figures out that Odin is actually Loki, he describes Loki as "weasely and greasy". He later takes a swipe at Loki's choice of clothes.
    • Tony Stark manages to play this part without even appearing in the film. He programmed the quinjet computer to only respond to Thor if he identified himself as "Point Break". Based on Thor's reaction, one can almost imagine he programmed the computer to call Banner "Strongest Avenger" in the hopes that Thor would be there to hear it.
  • Garnishing the Story: In the opening sequence, Thor briefly fights a fire dragon... just because it looks so cool.
  • Gatling Good: Thor brings Valkyrie a gatling gun from the Asgardian armory, and she has a blast using it. Unfortunately, it has no effect on the intended target Fenris.
  • Gendered Insult: When Thor and Loki arrive in New York and see that the retirement home where Loki left Odin is being demolished, Loki defends himself saying that he can't see into the future because he isn't a witch.
    Thor: No? Then why do you dress like one?
  • Gender Flip: According to the creative team, Fenris Wolf is a female in this movie.
  • Generation Xerox: Thor shapes up to look like Odin near the end of this installment after the loss of his eye and assuming the leadership of the Asgardians.
  • Genre Shift: The first two Thor films had comedic moments but were much more serious in tone. This one embraces comedy like there's no tomorrow.
  • Genre Throwback: The story (especially when focused on Sakaar) is a loving pastiche of corny Saturday Morning Space Opera Cartoons such as ThunderCats and Silverhawks; down to the glam-rock Masters of the Universe inspired logo, tacky '80s decor, progressive-rock hairstyles, hair-metal style fashion, heavy-metal-pulp-novel Aliens, Mad Max style wasteland-rust-punk scavengers, psychedelic synthesizer score reminiscent of Vangelis, and chunkily-macho-looking spaceships reminiscent of the B-Movies of Roger Corman. Even Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory gets a nod with the tongue-in-cheek use of the song "Pure Imagination" as Thor is forced through the orientation/indoctrination tunnel. Mark Mothersbaugh was brought on to record the soundtrack for good reason.
  • Giant Equals Invincible:
    • When restored to full power, Surtur is the size of a mountain and pretty much unstoppable. Even Hela is incapable of defeating him and stopping the demon from destroying Asgard.
    • Downplayed with Fenris; she's a wolf the size of an elephant, and laser blasts barely slow her down — plus she can fight evenly with Hulk, though the latter ends up winning.
  • Gilligan Cut:
    • Loki says he knows exactly where Odin is. One brief bifrost later, they're looking at a construction site and Loki has no idea where Odin is.
    • Loki insists to Thor that they're not going to do the "Get help" routine because he thinks it's humiliating. Cue them doing the "Get help" routine (wherein Thor holds him acting limply for a bit screaming for help before Thor tosses him at the guards).
  • Gladiator Games: Thor and Hulk find themselves pitted against each other in one such.
  • Gladiator Revolt: When Thor, Valkyrie, Banner and Loki escape, they first provide weapons to Korg and his gladiator buddies and free them. Then Korg and the gladiators make their way to the Grandmaster's ship's launching bay.
  • A Glass of Chianti: The Trope Namer drinks wine while he's slouching on the couch watching his stage play.
  • Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Fenris and the Berserkers have green-glowing eyes after Hela revives them with the Eternal Flame.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Thor sports glowing eyes while summoning lightning without Mjölnir.
  • Godzilla Threshold:
    • At the climax, Thor decides that it's better to release Surtur so he can destory Asgard than allow Hela to continue to grow in power.
    • On a smaller scale a little earlier when Banner decides to turn back into the Hulk to deal with Fenris on the Bifrost.
  • Good Costume Switch: Loki changing back to his dark green color pattern when he arrives to help evacuating his people, as summarized by Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo:
    Rubeo: Loki and his [blue] color when we first see him in Sakaar, it's because Loki is full of weakness. One of his weaknesses is to [associate] with the wrong people — many times in his life. And this time, he's [joined] the Grandmaster, who is some sort of like a tyrant. Loki's there, betraying his own people. While his people [on Asgard] are just suffering and trying to escape the waves of death from Hela, he's out there trying to find exile in a place that he feels safe to the cost of betraying his people, naturally. So he adopts the same kind of colors, which is uncharacteristic of him and of his actual [green-hued] costume. Then he goes back to his original costume when he finds his senses to help Thor and being a good brother again. As long as it lasts.
  • Go Through Me: Valkyrie has a brief moment of this when she first arrives to capture Thor, telling the Sakaarans they'll have to do this if they expect to claim him. Seeing as Thor is in a shock-net at the time, the leader naturally retorts that they already have him — which leads to an inversion where she responds, "Then I guess I'll have to go through you." Badassery ensues.
  • Grapes of Luxury: Loki is eating grapes handed to him by a maidservant while he is watching his play.
  • Green and Mean:
    • Like Loki before her, Hela has a predominantly green costume.
    • Loki himself wears much less green this go-around. At the beginning he wears his standard green Asgardian costume, but once he arrives in Sakaar, he picks up a dark blue outfit with occasionally a yellow cape. During the ending, he wears the same outfit but in a green colour scheme.
  • Greeting Gesture Confusion: Thor offers Bruce Banner a fist bump, but Bruce hi-fives his fist instead.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: "Get Help" involves Loki feigning illness/injury while Thor shouts that he needs help, and when the enemies' guard is down, Thor throws Loki at them. They've done this enough times that Loki isn't fazed by it, merely annoyed at his role in the strategy which he finds humiliating.
  • Guile Hero: Gone are the meathead days for Thor; he's learned his lesson about the failings of relying on just might and is now even outsmarting his own beguiling brother Loki.
  • Guns Akimbo: Skurge brings out his pair of with M-16s, "Des" and "Troy" against Hela's undead minions.
  • Guns Do Not Work That Way: The M16 rifle has a thin metal dust cover that folds up over the ejection port when the firearm is not in use, and gets knocked open by the bolt carrier either when the user chambers a round or when the weapon fires. The dust covers on Skurge's rifles can be seen closed, even as he's firing both on full auto. Spent casings are animated seemingly phasing through them. Also, while he does run out of ammo eventually, he fires far longer than the thirty round magazines would allow, and he's never shown reloading either gun.
  • Hand Signals:
    • Loki won't discuss his plan to dispose of the Grandmaster aloud, so he points with his hand at Thor, then at himself, and then gives "two thumbs up" with a smile. Thor only throws yet another stone at the illusion of Loki in reply.
    • In an extended scene, Grandmaster discusses several "universal signs" with Topaz after Loki and Valkyrie fail to understand his hand sign for "Go".
  • Happy Ending Override: Hela is defeated, and despite losing all of Asgard to Surtur, Thor, the newly-redeemed Loki, and the remaining Asgardians head safely into space to start their civilization anew. Then Thanos's forces enter the fray and all goes to hell from there...
  • Have We Met?: Valkyrie, knowing the Hulk for some time, feels that way around Banner.
    Valkyrie: Do I know you? I feel like I know you.
    Banner: I feel like I know you too!
  • Heaven Above: Ragnarok introduces another wormhole (besides the Bifrost) that can lead to Asgard, the Devil's Anus. Of course, this entrance to the gods' realm is located in the sky, forcing anyone who wants to visit the gods to literally ascend from the realm of mortals.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Loki takes a few more spins through it in this movie, both allying with and opposing Thor at different points. It is lampshaded when Bruce sees Loki for the first time since The Avengers:
    Banner: So, last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everyone. Where are you at these days?
    Loki: It varies from moment to moment.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Loki finally seems to have gotten his act together, working alongside Thor to defeat Hela and get the rest of Asgard's people to a safe place.
    • Skurge also pulls one in the final battle, though he is more of a reluctant Heel throughout the film.
    • Valkyrie enslaves Thor and spends a good chunk of the film zapping and impeding him, but finally joins forces with him.
  • "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Thor has been dumped on the planet Sakaar and is forced to duel against the Grandmaster's champion. He lets out the mother of all Big "YES!"-es when he discovers the champion is the Hulk.
  • Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": Thor arrives in Asgard and finds Loki-as-Odin hosting a play that's a recap of Thor: The Dark World, only rewritten by him to depict himself as a Woobie who heroically saved Asgard. Thor is unimpressed.
  • Hero Killer: Hela makes short work of the Warriors Three.
  • Hero, Rival, Baddie Team-Up: Thor forms the Revengers with two of the most prominent members being Hulk (Thor's primary rival Avenger) and Loki (his brother and on-off Arch-Nemesis). In order to escape Sakaar, the three are forced to set aside all past grudges and work together.
  • He's Back!: Thor has spent most of the movie Brought Down to Badass after Hela shattered his hammer, Mjölnir, forcing him to rely on his strength and warrior training. After being badly beaten and pinned down by Hela, he has a vision of Odin reminding him that he's not the God of Hammers, which allows him to fully harness his Shock and Awe abilities. He uses his powers to blast Hela with a huge bolt of lightning and take down dozens of undead mooks, turning the tide of the battle in his and his allies' favor. Bonus points in that the entire fighting sequence is backed by the second occurrence of the "Immigrant Song".
  • Hey, That's My Line!: Loki doesn't say it, but it's clear that his "Beg your pardon?!" means it when Hela orders him and Thor to kneel.
  • Hide Your Lesbians: Valkyrie is subtly hinted to be bisexual, with actress Tessa Thompson saying that the female warrior who died to save Valkyrie in a Flashback was her lover. There was going to be a scene confirming Valkyrie's sexuality by showing a woman leaving her bedroom, but it ended up being cut from the finished movie.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: While disguised as Odin, Loki attempts to do this for himself in Asgard. He's had a statue of himself erected in his honor and recreating his "death" in The Dark World in a play, portraying his Heroic Sacrifice as much more noble and Narmy than it really was.
  • Homeworld Evacuation: It ends with Asgard's population fleeing as Surtur shatters the realm into an asteroid field.
  • Hope Spot:
    • During the Gladiator Match, Thor manages to daze Hulk with a haymaker, before trying to revert him to Banner with the same lullaby Widow used in Age of Ultron. Hulk seems to calm down, takes Thor's hand, everything looks great... and cue the Metronomic Man Mashing.
    • As everyone watches Surtur in his full power destroying Asgard, Korg gives hope to the people, saying that since the foundation rock Asgard is on looks strong, they can always rebuild it... and then even the foundation blows up.
    • At the end, after losing their home, Thor seems to have a positive outlook with the possibility of finding refuge on Earth, and is optimistic that everything is going to work out. Then Thanos's humongous Sanctuary appears.
  • Horny Vikings:
    • Loki apparently specified that the statue erected to him include his helmet "with the really big horns."
    • Later we see Loki actually using his horned helmet as a melee weapon.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Hulk has struck up a friendship with Valkyrie. They even give each other nicknames that resemble the trope name.
  • Huge Holographic Head: The Grandmaster projects his entire body standing over his city, as tall as a skyscraper. Hilariously, he still talks in a normal, overly casual voice while addressing the city this way.
  • Hulk Speak: From the trope namer himself, who, up to this point, had uttered only eight words on screen ("Leave me alone," and "Hulk smash!" and, "Betty," in The Incredible Hulk, along with, "Puny god," in The Avengers). While Hulk is capable of carrying on whole conversations now, he doesn't use pronouns, to the point he even refers to himself in the third person. His sentence structure is simple but he oddly understands concepts like similes and metaphors and has a higher vocabulary than you'd expect, as shown in his exchange with Thor:
    Thor: We're the same, you and I. Just a couple of hot-headed fools.
    Hulk: Yeah, same. Hulk like fire, Thor like water.
    Thor: Well, we're kinda both like fire.
    Hulk: But Hulk like real fire, like raging fire. Thor like smoldering fire.
  • Humiliation Conga: Thor loses Mjöllnir, gets thrown onto a trash planet, gets captured by Valkyrie and sold to the Grandmaster, gets a Traumatic Haircut, is forced to fight in the arena against the Hulk, and is forced to lose when he's on the verge of victory.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Thor smugly talks to Doctor Strange as if he is the one having to explain Midgardian technology to the "wizard":
      Doctor Strange: You don't have a phone.
      Thor: [like a know-all] No, I don't have a phone, but you could have sent an electronic letter, it's called an "email"!
      Doctor Strange: Yeah, do you have a computer?
      Thor: No, what for?
    • Thor assures Hulk that he's his friend and that he doesn't care for Banner because he's into "numbers and science and stuff". Later when Banner comes to the surface he accuses Thor of only wanting the Hulk, but Thor assures Banner that he doesn't even like the Hulk because he's all "Smash, smash, smash".
  • I Am X, Son of Y:
    • Parodied when Thor is confronted by Surtur.
      Surtur: Thor, son of Odin.
      Thor: Surtur! Son of... a bitch! You're still alive!
    • Later, when Thor is enslaved on Sakaar, he repeatedly tries to invoke his status as Son of Odin, but nobody there knows or cares who he is.
  • I Call It "Vera":
    • The guns Skurge took from Texas, "Des" and "Troy".
    • Valkyrie's sword "Dragonfang".
  • I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The team's best chance at escaping Sakaar is a massive wormhole the locals refer to as the Devil's Anus.
  • I Fell for Hours: Doctor Strange has a fair idea what Loki can do, so he neutralizes him in a pocket plane while he's talking to Thor. Loki's complaint once he's back in the real world:
    Loki: I've been falling... for thirty minutes!
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Thor tries this with the Hulk when they are forced to fight each other in the gladiator match. Thor initially refuses to fight Hulk at all because they're friends, and once he's finally forced to fight back in self-defense, he still holds back and tries to get him to revert back to Banner, using Natasha's "lullaby" and even saying, "I know you're in there, Banner." However, he's eventually forced to give up on this and fight Hulk for real when it's clear he won't be reasoned with.
  • I'm Melting!: The Grandmaster uses a weapon that looks like a rod topped by a sphere to execute people who've displeased him, as he demonstrates with his "cousin" next to Thor. This results in the victim melting into a blue goo, to Thor's horror. Then the Grandmaster complains that he got some on his shoes. In a later scene, he refers to it as "the melt stick".
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
    • Since Hela can conjure up all manner of weapons at will, her preferred attack when dealing with virtually any opponent is chucking a blade or spike into them from a distance, or stabbing them up close.
    • Hela herself is seemingly impaled and killed when Surtur plunges his gigantic sword into the ground to destroy Asgard. It could have also just crushed her entirely.
    • During Hela's massacre of the Asgardian soldiers, one of them manages to impale her from behind on his spear. She doesn't appear to notice, and carries on slaughtering everyone without missing a beat.
  • Important Haircut: Thor gets an involuntary one from a barber at the Grandmaster's arena just before he's put to fight in the games. It represents his transition from Asgard royalty to lowly gladiator warrior.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes: The Pacific Islands-inspired outfits that the Sakaarians wear.
  • Improv: Many scenes were improvised by the actors, including the "snake story".
  • Improvised Weapon: When Loki loses one of his daggers during the Final Battle, he substitutes it with the sharp ends of his horned helmet, effectively taking down Hela's undead soldiers with them.
  • Incoming Ham: Loki has a grand moment when the mist pulls back to reveal him standing on the spaceship that will take the Asgardians to safety.
    Loki: YOUR SAVIOR IS HERE!
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: Played for Laughs. After telling the newly formed team that trying to get through the Devil's Anus wormwhole will probably result in them suffering horrifying deaths, Valkyrie grabs a nearby bottle of hard booze and macabrely states "so, drinks!"
  • Inevitable Mutual Betrayal: Thor teams up with Loki to get off of Sakaar, predicting that Loki will betray him. Loki does attempt to do so, but Thor had already planted an obedience disk to stop that from happening.
  • Inevitable Waterfall: The Hulk wrestles the Fenris Wolf in the waters surrounding the bridge, which eventually leads to both of them toppling off the waterfall.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: A small moment with Loki, Played for Laughs. Doctor Strange effortlessly captures Loki in a pocket dimension to keep him out of the way while he talks to Thor. When Strange brings him back almost as an afterthought, Loki is understandably livid and feels a flare of rivalry toward another magic user. He stands up ready to confront Strange only for him to quickly send Loki and Thor on their way.
    Doctor Strange: [to Thor] You can handle him from here.
    [...]
    Loki: Handle me? Who are you? You think you're some kind of sorcerer? Don't think for one minute, you second-rate...
    Doctor Strange: Alright. Bye bye. [sends Loki and Thor through a portal]
  • In the Hood:
    • After Heimdall has been stripped of his position and golden armor he goes into hiding wearing a hooded cloak as he leads Asgard's citizens to safety.
    • Thor tries this as a Paper-Thin Disguise, but as Valkyrie points out it doesn't hide his face.
    • Skurge wears a hooded cloak to conceal himself aboard the Statesman. He throws it off when he decides to use his assault rifles to make one last stand against the Berserkers trying to board the ship.
  • Infodump: During Thor's orientation/indoctrination into his new career as a gladiator, he is manacled to a chair speeding down a tunnel playing holograms of the planet's geography, helpfully accompanied by a female narration explaining the history, political structure, and gladiatorial culture of Sakaar like a warmly patronizing 4th grade schoolteacher.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • Surtur is quick to correct Thor that his crown is not his eyebrows, and he grows as big as a mountain, not a house.
    • Thor calls Doctor Strange a "wizard" while Strange retorts that he prefers "Master of the Mystic Arts". Thor continues to refer to Strange as a wizard out of spite.
    • A recurring joke has the Grandmaster constantly refer to Thor as the "Lord of Thunder" with Thor insisting each time that he is the "God of Thunder".
    • The Grandmaster doesn't like the word "slave", preferring the term "prisoners with jobs". He even pauses his escape from the gladiator revolution to correct Topaz on the proper usage.
  • Instant Costume Change: Thor and Loki switch to their battle armor in a blink of the eye when they see Hela.
  • Instantly Proven Wrong:
    • Thor promises Banner that he's never gonna have to think about the Hulk again. Cue them running into a street festival celebrating the Hulk.
    • At the end, as the protagonists are watching Asgard being destroyed by Surtur, Korg comments that as long as the foundations are holding up, they can always rebuild the place. Then the whole planet blows up before their eyes, and Korg meekly concludes, "Now those foundations are gone. Sorry."
    • In The Stinger, Loki confides to Thor that he is worried about going back to earth. Thor confidently tells him that he thinks everything will work out fine. Cue Thanos's ship showing up.
  • Instant Runes: Heimdall saves a family from Hela's mooks and brings them to the place where he hides the other Asgardians. To open the door to the cave, he touches the ground making a number of runes appear in a circle.
  • Internal Reveal: In this movie, Thor finds out that Loki is still alive, which the audience learned at the end of The Dark World. He's not particularly surprised and in fact figures it out the moment he sees what "Odin" is doing.
  • In-Universe Catharsis: Thor and Hulk are fighting in an arena with Loki looking on. At one point Thor is yanked off his feet and smashed into the ground repeatedly just as Loki was in The Avengers.
    Loki: YES! THAT'S HOW IT FEELS!
  • Ironic Echo: Hela tells Loki and Thor to do the exact same thing Loki ordered a crowd to do a few years earlier.
    Hela: Kneel.
    Loki: Beg your pardon?
  • Irony: Hela spends most of the movie impaling her enemies. During the climax, she ends up impaled by Surtur's giant sword.
  • It Has Only Just Begun: Thor attempts to assure Odin that he stopped Ragnarok because he killed Surtur but Odin answers that Ragnarok has already begun.
  • It's a Long Story: Invoked by Thor in the opening of the film, which he uses as an explanation for why he's no longer searching for the Infinity Stones and how he ended up in a cage in Surtur's lair.
  • It's What I Do: Loki's explanation in his play The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard about his past misdeeds:
    Play Loki: I'm sorry about that thing with the Tesseract. I just couldn't help myself. [...] I'm a trickster!
  • It Was with You All Along: Thor's innate powers were in fact limited and controlled by Mjölnir, rather than it being the source of his abilities.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Cleverly used by Thor to reveal who "Odin" is on Asgard. He casually throws Mjölnir away, then stands behind "Odin" while calling it back with the hand he uses to hold him by the neck. Loki reveals himself by breaking the façade and dodging Mjölnir.
  • Joke of the Butt: A lot of jokes are made about the fact that the wormhole the heroes need to pass through to return to Asgard is called "The Devil's Anus".
  • Killed Off for Real: The Warriors Three, among many other Asgardians. They are among the leaders in resisting Hela's initial conquest of Asgard, and she stabs them many, many times.
  • Kirby Dots: The movie, which was released during Kirby's centennial, uses the Crackle quite blatantly. Most prominently in portals, such as the one Hela steps out of in her first appearance.
  • Kneel Before Zod: Hela has a habit of demanding that people kneel before her. She first does it to Thor and Loki and later she demands that Hogun and the Einherjar army kneel upon returning to Asgard.
    Hela: Kneel, before your Queen!
  • Knife Fight: Between Loki and Valkyrie. She wins and captures him.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Subverted. Everyone on Sakaar expects Thor to be terrified of the Hulk once he arrives. However, both Thor and the movie itself treat his arrival as a moment of happiness and the beginning of the former Thunder God's rebound after Thor has lost his home, his hammer, and his freedom.
    Thor: We know each other! He's a friend from work!
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Thor mentions that he wanted to be a Valkyrie before finding out they are all women, and geeks out over Valkyrie's weapon. He flip-flops a bunch between "disappointed in how she has fallen" and "in awe of how awesome she is."
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: After seeing Hela effortlessly destroy Mjölnir, both Thor and Loki have an Oh, Crap! reaction and Loki immediately calls for the Bifrost so they can escape, knowing Hela is too formidable to take on without reinforcements and planning. Thor, realizing that Hela will ride the Bifrost back to Asgard with them, tries to stop him but fails.
  • Landfill Beyond the Stars: The planet Sakaar, which is ruled by the Grandmaster, is an alien scrapyard for derelict spaceships and is known as the "Trash Can of the Universe". Apparently most rogue portals or other teleportation mishaps end up on Sakaar, to justify why so many important characters all end up stranded in the same location.
  • Large Ham:
    • Hela makes up for her long-term imprisonment by magnificently Chewing the Scenery:
      • In her first meeting with Thor and Loki:
        Hela: Kneel.
        Loki: Beg your pardon?
        Hela: Kneel... before your queen.
      • After killing most of the Einherjar singlehandedly:
        Hela: Oh, I've MISSED THIS!
      • While choking the life out of Thor:
        Hela: I'm not a queen, or a monster... I'm the Goddess of Death!
    • Luke Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Sam Neill are all overacting as much as they possibly can while portraying the "play" versions of Thor, Loki, and Odin. Anthony Hopkins also seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself playing Loki-impersonating-Odin.
    • Predictably, Loki has his moment:
      Loki: [arriving in full battle regalia] YOUR SAVIOR IS HERE!!
  • Last of His Kind: Valkyrie is the last of the Valkyrior. The others were killed in battle by Hela.
  • Last Villain Stand: After Surtur has been restored and prepares to bring about Asgard's destruction there is no way left for Hela to win. However, she still fights on to the very end.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • Surtur chuckles to Thor that "Ragnarok has already begun." He's not wrong, it is the opening scene of Thor: Ragnarok.
    • Hulk's insistence that Thor is only "like smoldering fire" serves as both an Always Someone Better put down by Hulk and a meta reference to Thor being the MCU's designated Mr. Fanservice.
    • The scene where Doctor Strange and Thor are randomly teleporting around the Sanctum Sanctorum is basically "if Thor was fully aware of and disoriented by the editing."
    • Thor's dialogue with Valkyrie about her past includes a line about how "it's about time" there was a race of female warriors, reflecting public pressure on Marvel to produce a female-led superhero film.note 
  • Leaning on the Furniture: Thor briefly attempts to lean on Hulk's furniture when he appears behind Valkyrie to talk to her, but he quickly and awkwardly rearranges his arms.
  • Leg Cling: As Thor and Loki work their way toward the hangers to commandeer the Grandmaster's ship, they enter a room while wielding large rifle blasters to take down the guards inside. Said guards happen to be standing in front of a statue of the Grandmaster that looks straight out of a Vallejo painting complete with him holding a massive blaster over his head while a woman clings to his right leg.
  • Let Me Get This Straight...: Thor, when he's talking to Surtur at the beginning to find out what his dreams about Asgard's destruction mean:
    Thor: Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to put your crown into the Eternal Flame, and then you'll suddenly grow as big as a house?
    Surtur: A MOUNTAIN!!!
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Recognizing that Hela is too strong to defeat and will only grow stronger, Thor has Loki unleash Surtur, causing Ragnarok, destroying Asgard, and killing Hela who manages Taking You with Me on a fire giant the size of a mountain.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Valkyrie and Hulk, who tease each other on friendly terms, seem to have developed this relationship during the Hulk's time on Sakaar.
  • Like Father, Like Son: The film closes with Thor as the one-eyed (same side, no less) King of Asgard.
  • Little "No": Hela, for the first time in the film lets out a single, horrified, "No" when she sees that Loki has released Surtur to destroy Asgard.
  • Lock-and-Load Montage: The montage is of Valkyrie putting her old valkyrie armor on and preparing her weapons before the climactic battle. It's a also quite symbolic of her accepting back her role as protector of Asgard after centuries of hiding.
  • Logo Joke: The Marvel Studios logo glows as red-hot as the lava seen in the opening scene's background.
  • Longing Look: Thor to Valkyrie, which graduates to Held Gaze during the chase scene on Sakaar.
  • Magic Feather: After Thor's trusty hammer Mjölnir is destroyed, he eventually learns from Odin's spirit that while the hammer is indeed a mighty weapon, it was not the source of his lighting powers. It came from within him, and the hammer was actually a Power Limiter to help him focus his powers. Invoked in a deleted scene where Bruce Banner tries to get Thor out of his funk by calling him Dumbo and explaining the Magic Feather to him.
  • Magic Pants: Inevitable in anything featuring Hulk, but there's a subtle lampshade of it: Midway through the film, after de-Hulking, Banner winds up naked and has to wear some of Tony Stark's clothes. Throughout the next few scenes he keeps complaining about how tight the pants are, and is visibly struggling to walk. This serves to highlight the fact that the pants stretch with him when he transforms in the climax.
  • Make an Example of Them: Hela plans to publicly execute an innocent Asgardian woman to show what happens if people keep defying her.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: When Thor is imprisoned by the Grandmaster and Loki visits him in the dungeons, Loki explains to Thor that he didn't help him out because he didn't want to jeopardize his position in the Grandmaster's inner circle. He suggests to Thor that he could join him to gain favour with the Grandmaster until an "accident" befalls him one day after which they're gonna rule Sakaar, but Thor isn't interested.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: Hela is introduced when she demands that Thor and Loki kneel before her, which flabbergasts Loki, a previous villain who was big on this demand, in particular. Then he immediately tries to flee back to Asgard, only for Hela to knock both him and Thor through another spacegate.
  • Malicious Misnaming:
    • Valkyrie calls Loki "lackey" when he confronts her over the fact that she's covering for Thor and the Hulk.
    • Thor calls Surtur's crown a tiara to his face.
    • Thor calls Doctor Strange a wizard, even after Strange tells him that "The preferred term is 'Master of the Mystic Arts'."
    • The Grandmaster keeps calling Thor "Lord of Thunder".
  • Manifesto-Making Malcontent: Played for Laughs with Korg. He explains that he was trying to start a revolution but he didn't make enough pamphlets and the only people who showed up were his mother and her boyfriend, who he hates. As punishment he ends up on Sakaar and forced to become a gladiator.
  • Marquee Alter Ego: In the comics, Hela's face is usually half-covered by a mask that is part of her iconic Cool Helmet. Cate Blanchett keeps the headgear, but doesn't usually wear a mask, although her helmet extends further when unleashing her full powers, looking closer to the character's traditional mask.
  • Match Cut: When Heimdall snatches the Bifrost sword and the camera zooms out on the Asgardian night sky, the stars start to turn into lights and we find ourselves with Thor in the "orientation tunnel" on Sakaar.
  • Meaningful Look: At various points, Skurge seems very unhappy about what Hela is doing, even though he never voices it, foreshadowing his heel-face turn.
  • Meaningless Villain Victory: Hela becomes undisputed ruler of Asgard, but since all her subjects have fled, taking the Bifröst Sword with them, all she gets is an empty rock, which Surtur promptly destroys thus eliminating her source of power.
  • Memorial Statue: After faking his death in Thor: The Dark World and posing as Odin, Loki has commissioned a gigantic, golden statue of himself. In his play The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard, he makes it look as if the statue was his dying wish.
    Actor Loki: Build a statue for me.
    Actor Thor: We will build a big statue for you.
    Actor Loki: With my helmet on, with the big bendy horns.
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: Once again, Hulk swings around an Asgardian like he's a ragdoll, even doing the same combo as last time. Except this time it's Thor's turn in the gladiatorial arena, to Loki's immense delight.
  • Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Loki's little gambit impersonating Odin ends up resulting in the destruction of Asgard and the death of much of its population. Downplayed in that it's strongly implied that his interference just sped up events that would inevitably have happened anyway.
  • Minor Insult Meltdown: Subverted. The Grandmaster is discussing Hulk's escape with Loki and Valkyrie. Loki speaks out of turn, which prompts Topaz to hand him the deadly melt stick. The Grandmaster is shocked and tells her to stand down.
    The Grandmaster: Why are you handing me the melt stick? He was interrupting. That's not a capital violation.
  • Mistaken for Transformed: Loki is unexpectedly teleported off the street by Doctor Strange, leaving behind a business card with directions to the Sanctum Sanctorum. Not understanding what just happened, Thor believes that Loki has used his powers of illusion to disguise himself as the card, and pokes it with his umbrella in confusion.
  • Moment Killer: Skurge is showing off the Bifrost to a pair of women when Thor calls for an extraction. He is able to roll with this, being excited to show of how it works, but Thor ends up Portal Cutting a dragon covering Skurge and the women in green goop.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • Most of the story transitions to Hela back in Asgard result in this. While she's not without her humorous moments, Hela is a Knight of Cerebus who takes over Asgard, massacres many of its people, and wants to become a Multiversal Conqueror. Thus her scenes conflict sharply when they're cut in between Thor's adventures on Sakaar, which are more overtly humorous and zany.
    • Thor and Loki's search for Odin begins with Loki remarking, "I left him right here," while they observe an elderly nursing home being torn down, and then they meet Doctor Strange, who has some magical fun with both of them. Then they actually find Odin, he dies after a wistful monologue, and Hela shows up and destroys Mjölnir.
    • The Grandmaster uses his "melt stick" on some poor sap who promptly melts, in what appears to be terrible agony. Thor is horrified to witness this... and then the Grandmaster complains about the resulting goo getting on his sandals, and how bad it smells.
    • Thor and Loki have a discussion in which Thor calmly tells Loki that there was a time he thought the world of him, but their paths diverged a long time ago. Loki somberly agrees that it's best if they never see each other again. The soundtrack is sad and wistful. Cue "Hey, let's do 'Get Help'!"
    • Thor and Loki (as a projected illusion from elsewhere) have a bleak conversation inside the holding cell, which ends with both of them bitter and Loki snapping that Thor will get himself killed... and as he drops the illusion, Korg charges him and kicks the wall, screaming, "PISS OFF, GHOST!"
    • After the final battle and Surtur is laying waste to Asgard, Korg makes an inspiring speech saying that as long as the foundations are strong, there's a chance to rebuild Asgard and create a haven for all people and aliens of the universe. Immediately, Asgard explodes to bits. Korg flatly says, "Now those foundations are gone. Sorry."
  • Mook Chivalry: Surprisingly subverted. When Hela single-handedly takes on the entire Asgardian army, if you look closely the Asgardian soldiers actually are all attacking at once and in waves, similar to how real military companies would fight. Hela is just so insanely powerful that she massacres them before too many of them can engage her at once.
  • Mourning an Object: Downplayed but lampshaded. The destruction of Thor's trusty hammer Mjölnir is, at the time, played more for shock that Big Bad Hela is capable of destroying it. It's not until later on where Thor is choosing a new weapon and lamenting the loss of his hammer that the significance of losing it is made apparent, with Korg outright saying it sounds comparable to losing a loved one.
  • Muggles Do It Better: Hela's undead mooks can fight living Asgardian soldiers, but are utterly massacred by Skurge's assault rifles (stolen from Earth). They only get him when he runs out of bullets.
  • Mundane Utility: The Bifrost sword, the key to operating the Bifrost and a minor MacGuffin, is wielded by Heimdall like any other broadsword.
  • Musical Nod:
    • Brian Tyler's "Deliverance" from Thor: The Dark World appears during the "Tragedy of Loki" play, performed by an in-universe choir.
    • The sweeping fanfare that introduced us to Asgard in the first film returns before seguing into the Ragnarok suite as Thor becomes captain of the Asgardian vessel.
  • My Card: Doctor Strange kidnaps Loki via a magical portal, leaving a card with the address of the New York Sanctum in his place.
  • My Greatest Failure: Implied to be Odin's backstory. Hela was instrumental in helping him build his empire, Asgard's unquestioned domination over the Nine Realms, but "her bloodlust grew too great for me to contain". He exiled his daughter, stopped at the nine realms, and covered over the history.
  • Mysterious Mist: When Loki and the gladiators arrive on Asgard with the Statesman, the ship emerges out of a thick veil of fog.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Doctor Strange wears yellow gloves, in-line with the costume the character had in The Silver Age of Comic Books.
    • After reaching Sakaar, Thor wears a helmet based on the winged helm his comic counterpart often sports.
    • The Grandmaster refers to the Hulk with the title "The Incredible", a reference to his original and still ongoing comic series The Incredible Hulk. Interestingly, the MCU films never used "Incredible" to refer to Hulk till that point.note 
    • In the same monologue, the Grandmaster says "I feel a special connection with him". This is suspected of being a reference (perhaps even an ad-libbed one) to Jeff Goldblum being one of the actors considered for the part of Bruce Banner in 2003's Hulk.
    • Valkyrie is known as Scrapper 142, after the issue of ''Incredible Hulk'' in which the character first appeared.
    • Valkyrie's friendship with the Hulk is likely based on their friendship from when they were both in The Defenders.
    • The Hulk finding acceptance as a champion on an alien world, and friendship with a warrior woman there, might also be a nod to K'ai and Jarella.
    • Banner's explanation of the balancing act with him and the Hulk taking turns at "driving a car" is taken from Totally Awesome Hulk.
    • The Grandmaster's gladiatorial games are called the Contest of Champions.
    • Loki's new headpiece is taken from his Loki: Agent of Asgard design.
    • Skurge dual wielding M16s is taken from his last stand at Gjallerbru in The Mighty Thor issue 362, as is his death after mowing down hordes of Hela's forces.
    • Some of the architectural patterns and outfits seen on Sakaar are taken directly from the artwork of Jack Kirby.
    • Thor's largely unadorned armor is based on his design from Jason Aaron's contemporary Thor comics. Thor being stripped of his hammer and forced to rely on other weapons also comes from Aaron's run, though in this case he appears to be using swords and a mace instead of an axe.
    • More Jason Aaron; by the end of the film Thor has lost an eye and taken his father's place as ruler of Asgard, just like the Old King Thor from the 2012 Thor: God of Thunder series.
    • Also from God of Thunder, Hela's "What were you the God of, again?" taunt is a homage to a similar scene where Gorr the God Butchernote  asks "What was Thor the god of before he died?" (In both cases, the question is asked seconds before Thor summons a huge bolt of lightning in response.)
    • The golden mace Thor wields during his gladiator match looks like the one used by his buddy Hercules in the comics.
    • When they first see each other in this movie, Thor refers to Hulk as a friend and is relieved to see him. In Planet Hulk, when Hulk sees the Silver Surfer in the arena, Surfer also refers to Hulk as a friend (something Hulk himself was about to say).
    • The Hulk's casual clothes on Sakaar are the ones he wore while in Tibet during the Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine mini-series.
    • The color scheme of the armor Valkyrie dons for the final battle with Hela is a nod to the white and gold costume Clea made for her in The Defenders #47 back in The '70s.
    • The Grandmaster's tower has sculpted busts of Beta Ray Bill, Man-Thing, the Hulk villain Bi-Beast, the Greek deity Ares, and a fifth head depicting what some have speculated to be Thanos himself. Shots of the same palace from the trailer also included Fin Fang Foom.
    • While struggling to come up with a name for his new team that's not "The Avengers", Thor claims they're called "The Revengers", much to Valkyrie's bewilderment. The Revengers is the name of several different teams of evil Avengers from the comics.
    • For the first time ever in the MCU, Mjölnir is glamoured to look like an innocuous everyday accessory (an umbrella) which magically transforms Thor's "Earth" clothes into his normal armored outfit when he strikes it on the ground. This has been part of the comic Thor since day one, as Don Blake would do the same to change from his civilian identity into Thor; the only difference is that in the comics, Mjölnir transformed into a walking stick.
    • At the end, the idea of the Asgardians starting over on Earth after the destruction of their home was the premise of J. Michael Straczynski and Oliver Coipel's iconic 2007 Thor run.
    • In the play within a film, Loki apologizes for the time he turned Thor into a frog, referencing the 1986 Walt Simonson "Frog Thor" storyline.
    • Bruce mentioning his PhDs while complaining that people underestimate him in detriment of Hulk's strength is a reference to a similar line from Giffen and DeMatteis run in the Defenders title, where Bruce mentions having three doctorates, while Hulk could barely write his own name.
    • Thor threatening Loki-disguised-as-Odin by throwing Mjölnir into the distance, then grabbing Loki's head and reminding him that Mjölnir will always return to his hand no matter what is in its way, is taken from a scene in Simonson's run on the comics where he makes the same threat (with a different context).
    • The last Valkyrie that Hela kills looks an awful lot like Valkyrie's traditional blonde, blue-eyed comics appearance.
    • Korg, a rock-composed humanoid, calling himself "a thing".
    • Thor's situation at the end is similar to his alien counterpart Beta Ray Bill, flying around in a spaceship with his people looking for a new home after his old one was destroyed by Surtur.
    • Thor quickly identifies Korg as being a member of a species called Kronans, who have the appearance of humanoids made of rock. In the comics the very first Thor story had him defeating a spearhead invasion by these very same aliens. (Of course, this Thor has already met a rather less-friendly Kronan on Vanaheim in Thor: The Dark World. Briefly.)
    • During Ragnarok in Norse Mythology, Loki steers the ship Naglfar full with beasts to the battle on Asgard to fight the Gods. In the movie, Loki takes the Grandmaster's ship Statesman together with the freed gladiators of Sakaar to help Thor and their people against Hela.
    • When he changes sides, Skurge's weapon is machine guns.
  • Narnia Time: Time passes weirdly on Sakaar in relation to the rest of the universe. When Thor and Loki get thrown off the Bifröst by Hela, Loki ends up arriving on Sakaar weeks earlier than Thor despite being thrown seconds earlier. The Grandmaster says he would be billions of years old elsewhere in the universe and Valkyrie doesn't seem to have aged at all since first encountering Hela many millennia ago, before Thor and Loki were even born.
  • Negated Moment of Awesome:
    • When Thor and Hulk get ready for a second round, with both combatants primed and ready to take the fight to another level, the Grandmaster shocks him so Hulk can finish the battle right there.
    • Thor stops Hulk's battle with Surtur after just a few seconds, because they need the demon to destroy Asgard and defeat Hela.
  • Net Gun: After arriving or Sakaar, the Mighty Thor is felled by a high-tech looking net that can be used to give the captive an electric shock.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Certain scenes in the initial trailers are edited or unfinished, being specifically meant to deceive.
    • In more a case of "Never Trust a Stinger", the meeting between Thor and Doctor Strange appears to be more amicable in the post-credits scene for the doctor's film. Here, Thor is very much unnerved by Strange's casual disregard for the laws of reality, and Stephen wants Odinson and his infamous adoptive brother off of his planet, now.
    • Hela doesn't confront Thor and Loki in New York, but rather in Norway, and the shot of her shattering the hammer happens not in an alleyway, but in a green field overlooking the sea. Later previews showed the real version; according to Taika Waititi, this wasn't supposed to be the case, but they changed it at the last minute because they wanted to set the whole scene, (including the bit with Odin) in a beautiful, peaceful setting.
    • The final trailer shows the shot from the climax where Thor descends from the sky with his eyes glowing... except in the actual film it's only one eye, with the right one having been torn out by Hela earlier. The shot where Hela has Thor pinned down during her "goddess of death" speech is also edited to show only light bruising around his right eye instead of a bloody mess.
    • This extends to the print marketing as well. The Comic-Con poster for Avengers: Infinity War cleverly posed Thor in such a way that the spot where his right eye used to be isn't visible. The issue about Thor's eye also applies in the D 23 Trailer for Infinity War, in which it shows him with both eyes. The Official Teaser trailer, however, shows Thor wearing an Eye Patch.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Despite having knowledge of multiple existential threats (including Hela) to Asgard and the universe at large, and having repeatedly been in danger over the course of his rule, Odin never shared this knowledge with anyone else. Thus when Loki steals the throne, he is unable to defend against these threats.
    • Loki's hasty retreat from the initial fight with Hela provides her with access to a Bifröst transport beam, allowing her to return to Asgard, power-up and kill the entire city guard.
    • Thor ordering that Surtur's crown be placed in Odin's vault, where we were just informed that the Eternal Flame is also kept, seems like a perfect setup for this trope considering that we were told by Surtur himself that crown + flame = Ragnarok. It ends up being subverted because triggering Ragnarok turns out to be the only way to truly defeat Hela.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • Loki banishing Heimdall means he won't be in Hela's way when she hitches a ride on the bifrost. This makes him an unknown Spanner in the Works for her, allowing him to steal the sword, trapping Hela, and be Thor's guy on the inside.
    • Surtur destroying Asgard and thus eliminating Hela's source of power renders him fulfilling his destiny ironic, since he is saving its populace in the process and is unknowingly acting on the behalf of its king.
  • Night of the Living Mooks: Since she slaughtered the entire army of Asgard for refusing to work for her, Hela raises the soldiers (and Fenris) who were under her employ prior to her imprisonment to serve her once more.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Hulk starts to deliver one to Thor during the gladiator battle until Thor suddenly powers up with lightning.
  • No Kill like Overkill: Valkyrie arrives to claim Thor from the scavengers and realizes she'll need to go through them to get Thor. So she unleashes her spaceship's mounted guns on them which utterly obliterates the squishy human targets in a matter of seconds.
  • No Name Given: Other than her Scrapper identification number, Valkyrie's real name is never stated. We don't even know if it's Brunnhilde like in the comics.
  • Non Sequitur Environment: Played for Laughs. During Thor's meeting with Doctor Strange, Strange uses his magic to instantly transport them around the Sanctum Sanctorum via a jumpcut. As a result, Thor is left extremely disoriented, twice spilling his mug of beer, causing part of bookshelf to collapse and finishing up by falling down the stairs as a result of the constant surprise teleportation.
  • No-Sell: While most hits against Hela qualify, it isn't until Thor channels his true thunder power without Mjölnir that the viewer realizes the extent of her endurance in battle.
    Thor: I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning! It did nothing!
  • Not Bad: Hela's assessment of the Tesseract is "not bad", in contrast to most of the other things in Odin's vault, which she demeans as "fake" (the Infinity Gauntlet) or "weak" (the Casket of Ancient Winters).
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: For the context of the Thor sub-franchise. Mjölnir gets destroyed by Hela. Loki's brief reign posing as Odin is exposed. Asgard is wrecked beyond recognition and later destroyed. A bunch of Asgardians die, including the Warriors Three and Odin himself, making Thor king. Oh, and Thor and Jane are no longer dating. The film also closes with Thor having a drastic new look, namely shorter hair and missing right eye.
  • Nothing Up My Sleeve:
    • Loki pulls twin daggers from his sleeves before he charges at Doctor Strange.
    • After Hela slaughters the entire Einherjar, Hogun pulls a dagger out of his sleeve as a last resort but she kills him before he can attack her.
  • Nothing Personal: Loki assures Thor that, unlike all those previous betrayals, this one truly isn't personal. Thor isn't particularly fussed... as he saw it coming from a mile away and has already turned it against Loki.
  • The Not-Love Interest: With Jane Foster no longer in the picture, after her "Mutual Dumping" of Thor, Valkyrie was originally meant to be introduced as Thor's new love interest. However, in the actual film there is no sign of attraction between the two characters, instead blossoming into one of mutual respect.
  • Not Me This Time:
    • When Thor and Loki find Odin to take him home, he serenely tells them that he hears his late wife calling to him. Thor angrily tells Loki to lift his enchantment but Loki's look of concern and subtle head shake confirms he's not to blame this time. Then Odin reveals that he had already broken free from Loki's spell.
    • Lampshaded when Doctor Strange starts to open a portal beneath Loki's feet and he exclaims "This isn't me!"
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Thor says that he and the Hulk are both "just a couple of hotheaded fools" after their fight in the gladiator arenas. Hulk disagrees.
    Hulk: Yeah, same. Hulk like fire, Thor like water.
    Thor: Well, we're kind of both like fire.
    Hulk: But Hulk like real fire, like raging fire. Thor like smoldering fire.
  • Objectshifting: After Doctor Strange teleports Loki away and leaves his card behind, Thor pokes it with his umbrella asking "Loki?" thinking that Loki has just shifted into it.
  • Oddly Small Organization: For an interstellar civilization with wide ranging influence and power, Asgard doesn't have very many people. By the end, the Asgardians number in the hundreds.
  • Offhand Backhand: As Thor spins his hammer to launch himself out of Surtur's caverns, one of the mooks runs straight into Mjölnir and gets demolished. Thor doesn't even notice.
  • Offscreen Breakup: While on earth, a fan of Thor mentions in a very brief, casual aside that Jane dumped Thor between movies.
    Thor: It was a mutual dumping.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It's implied that Heimdall has been holding off Hela's army and rescuing the civilians for months single-handedly.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Up in the VIP seats, Loki looks visibly distressed to see the Hulk again obviously recalling his previous encounter with him.
    • When Thor sees Hela catch and then destroy Mjölnir, he is naturally shocked.
    • After escaping with Thor into the Bifröst, Loki becomes visibly distressed when he turns around to find Hela chasing right behind them.
    • Loki (disguised as Odin) has this reaction when Thor returns from fighting Surtur.
      Loki as Odin: [sees Thor approaching him as he is disguised and enjoying the play] Oh, shit.
    • Hela loses her composure when Thor taps into his innate power and calls down "the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning" upon her. Later she has a monumental one when she realizes that Thor, Loki and Valkyrie have Out-Gambitted her by resurrecting Surtur to destroy Asgard, and another one when she faces Surtur raising his sword ready to plunge it into the ground...
    • Thor and Loki have a collective one when they're on their way to Earth with the surviving Asgardians and Thanos's ship Sanctuary II that dwarfs theirs in size suddenly appears in their view.
    • When Thor tries to summon Mjöllnir after first landing on Sakaar, he has a heart-breaking Oh Crap, because he's just remembering, for the first time, that mew-mew has been destroyed.
  • "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Loki has this expression when Thor exposes his masquerade and makes him turn into himself instead of impersonating Odin.
  • Ominous Walk: Subverted when Valkyrie emerges from her ship, begins to stride down the landing ramp... and drunkenly falls off.
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Subverted. Banner has seven PhDs, but as he says:
    Banner: NONE OF THEM ARE FOR FLYING SPACESHIPS!
  • Once More, with Clarity: The Stinger from Doctor Strange featuring Thor and Strange is revisited in this film, with the reasons for Thor being with Loki on Earth and how he persuaded Loki to help him find Odin.
  • One-Man Army:
    • Thor as usual. He shows this once at the beginning when taking down Surtur and most of his mooks with Mjölnir, and then again at the climax after he has fully learned to control his lightning powers and zaps down Hela's army of the dead by the dozens. Both scenes are accompanied by Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
    • Hela as well. She is shown multiple times to have taken down several squads of Asgardian soldiers single-handedly without breaking a sweat.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: A brief moment between Thor and Hulk when Thor is leaving their room. When he says "It's hideous, by the way. I mean...the red, the white, just pick a color", Hemsworth's native Australian accent comes out on the last piece.
  • Opinion Flip-Flop: Played for Laughs. Thor tells Hulk that he likes him more than Banner. Shortly after, he tells Banner that he prefers him to Hulk.
  • Out-of-Character Alert: As soon as Thor arrives back on Asgard, the film all but spells out that "Odin" is really Loki disguised as him. In stark contrast to how imposing and no-nonsense he is in the previous films, Odin has become a Lazy Bum who sits around in his bathrobes eating grapes and watching theater while acting apathetic to the chaos the Nine Realms have fallen into, and is far too soft-spoken and genial (the real Odin took his job very seriously and didn't take crap from anyone). To say nothing of the fact that Odin inexplicably ordered a 60-foot statue of Loki to be erected and puts on bad plays glorifying him, something the real Odin would never have done given Loki's attempts to destroy Jötunheim and conquer Earth in the previous films. Not to mention he had disowned Loki as a son and sentenced him to life imprisonment for his crimes (and nearly had him executed instead of that) in The Dark World. But the part that fully spoils the ruse is that he's visibly terrified when Mjölnir is flying towards his head while Thor is behind him — the real Odin was worthy of the hammer and wouldn't have been in any danger of being struck by it at all.
  • Out of the Frying Pan: Just when they thought they can finally catch a break after escaping the destruction of their home world, the Asgardians encounter a tyrant even worse than Hela, Thanos the Mad Titan.
  • Outside-Context Problem: Doctor Strange briefly becomes this for Loki. Since he wasn't expecting any other magic users on Earth, Strange is able to trap Loki in a pocket dimension. When Loki is released, he is understandably pissed. However, the film avoids a direct confrontation between MCU magic users by having Strange shove Loki and Thor through a portal to Norway.
  • Overcrank: Several shots in the climax battle are filmed in slow-motion, such as Thor jumping flying down on the Bifrost while powering up with lightning, Valkyrie walking towards the Berserkers while the Commodore behind her emits fireworks, or Loki dodging a Berserker's sword.

    Tropes P to Z 
  • Painting the Medium: During the stage version of Loki's supposed death in Thor: The Dark World, the backup choir starts to sing the theme music from that scene.
  • Palate Propping:
    • Thor jams the jaws of Surtur's dragon with his body and puts Mjölnir into its mouth, pinning it to the ground.
    • Hulk manages to catch and hold open the jaws of the Fenris Wolf right before they clamp down on him.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Thor's ingenious plan to hide himself in plain sight is to just throw a blanket over his head. Valkyrie rightfully points out that she can still see his face.
    Thor: Not when I do this, you don't. [drapes a corner of the blanket over his mouth]
  • Pegasus: When the Valkyries were sent after Hela, they rode in charging on a flock of Pegasi. Many of them, and their riders, were killed by Hela's daggers.
  • Percussive Maintenance: The bracers that allow Valkyrie to remote-control the guns of her ship are acting up, and she has to slap her wrists a few times before they begin working.
  • Phallic Weapon: The big gun Valkyrie uses during the final battle. See for yourself.
  • Physical God: This film returns to the comic roots by portraying the Asgardians, or at least the royal family, as gods or godlike beings. Both Hela and Thor insist on going by their godly titles to the point where it is more than a nickname. The royal family is portrayed as being far physically superior to other Asgardians and imbued with special powers other Asgardians tend to lack. The mosaic above the throne room completes the picture by showcasing the royal family with halos straight out of the Sistine Chapel.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Skurge the Executioner performs exactly zero executions over the course of the movie, and is rather hesitant the one time it looks like he might have to (because it's just a random woman out of a crowd refusing to tell Hela where the MacGuffin is).
  • Pistol-Whipping: Skurge uses his guns as bludgeons when they run out of ammo.
  • Planar Shockwave: When Asgard is destroyed, the foundations explode with a gigantic shockwave.
  • Planetary Romance: The bulk of the action takes place on Sakaar, a chaotic Landfill Beyond the Stars ruled by a mad Evil Overlord, populated by countless alien species and located at a nexus of wormholes, all constantly dumping the lost junk of the universe onto its surface. Director Taika Waititi has stated that the cult '80s movie Flash Gordon was his biggest influence for the planetary design.
  • Play-Along Prisoner: Thor in the opening scene, so he could get Surtur to explain the dreams he'd been having about Surtur being present with Asgard in flames and falling into ruin. Once Thor learns about Surtur's role in Ragnarok and how to trigger it, he quickly captures the artifacts from the Lord of Muspelheim needed to do make it happen.
  • Plot-Triggering Death: The death of Odin Allfather is what frees Hela to begin her conquest of the nine realms.
  • Poor Communication Kills: So much could have been avoided if Odin had been honest with his children. Thor, Loki and the whole of Asgard are unprepared for Hela's return because no-one even knew of her existence. This is even lampshaded by Loki.
    Loki: Open communication was never our family's forte.
  • Portal Crossroad World: Sakaar is a planet surrounded by portals from across the universe and most teleportation errors lead to being dumped there.
  • Portal Cut: At the end of the cold open, Thor gets beamed up by the Bifröst just as a dragon is about to devour him. The dragon's head comes along for the ride, without the rest of the dragon.
  • Possessive Wrist Grab: Loki grabs Valkyrie's wrist when she doesn't want to tell him why she let Thor and the Hulk escape. She just fights him off.
    Valkyrie: I don't answer to you, Lackey.
    Loki: It's Loki. And you will answer to the Grandmaster.
  • Power Floats: Although she doesn't make use of it against Thor, Hela seems to have the ability to float in mid-air unaided like her comics counterpart, if the flashback of her battle against the Valkyries is anything to go by.
  • Power Limiter: Mjölnir was this all along. It curtailed Thor's real power and allowed him to control and focus it better while he was still growing into adulthood.
  • Power Makes Your Voice Deep:
    • Hulk's voice is much deeper than Banner's which is understandable given that the Hulk's vocal cords would be much larger. However, there's a moment where Banner starts getting stressed and seems dangerously close to Hulking Out. Not only do some veins in his face and neck briefly turn green, but his voice distorts and deepens, despite still being predominantly Banner.
      Thor: Why are you being so weird?
      Bruce: I don't know, maybe the fact that I was trapped for two years inside of a monster made me a little weird!
    • Surtur's voice gets noticeably deeper when he grows as tall as Asgard's palace, compared to when he was "just" about six meters tall.
  • Powers via Weapon: Discussed and defied. Thor gets a power-up after realizing he doesn't need his weapon.
    Odin: [in Thor's vision] Are you Thor, the God of Hammers?
  • Pragmatic Adaptation:
    • The Ragnarok is a tale from Norse Mythology about the cycle of destruction (including Asgard, all its gods, and the world) leading to new creation. The movie adapts that to focus only on the destruction of Asgard and most of its heroes and gods, leaving Thor, Loki, Heimdall, and the Asgardians intact for future MCU stories.
    • In both the original Norse mythology and in the comics, Hela is Loki's daughter. Instead, in this film she's conflated with Angela, Thor and Loki's long-lost sister. No doubt this is partly because it makes more sense for Odin to have a secret child, and partly because the audience subconsciously wouldn't be able to accept Lokinote  having a fully grown daughternote .
  • Primp of Contempt: Hela stares at her fingernails before she addresses the Einherjar with a bored expression.
  • Prophecy Twist: Ragnarok is the cataclysmic event which will utterly destroy Asgard, and Thor takes action to prevent Surtur from gaining the power he needs to make it happen thus saving Asgard... or so it seems. It turns out that Ragnarok is the only thing that can stop Hela from continuing to gain power, and our heroes end up having to initiate it in order to prevent her from conquering other realms.
  • Public Execution:
    • Following the disappearance of the Hulk, Grandmaster tells Loki and Valkyrie that he thought about killing them in one, because of their connections to Thor and Hulk, but instead orders them to find the two and bring them to him.
    • Hela threatens to have an innocent woman beheaded if the Asgardians won't tell her where the Bifrost sword is.
  • Punch Catch: During the gladiator fight, Hulk catches Thor mid-attack by catching the big hammer that he is swinging.
  • Punch-Clock Hero: Played for Laughs. Thor thinks fighting Alien Invasions and Killer Robots with Hulk makes them "friends from work."
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Skurge is basically a follower of whomever appears to be in charge and never does anything particularly evil.
  • Put on a Bus: Jane Foster does not return, with a brief dialogue exchange establishing that she and Thor had an Offscreen Breakup. Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig are not even mentioned. Sif is also absent, with the Word of God explanation from Kevin Feige being that Loki likely banished her to keep her from discovering that he had replaced Odin.
  • Putting the Band Back Together: To take on Hela, Thor reunites several former allies who seemingly left him and/or Asgard permanently, including Bruce Banner/The Hulk, who went into permanent hiding after Age of Ultron, Loki, whom Thor thought was dead since Dark World, and Valkyrie, a former ally of Asgard who's been in exile for centuries. Thor himself also lampshades it.
    Thor: I'm putting together a team, like the old days!
  • Quizzical Tilt:
    • Thor does this when Surtur tells him that Odin isn't on Asgard anymore.
    • Thor's actor does this when Thor exposes Loki's deceit.
  • Race Lift:
    • Valkyrie, who is a white blonde in the comics, is played by Afro-Latina Tessa Thompson here. It's likely, however, that she is another Valkyrie and not the one from the comics, as a Valkyrie fitting Brunnhilde's description is seen in her flashback shielding her from a fatal blow.
    • Idris Elba returns as Heimdall, the all-seeing Guardian of Asgard, who upholds his sentry even when stripped of his official station.
  • Really 700 Years Old: This trope is discussed on Sakaar. Because time works differently on his planet, the Grandmaster says he would be considered a million years old off-world. Rather than state his age on-world, he simply smiles coyly.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Thor gives a brusque and cutting one to Loki when his brother visits him in the Grandmaster's dungeon, pointing out that his usurpation of Odin and lax rule is the reason they're in their current mess, stuck on the far side of the universe while their deranged tyrant of a sister is free to do what she pleases with Asgard.
      Thor: What would you like me to say? You faked your own death. You stole the throne, stripped Odin of his power, stranded him on Earth to die, releasing the Goddess of Death. Have I said enough or would you like me to go back further than the past two days!?
    • He offers Loki another one that swaps out the vitriol for gentle disappointment when Loki tries once again to throw Thor under the bus and curry favor with the Grandmaster, only for him to lie helpless on the floor with Thor's own enslavement disk.
      Thor: Oh dear, brother, you're becoming predictable. I trust you, you betray me, round and round in circles we go. See, Loki, life is about... it's about growth, it's about change, but you seem to just wanna stay the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll always be the God of Mischief, but you could be more.
  • Reclining Reigner: Loki has made himself comfortable on a chaise lounge and is surrounded by several pretty maidservants while he is watching his play posing as Odin.
  • Recoil Boost: During their escape from Sakaar, Thor directs a laser gun pointed at Loki to the ground, and the laser beam sends the guard several meters up in the air. It helps that the power pack likely exploded.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Skurge was never entirely happy with Hela's rule, but went along with it to save his own skin. Finally at the end, he makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save the escaping Asgardians, leaping onto the bridge and slaughtering many of Hela's forces to keep them away from the ship. When Hela realises what's going on, she impales him.
  • Regional Riff: The score track "Twilight of the Gods", which is played during the scene where Thor and Loki reunite with Odin in Norway, features a Hardanger Fiddle (Norwegian) and a Nyckelharpa (Swedish).
  • Related in the Adaptation: In the comics, Hela is Loki's daughter, but the movie recasts her as Odin's daughter and the long-lost older sister of Thor and Loki.
  • Repeated Cue, Tardy Response: In the opening scene, Thor summons Mjölnir just before fighting Surtur with a heroic one-liner. The hammer doesn’t quite get to him fast enough so he apologizes for getting the timing off and says the line one more time. The hammer catches up to him by then.
  • Restrained Revenge: When Thor visits Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum he is calmly teleported inside where Strange introduces himself and once Thor puts down his hammer (disguised as an umbrella) he is teleported again to temporarily separate him from Mjölnir. However, when Thor takes on a cocky attitude, breaks a mystical item, and continues to call Strange a wizard despite his preference for the term "Master of the Mystical Arts", Strange begins teleporting them around without warning, keeping Thor humorously off-balance and disoriented.
  • Restraining Bolt: When Thor is made to fight in the Grandmaster's gladiatorial games, a device is implanted into his neck to shock him into unconsciousness if he isn't cooperative. Other gladiators have the same device stuck on various parts of their bodies.
  • Retraux: The movie is done in a style evocative of pulp '80s Science Fiction and the works of creators like Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson, and uses Future aesthetics, synthesizer-heavy soundtracks and bright and colorful scenery.
  • Revenge: This is (part of) what motivates Thor and Valkyrie to go to Asgard to stop Hela. It's lampshaded in the team name that Thor thinks up, "the Revengers".
  • Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Hulk is trashing his living quarters and throws a shield at Thor:
    Thor: What are you, crazy?!
    Hulk: YES!
  • Riches to Rags: Asgard itself has more and more taken from it over the course of the film. Starting off as the majestic golden head of an intergalactic empire, they lose their king, their crown prince (albeit temporarily), their army, and even the physical location of Asgard. In the end, the once-proud civilzation is reduced to just a few hundred on a ship with barely anything more than the clothes on their back.
  • Ridiculously Difficult Route: The rather distinctively named Devil's Anus, the largest wormhole near Sakaar. In addition to all the debris it drops, it's also more powerful and destructive than the other smaller wormholes that dot the planet. The heroes need to go through it to get back to Asgard in time to stop Hela.
  • Rigged Spectacle Fight: The central attraction of the Grandmaster's gladiator matches is the showdown with his champion the Hulk, with opposing gladiators offered their freedom in exchange for the battle. Typically the Hulk is more than powerful enough to smash any opponent to paste, but Thor is strong enough to not only match the Hulk but come very close to beating him. However, the Grandmaster is unwilling to risk his star gladiator losing, so he activates Thor's obedience disk, paralyzing him and allowing Hulk to pulverize him.
  • Rock–Paper–Scissors:
    • Korg is an alien made of rock, and he introduces himself with a line about not wanting to hurt anyone — unless you're scissors, in a rock-paper-scissors joke.
    • He also says he tried to start a revolution, but didn't make enough pamphlets. Paper defeated rock.
    • Later turns into a Brick Joke: at the end of the film, he mistakenly thinks he has killed his friend Miek — an insectoid alien who fights with a pair of knifes mounted on bionic arms — by accidentally stepping on him. Hence, that "rock" has defeated "scissors".
  • Royally Screwed Up: The Asgardian Royal family is revealed to have been this. While it was already known that it was home to suspect parenting, people who thought killing people of a rival species would gain them their father's approval, and people who liked fighting a little too much, it was revealed in this movie that they are even more messed up. Odin became ruler of the nine realms in a bloody war of conquest, and that he made his own daughter, Hela, his enforcer and executioner, before presumably having an attack of conscience and trying to rule benevolently instead. This means that all of the members of the Asgardian royal family except possibly for Frigga went through a phase when they thought mass murder was an acceptable way to their ambitions or problems, even Thor.
    Hela: Where do you think all this gold came from?
  • Rule of Three:
    • Thor throwing things at Loki to check if he's actually there or just projecting an illusion. The first time he's an illusion; the second time he's really there and gets hit in the head. The third time, Thor naturally assumes he isn't really there and throws something out of habit — and Loki catches it.
    • "Asgard is not a place" is said three times: First by Odin, then by Thor, then by Heimdall.
  • Running Gag:
    • The Grandmaster calling Thor "Lord of Thunder".
    • When Loki comes to visit Thor in the gladiator's cell, he throws stones at him to check if it's Loki or an illusion. He does so again when Thor sees Loki in Valkyrie's room, this time hitting a solid Loki in the head with a thermos. He does so one last time with the cap from a liquor bottle when they meet after Asgard is destroyed, this time Loki catches it, showing he really came to see his brother.
    • Korg "recruiting" whoever he comes across for his "revolution".
    • In order to gain access to the Grandmaster's garage, Thor and Loki perform what they call "get help" to disable his guards. The climax sees Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie facing Hela, who looks none worse for the wear after being blasted by "the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning", and Loki dryly comments "I'm not doing 'get help.'"
    • Something usually goes wrong when Thor tries to have something cool happen while uttering the line "because that's what heroes do", be it Mjölnir showing up late or a ball rebounding into his face.
  • Run or Die: Loki realizes this after Hela breaks Mjölnir with one hand and summons two swords closing up on him and Thor, and tells Volstagg to open the Bifrost to bring the two back. Unfortunately, this is also what enables Hela to enter Asgard where she grows stronger every day.
  • Sadly Mythtaken: Hela being Odin's daughter is consistent with neither Norse myth nor Marvel Comics. This change was probably an attempt to get as close as possible to adapting Fear Itself or Original Sin (both of which feature the reveal of secret relatives of Thor not recorded in myth) while still using Hela, a fairly popular and well-known classic Thor villain.
  • Savage Wolves: The Fenris Wolf, the wolf-looking savage creature loosely based on Fenrir/Fenrisulfr from Norse mythology, appears as Hela's faithful canine companion and Right-Hand Attack Dog.
  • Saved to Enslave: After a disoriented Thor arrives on Sakaar without his hammer, Valkyrie saves him from his attackers. Then she immediately subdues him with an obedience disk that shocks him unconscious and delivers him to the Grandmaster as a slave for sale. She gets a hefty sum for her efforts, and Thor is forced to participate in the Grandmaster's gladiator games.
  • Saving the World: Ragnarok ends with the now-traditional climactic showdown where the heroes try to save the world from the villain. Subverted when Thor eventually realizes that destroying the world is the only way to stop Hela, who draws her power from Asgard. Thor and his allies do manage to save the Asgardian people, at least.
  • Scenery Dissonance: Thor's first confrontation with Hela occurs in a pleasant Norwegian meadow overlooking the sea.
  • Screaming Warrior: In their fight, Hulk responds to the giant wolf Fenris howling at him with an inhuman roar of his own.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Thor, the physically imposing, Baritone of Strength God of Thunder, lets out an unmanly, high-pitched scream when faced with something terrifying. Examples include: being bound to a chair that's speeding down a dark tunnel only to have the lights turn up as a voice announces that he's about to meet "the Grandmaster", having a man being liquefied next to him, and getting a haircut.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Played for laughs, when Loki's first reaction after seeing the Hulk again is exclaiming "I have to get off this planet" and trying to run off. Unfortunately for him he runs right into the Grandmaster who guides him back.
    • Skurge does this when he realizes that he seems to be a part of the losing side of a battle, quickly hiding amongst a crowd of escaping refugees. Later, when the refugees' escape is threatened, he pulls a full-fledged Heel–Face Turn, performing a Heroic Sacrifice in the process.
  • Sealed Evil in Another World: Hela has been imprisoned in Helheim for millennia until Loki inadvertently manages to release her through banishing Odin to Earth, weakening him to the point that he willingly gives up on life. Odin was the only being powerful enough to keep Hela at bay and his death means that she finally manages to escape her prison.
  • Seen It All: Loki is barely bothered by being used by Thor as a blunt object to throw at people, since the "Get Help" plan has been utilized many times before with the same results.
  • Self-Destructive Charge: Downplayed with the Hulk fearlessly and pointlessly jumping at a gigantic Surtur destroying Asgard. Valkyrie and Thor tell him they need to leave because that's suicidal and Surtur's playing into their hands anyway.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Played with. At the beginning, Surtur tells Thor that he can only die after bringing Ragnarok to Asgard, which will happen when his crown is put into the Eternal Flames, which will cause him to grow tall as a mountain as a result. Thor then quips that he'll only have to remove that crown to prevent it from happening and does exactly that, bringing the crown to Asgard and locking it away in the vault. When Thor realizes at the end that the only way to stop Hela is to cause Ragnarok, he remembers Surtur's words and tells Loki what he has to do.
  • Self-Imposed Exile: Doctor Strange informs Thor that Odin chose to remain in exile and went to Norway after breaking free from Loki's spell.
  • Self-Serving Memory: Or possibly creative lies by Odin, he says that Hela's violent appetites grew beyond his control, but fails to mention that she was greatest warrior and right hand man as he built the Asgardian empire in death and blood.
  • Sequel Hook: The mid-credits sequence has Thor and Loki heading off to find a new world for the surviving Asgardians, only for Thanos's ship to materialize, setting up the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Also, earlier in the movie, Loki was seen eyeing the Tesseract (a.k.a. the Space Stone), indicating he likely took it with him before Asgard was destroyed.
  • Sequel Non-Entity: Sif (played by Jaimie Alexander) doesn't appear in the film, despite having a significant role in its predecessors, due to scheduling issues. As she isn't seen killed during Hela's takeover unlike her comrades, this leaves the door open for her to appear in later sequels. Kevin Feige has suggested that she was exiled from Asgard by Loki in order to keep her from discovering his secret, but nothing that counts as Word of God yet.
  • Series Continuity Error: Hela is determined to find Heimdall because he has the Bifrost sword and she can't operate the Bifrost without it. However, it's established in previous films that Odin's spear, Gungnir, which she already has, can also operate the Bifrost. (Though it is possible she doesn't know this, it's unlikely given that she traveled the universe with Odin.)
  • Serkis Folk: The Hulk, Korg and Surtur were played by various actors and stunt men on set, but are rendered entirely with CGI in the finished film.
  • Shabby Heroes, Well-Dressed Villains: The "villain" part is zig-zagged across the movie; however, while on Midgard, Thor dresses in simple workman's clothes (a worn-out denim jacket, jeans) and can't pass up a chance to snark at Loki's all-black suit.
  • Shirtless Scene: Thor is briefly shirtless during his stay in the Hulk's quarters. At this point, it wouldn't be a Thor movie without one.
  • Shock Collar: The slaves — sorry, "prisoners with jobs" — on Sakaar are kept in line with a remote-controlled implant that shocks the wearer when they step out of line.
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • Show Within a Show: When Thor arrives in Asgard, he watches the performance of a play about the events of Thor: The Dark World, The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard. Easy to guess who wrote and commissioned it.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Hela confronts Thor in the throne room, who gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech until she loses her cool.
    Hela: Okay, get up. You're in my seat. [summons headgear]
  • Sickly Green Glow: The Berserkers, Hela's zombie army, have green flames in their eye sockets and ribcages. Green is heavily used in the scene where they are reanimated.
  • Silent Treatment: Thor does this briefly when Loki visits him in the gladiator dungeons via an illusion to talk until Loki exasperatedly tells him to say something.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Enforced. Doctor Strange was largely absent from promotional materials and trailers, due to Strange being a relatively minor character in the film and his living Badass Cape requiring CGI work to animate. As such, finishing post-production work on Doctor Strange's scenes were deemed of lower priority, and thus he couldn't even appear in trailers until two months before the film's release.
  • Sketchy Successor: After finally securing the throne by impersonating a banished Odin, Loki proves utterly incompetent for the position, plunging Asgard into chaos.
  • Skewed Priorities: During their gladiator fight, when Hulk is trying to smash Thor's face in, Thor seems more worried about it making him look like a liar than anything, yelling "You're embarrassing me! I told them we were friends!"
  • Slapstick: It's everywhere in the movie. Nearly every major character gets injured or humiliated in an amusing way at least once, usually self-caused and by accident.
  • Smile of Approval: Loki smirks with pride witnessing Thor unleash "the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning."
  • Smug Super: Played for Laughs a few times with Thor, like when Thor attempts to answer the voice recognition system with the words "Strongest Avenger" which fails (and then it calls Bruce Banner that when Bruce successfully answers it), or when he lies to Bruce that Thor won their previous gladiator fight which Bruce doesn't remember at all.
  • The So-Called Coward: Skurge, with shades of What You Are in the Dark. Heimdall's hedonistic Sketchy Successor turned Hela's conflicted right hand jumps into the battlefield Guns Akimbo in order to protect the Asgardian refugees.
  • Soft Reboot: Ragnarok acknowledges the previous Thor movies, but goes in entirely its own direction. The straightforward High Fantasy take is dropped in favor of an '80s/Jack Kirby aesthetic (with a side-order of Jason Aaron), Thor's human supporting cast is nowhere to be found, the Asgardians outright call themselves gods, and there's a lot more slapstick.
    Taika Waititi: We basically just destroyed everything that went before. It's what Ragnarok is: the death of the world and its rebirth. This film is a rebirthing of all those characters. It's like a reboot, but we didn't have to recast. The play scene in the film was meant to be our message to the audience, saying, "Whatever you've held on to, whatever you fell in love with in the last films, allow us to respectfully disrespect that stuff." It was really like that was our good-bye to those films.
  • Sole Survivor: Valkyrie was the only one to survive when Hela slaughtered all the other Valkyries.
  • Some Kind of Force Field: When Thor tries to leave the Hulk's abode, he walks straight into an invisible force field that blocks the hallway. The force field flashes with red intricate motifs similar to those of the rest of the room, and gives Thor a shock strong enough to stun the Asgardian. The force field apparently only activates when a living being tries going through — Hulk threw a fruit in the doorway just before, to no effect, so it's understandable Thor wouldn't expect the trap.
  • Something Only They Would Say: While most of Loki's play is either embellished or completely made up, Loki's apparent last words — "I didn't do it for him!" — are included verbatim, and "Odin" prompts Loki's actor to say them. Since Thor never actually told Odin what had transpired on Svartalfheim, there's only one way Odin could have known what Loki's last words were...
  • So Proud of You: Odin tells Loki that Frigga would have been proud of Loki managing to put a spell on Odin.
  • Sorry That I'm Dying: The scene of Loki's death from Thor: The Dark World is reenacted In-Universe in a play Loki wrote himself, but the lines got more elaborate, and the delivery — more cheesy. Invoked and Played for Laughs:
    Loki Actor: I'm sorry. Sorry for all I've done. I'm sorry I tried to rule Earth. I'm sorry about that thing with the Tesseract... Sorry about that time I turned you into a frog.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • In the actual myth, Thor, Loki, and Heimdall all didn't survive Ragnarok. Nor did most of "humanity", though an Adam and Eve Plot still happens (and there's definitely a lot more Asgardians than two).
    • Likewise, while there have been several attempted Ragnaroks in the comics, the one seen as part of Avengers Disassembled (which seems to have influenced the film) ended with all of the Asgardians dying, including Loki, Valkyrie, Heimdall, and even Thor himself.
  • Spikes of Villainy:
    • The Big Bad, Hela, has a black helm with multiple spikes coming out of it, like the comics, in her "powered up" form. Her weapon is similarly a short sword with a spiked blade.
    • Surtur's helmet also contains prominent spikes.
  • Spin to Deflect Stuff: During the fight on Muspelheim, Thor protects himself from a fire blast from Surtur's sword by spinning Mjölnir around to create a shield.
  • Spirit Advisor: Odin serves as this to Thor in the climax, revealing how Mjölnir was a Power Limiter for his true power while the latter is having the life choked out of him by Hela.
  • Spiritual Antithesis: An article from Forbes has called Ragnarok "the yin to Civil War's yang", a sentiment shared by Waititi himself. At their most basic level, both films involve the leads turning to superheroes outside of their franchise to help with the conflict, but there the similarities end and you begin to notice a number of interesting contrasts:
    • While Civil War was a realistic, serious Earth-based Thriller involving former friends and allies becoming rivals and enemies, Ragnarok is an over-the-top Science Fantasy Buddy Picture that involves The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk and even their former enemy Loki working together to fight against a common enemy.
    • While Civil War was a Crisis Crossover movie that featured a huge cast from outside Cap's franchise, Ragnarok mainly focuses on Thor and his allies from his films (with two major exceptions). Just for the sake of comparison, while Civil War features only eight firmly Captain America charactersnote  out of a cast of about 18 characters, Ragnarok only uses about 4-5 non-Thor charactersnote  in a film with about 17 characters.
    • While the ending of Civil War establishes that the titular conflict between Iron Man and Captain America was engineered by Zemo, it is made clear from the beginning that Thor and the Hulk's conflict was caused purely by coincidence. Later on, Thor and the Hulk decide to form a quasi-Avengers team to stop Hela.
    • Even the Big Bads of both films contrast each other. Whereas Helmut Zemo in Civil War was a Villainous Underdog with no powers or costume who relied on strategy and patience, Hela is a straightforward Person of Mass Destruction. Furthermore, while Zemo was motivated by vengeance against the Avengers due to his family dying during the Battle of Sokovia, Hela is vengeful against her family, the Asgardian Royal Family, for rejecting and imprisoning her due to her violent ambition, then scrubbing her from history.
  • Split-Personality Takeover: The time spent on Sakaar has been pleasing to Hulk, to the point where he refuses to let Banner's presence emerge. When Bruce does resurface, he's under the impression he just left Sokovia and is horrified to learn how much time he's lost; much of Banner's arc onwards focuses on his concern that if he does hulk out again, the change will become permanent.
  • Square-Cube Law: As expected in the superhero genre, this trope is essentially ignored with Hulk and Fenris; however, it's played straight with Surtur when he grows to the size of a mountain. Although he is supernaturally empowered, his movements become slow and lumbering befitting his new gigantic frame.
  • Squick: In-universe example in the form of Banner and Thor both being disgusted at the fact they're inside the Commodore, the vessel the Grandmaster uses for his orgies. Thor even suggests not to touch anything.
    • Thor is also squicked out by the Grandmaster melting someone right next to him.
  • Standard Female Grab Area: Thor grabs Valkyrie this way when she tries to walk out on him, only for her to immediately put a knife to his throat.
  • Starting a New Life: All of the people of Asgard must do this, due to Surtur destroying Asgard and Hela along with it. Odin told Thor that Asgard could be anywhere, so long as the Asgardian people make their home there. Thor chooses Earth.
  • Start X to Stop X: Hela will destroy Asgard and its people, and no one seems powerful enough to challenge her. How does Thor solve this conundrum? Summon Surtur to destroy Asgard and kill Hela, while evacuating the people of Asgard by spaceship. Asgard the place is destroyed, but Asgard the people will endure.
  • Stealth Insult: After Loki is rescued by Korg who invites him to come along, Loki accepts remarking that they appear to be in "desperate need of leadership."
  • Stealth Pun: Two involving Korg.
    • Korg is imprisoned because he didn't print enough pamphlets. In other words: Paper beats Rock.
    • Near the ending, Korg accidentally crushes Miek, who looks like a scissor with his Artificial Limbs, and almost kills him. In other words: Rock beats Scissor.
    • Some of the pre-stinger credits:
  • Stealth Sequel: Thor: Ragnarok serves as a loose sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron with regard to Hulk's storyline from that film and finally explains what happened to the Hulk after his Quinjet disappeared.
  • The Stinger:
    • Pre-credits stinger: On the vessel containing the surviving Asgardians, Thor and Loki discuss the possibility of their people living life on Midgard. Thor assures Loki they'll be fine before a spaceship dwarfing theirs in size and belonging to Thanos emerges.
    • Post-credits stinger: The Grandmaster returns to the surface of Sakaar and finds the population still in the middle of the revolution, trying to placate them by calling it a draw.
  • Stop Saying That!: Banner grows quickly tired of Thor attempting Black Widow's lullaby on him to keep him calm.
  • Streaming Stars: The "orientation tunnel" on Sakaar uses this in an animation that shows Thor the location of Sakaar in the galaxy.
  • Storm of Blades: Hela certainly seems to have a fondness for bladed weapons. She can magic knives and swords (not to mention many other weapons) out of thin air and not only fights with them but throws them at her opponents, impaling people in all directions.
  • Stunned Silence: While everyone around him seems to be in tears at Loki's death in his play, Thor can just speechlessly stare in disbelief when the actor playing him lets out a hammy Big "NO!".
  • Stylistic Suck:
    • Loki's self-aggrandizing play is full of crappy acting, dialogue that's even more overwrought than most of Thor's movies, gross mischaracterizations of the past, and homemade costumes.
    • In contrast to the rest of the costumes, the Grandmaster wears hideously garish robes in rather deliberately cheap and tacky-looking fabric, and his melt stick has an almost charmingly retro '60s "generic sci-fi staff" look to it.
  • Subverted Catchphrase: Towards the end of the film, while Thor is trying to get the Hulk to back down from fighting Surtur, he drops this line:
    Thor: Hulk, stop! Just for once in your life, don't smash!
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Volstagg and Fandral are killed by Hela immediately upon her arrival on Asgard, and Hogun shortly afterwards. Fandral doesn't even get a full sentence out before being offed. Hogun at least puts up a fight and gets a more dramatic death.
  • Sudden Soundtrack Stop:
    • Ominous music is playing while Surtur talks about his destiny being to destroy Asgard, but stops when Thor interrupts him because the chain he's hanging on is making him turn around.
    • When Thor tries to make a dramatic exit in front of Valkyrie by smashing a window in Hulk's room with a giant ball, the Ragnarok theme starts to play but abruptly stops when the ball instead bounces back and smashes into Thor's head.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: Upon running out of solutions to stop Hela, Thor decides to unleash Ragnarok itself to take her out, by ordering Loki to put Surtur's skull in the Eternal Flame. Surtur gets revived, grows "as tall as a mountain," and ends up destroying Asgard with his gigantic sword, defeating Hela after an epic fight with her.
  • Superhero Movie Villains Die: When Surtur destroys Asgard, both he and Big Bad Hela are (presumably) destroyed along with it.
  • Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Like Captain America: Civil War, this movie averts this trope by having Thor not only seeking the help of characters tied with his franchise such as Valkyrie, but also that of the Hulk and Doctor Strange, who offers Thor his help so that he and Loki can leave Earth as soon as possible.
  • Super-Sargasso Sea: In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, any Blind Jump will add you to the endless stream of junk falling from the myriad portals hovering above Sakaar.
  • Super Window Jump: Thor jumps through a skyscraper window to get out of the Hulk's cell and reach the Quinjet.
  • Suplex Finisher: Hulk suplexes Fenris during the fight against Hela's army in the climax.
  • Survival Mantra: After Hulk turns back to Bruce Banner, Thor takes to muttering Hulk's lullaby on a loop in order to try and keep him from hulking out in public. Banner finds it annoying.
  • Sword Drag: Surtur drags his fire sword along the ground when he gets up from his throne and walks towards Thor at the beginning.
  • Sword Limbo: Loki does a variation, combined with a pirouette, as he dodges a Berserker's sword during the final fight.
  • Sword Plant: Heimdall strikes this pose at the end of the movie when he's standing next to Thor's "throne".
  • Symbolic Mutilation: Hela slashes out Thor's right eye, leaving him half-blind just like their late father Odin. This not only symbolizes that Thor will have to rule the survivors of Asgard, like Odin before him but also nods to the mythological Odin who plucked out his eye to gain Mimir's insight. Upon losing his eye Thor sees a vision of Odin, who gives him the insight necessary to reawaken his divine powers and fight back against Hela.
  • Sympathy for the Hero: Loki expresses his sympathy to Thor, when he visits him in the dungeons on Sakaar, about Thor discovering that Odin lied to him about being his firstborn. Loki went through that same arc in the first film when it came to discovering he was a Frost Giant. Of course, being Loki, the sincerity of his sympathy is up in the air.
    Loki: Hurts, doesn't it? Being lied to. Being told you're one thing... and then learning it's all a fiction.
  • Tainted Veins:
    • When Thor and Loki are zapped by the shock devices for long enough, they develop purple veins.
    • Banner, finding himself on an alien planet after two years as the Hulk, rants to Thor about how stressful this is to him. While he does, the veins of his face and neck briefly flush green.
  • Take It to the Bridge: The final battle is centered almost entirely around the Bifröst Bridge. The heroes have to hold the bridge from Hela and her forces while evacuating Asgardian civilians.
  • Taking the Bullet: In a flashback, it's shown that Valkyrie survived Hela's onslaught because a comrade jumped in the way of a sword that was coming for her.
  • Talking to the Dead: Played for Laughs at the beginning of the movie, which has Thor apparently addressing the audience about his latest whereabouts, only to reveal that he is actually talking to a skeleton chained next to him.
  • Talking Your Way Out: Loki attempts to, when Hela appears. She isn't interested to listen.
    Loki: Perhaps we could come to an arrangement.
  • Tantrum Throwing: During an argument between Hulk and Thor, Hulk just grabs whatever's nearest and throws it at Thor, such as a shield he was using as a plate, and an axe.
  • Tap on the Head:
    • At the end of the gladiator battle, Hulk jumps about a hundred meters in the air and lands fist first on Thor, knocking him out. He doesn't wake up until after he is brought to Hulk's room.
    • Valkyrie knocks out Loki after he makes her relive the traumatic memory of the fight of the Valkyries against Hela via Touch Telepathy.
  • Technicolor Death: Surtur is destroyed along with Asgard in a cosmic, blue-tinted explosion that results when he plunges his sword into the heart of Asgard.
  • Technicolor Fire: When Hela uses the eternal flame to revive her army and her wolf, the flames become green.
  • Teleportation Misfire: Loki and Thor are travelling by Bifröst when they're attacked by Hela, who followed them. The ensuing fight has first Loki and then Thor pushed out of the rainbow tunnel and plummeting through the space-time continuum. Thor ends up on Sakaar and later finds Loki there too, although he landed weeks before (the Grandmaster mentions that time works weirdly on this planet). It is implied that, thanks to the multitude of portals opening over the sky of Sakaar, most teleportation/hyperspace mishaps result in people being stranded there.
  • Teleport Spam: Used by Doctor Strange in the New York Sanctum Santorum. He teleports himself and Thor so much that Thor spills his beer and breaks shelves trying to regain his balance.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • Thor is busy comforting Banner as they prepare to escape Sakaar, telling him they'll be fine and not have to think about the Hulk again; barely a second passes before Bruce gets a cloud of green dust in his face courtesy of them stumbling into a Hulk parade.
    • Hela mockingly asks Thor, "Tell me, brother. What were you the god of, again?" She gets a clear answer, all right, in the form of a huge bolt of lightning to the face.
    • In the Mid-Credits scene, Thor tells Loki that there's nothing to worry about, and everything will work out fine when they get to Earth. Then Thanos's large ship looms over them.
  • Terms of Endangerment: Hela calls Thor "darling" right before she destroys his hammer.
  • That Came Out Wrong: Thor tells Valkyrie about his disappointment when he found out that all the Valkyries are women. He quickly assures that he doesn't think that there's anything wrong with women, he likes women, sometimes a little to much... uh, not in a creepy way, though, more in a respectful way!
  • That Man Is Dead:
    • When Thor tries to reason with Hulk in the gladiator arena:
      Thor: Banner! Hey, Banner!
      Hulk: No Banner. Only Hulk!
    • In a deleted scene, when Banner refuses to turn back into the Hulk:
      Banner: No Hulk! Only Banner!
  • That's Gotta Hurt: When Thor activates the obedience disk that he strapped on Loki, anticipating his attempt to betray Thor, and Loki falls to the ground convulsing, Thor mutters "Oh, that looks painful!" as he's walking over to him.
  • That's What I Call "X"!: The Grandmaster, after he tells Thor how he can "earn his freedom" and the latter starts to get fed up:
    Thor: Fine, then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick!
    Grandmaster: That's what I call "contender"!
  • Thematic Sequel Logo Change: Ragnarok has a more colorful and ostentatious logo to represent its more comedic nature compared to the previous two entries, as well as the inspiration taken from '80s Rock and Metal. Additionally, the Ragnarok logo has technological details to represent the planet of Sakaar where half of the movie is set.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is used in the trailer and during Thor's opening fight with Surtur and his minions. It is reused later when Thor has his Heroic Second Wind in the climatic battle.
  • There Was a Door: Hulk gets angry waiting for the door to rise on his way into the gladiator ring, and so elects to smash the entire door and its frame a few seconds before it would have been open enough for him to just walk through it.
  • This Cannot Be!: Thor's reaction to Hela catching and restraining Mjölnir.
    Thor: It's... not possible.
    Hela: Darling, you have no idea what's possible. [shatters Mjölnir]
  • This Is Wrong on So Many Levels!: Banner's reaction when Thor tries to persuade him to help him fight Hela:
    Banner: Okay, that is so wrong on so many... I don't wanna fight your sister. That's a family issue!
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: Played for Laughs. When Thor gleefully tells Hulk that Loki is alive, Loki's face goes blank as he stares into nothingness recalling his previous experience with the Hulk.
  • Throne Room Throwdown: The climatic final battle between Thor and Hela starts off in Odin's throne room, where Hela is seated on the throne after taking over most of Asgard.
  • Throw-Away Guns: During the revolution, Thor and Loki make their way to the hangar to steal a ship, shooting guards along the way. Before getting into the elevator, both toss their guns on the ground. They have to do the "Get Help" routine to knock out the rest of the guards once they're out of the elevator.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Loki could fit this description among the team that Thor puts together on Saakar, though he probably only distinguishes himself as such among this particular team because he is the most likely to betray Thor.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • This movie takes place about a year after Doctor Strange and the titular character is much more competent and able to capture Loki in a pocket dimension.
    • Thor finally comes into his own as the God of Thunder, blasting and stunning Hela, then going One-Man Army against her undead soldiers. Then he and Valkyrie hold Hela off long enough for Loki to get to Surtur's crown in the vault, after Hela had already demonstrated she was a One-Man Army herself, having slaughtered Asgard's army.
  • Took the Bad Film Seriously: In-Universe. The actor playing Thor in Loki's play really gives everything in his performance, including realistic crying and sobbing.
  • Too Much Information: Loki has this reaction when Thor tells him how he mourned him and cried for him after his apparent death in The Dark World.
    Loki: I'm... honored...?
  • Touch Telepathy: When Loki finds out Valkyrie is one of the Valkyrior, he reads her mind on contact to find out how they died at the hands of Hela millennia ago.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Even though the film tried to keep the identity of the Grandmaster's champion a surprise, anyone who saw the trailers and commercials knew that it is the Hulk. At this point, he's rather prominently displayed on the poster, in an obvious gladiator-style getup.
  • Tranquil Fury: Hela starts to lose her cool when she confronts Thor in the throne room of Asgard.
    Hela: [visibly seething beneath a casual smile] You're still alive.
  • Transformation Sequence: Thor and Loki are wearing human clothes when they visit Earth. When Hela shows up, Thor slams his umbrella (disguised Mjölnir) into the ground, and turns into the Asgardian god he is in a flash of lightning. Meanwhile, Loki breaks his illusion to switch back to his Asgardian costume as well.
  • Trapped in Villainy: From the moment Hela arrives, Skurge recognizes what a terrible threat she is and follows her rather than dying at her hands like Asgard's army and the Warriors Three, but he always looks terribly unhappy about it.
  • Traumatic Haircut: Thor is mortified when his locks are about to be chopped as part of his induction as a gladiator. Adding to the terror is that the grinning barber with unsteady hands is using a device that looks like the unholy union of a screaming-lawnmower, a growling wheat-thresher and a rusty meat-grinder.
  • Travel Montage: After Thor forces Loki to take him to where he left Odin, there is a sequence of Smash Cuts: Heimdall's sword slamming into the Bifrost and being turned; the Bifrost charging, turning, firing; the stream flying through space, hitting Earth; an aerial shot of New York... and finally an old folk's home being demolished.
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: According to Thor's story, Loki had a sick idea of what constituted a prank at the age of eight. Played for Laughs given that the Asgardians are a proud warrior race with a notable Healing Factor.
    Thor: There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it and he transformed back into himself and he was like, "Byah, it's me!" And then he stabbed me.
  • Truer to the Text:
    • Unlike the first two Thor movies, Ragnarok disposes of Thor's human supporting cast (who, aside from Jane Foster, were Canon Foreigners to begin with) and focuses more on his adventures in the Nine Realms. In addition, Thor gets a helmet similar to the one his comics counterpart often wears. Furthermore, the visuals borrow greatly from the art of Thor co-creator Jack Kirby.
    • Likewise, this is the truest version of Hulk ever, even more so than the Kenneth Johnson series, let alone the movie versions, as he finally speaks in the distinct patterns of his comics counterpart and has the same "big baby" personality and sweetness.
  • Trying Not to Cry: Loki visibly struggles to contain his emotions when Odin reclaims him as a son after being disowned in Thor: The Dark World. He is also clearly gulping back his tears when he and Thor discuss their estrangement in the elevator on Sakaar.
  • Try Not to Die: When Thor stays behind in the throne room to distract Hela while Valkyrie tries to help the Asgardian people, Valkyrie says "Your Majesty? Don't die."
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Thor and The Hulk fight in the Grandmaster's arena. The fight ends in a draw. Thor can return the Hulk's hits blow for blow, but once pinned down, he gets overwhelmed and it takes his lightning powers for him to fend off The Hulk. For his part, Thor was holding back and was caught off-guard, while The Hulk was fully enraged.
  • Un-Paused: After years as the Champion of Sakaar, the Hulk is shaken into turning back into Bruce Banner by Thor playing a recording of Natasha in the Quinjet. The confused Bruce immediately asks if they saved the city, referencing the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and is surprised to hear it was two years ago. His consciousness had stayed entirely subsumed all the time Hulk was in control. (It's two years from Thor's viewpoint, but who knows how long in reality for Hulk, given how weirdly time works on Sakaar.)
  • Un-person: Hela is rather unhappy to learn that she had been purged from Asgardian history by Odin during her millennia of imprisonment.
  • Unrelated in the Adaptation: In Norse Mythology, Fenris is Loki's son, but here Fenris (who is a female) is only Hela's pet wolf.
  • The Unreveal: We never find out how Hulk got to Sakaar. Just a video clip of him flailing as something goes wrong with the Quinjet.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Downplayed. The phrase "pulling one off" is common slang for masturbation used in the British Commonwealth. This is something Taika Waititi, a New Zealander, plays with wholeheartedly when Thor reminisces to Korg about Mjölnir:
    Thor: I used to spin it really really fast and it would pull me off the—
    Korg: Oh my god, the hammer pulled you off?
    Thor: The ground! It pulled me off the ground up into the air and I would fly.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The reaction of New Yorkers to seeing Thor and Loki? They ask to take selfies with Thor and ignore Loki altogether. Of course, Doctor Stephen Strange is far more concerned with what they're doing there.
  • Unwilling Suspension: At the start of the movie, Thor is chained and held in a suspended cage in Muspelheim. Then the cage open and he falls down until the chain brutally stops him (a shock that would certainly have killed a human, but he's Asgardian). Hence Thor is left dangling before the realm's master, Surtur. The ensuing conversation is a bit impaired by the chain slowly spinning Thor away from facing Surtur, forcing the villain to stop monologuing until Thor turns around again.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Played for laughs in an exchange between Loki and Korg.
    Korg: Hey, man. We're about to jump on that ginormous spaceship. You wanna come?
    Loki: Well, you do seem like you're in desperate need of leadership.
    Korg: Why, thank you!
  • Up Close with the Monster: Played with. A dragon pursuing Thor is decapitated by the Bifrost. Due to momentum, the dragon's head skids up to a pair of girls on the other end and its left eye opens and rolls to look at one of them.
    Skurge: Well, well, look who decided to pop in. Thanks for scaring away my company and drenching my workplace in brains.
  • Use Your Head: During the climax, Skurge the Executioner headbutts a zombie so hard its body crumbles apart.
  • Video Credits: The pre-Stinger credits feature a silhouette of each main character accompanying their respective actors' names.
  • Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Meta-example on character development. While Thor has evolved past his boisterous ways and learned the virtues of guile in being a hero, Loki has not evolved his perspective, and ultimately has become... predictable. This enables Thor to handily escape a backstab attempt he saw coming a mile away when they put their escape from Sakaar into motion.
  • Vocal Dissonance: Korg doesn't have the deep bass tones normally befitting a rock monster in fiction, instead speaking in director Taika Waititi's much higher-pitched voice.
  • The Voiceless: Miek communicates with his scissor limbs and attacks while his partner does the talking.
  • Waiting Skeleton: In the cold opening, Thor is narrating his story of how he ended up in a cage in Surtur's world to a skeleton that is in the same cage with him.
  • War Refugees: The movie ends with Thor leading a ship full of huddled, shell-shocked Asgardian refugees from the shattered dust that was their homeworld to a new home on Earth. Much of the film cuts back and forth between Thor trying to escape Sakaar and the refugees' initial flight from their homes to escape their new conqueror-queen.
  • Warrior Undead: Hela resurrects the Berserkers that were slain in battle centuries ago as skeletal soldiers. They retain the armor, weapons, and fighting skills they had in their previous lives, and are a formidable force under Hela's command. It takes the combined efforts of the Revengers, the Sakaaran Rebellion, Skurge, and the eventual arrival of Surtur for the Berserkers to be defeated.
  • The War to End All Wars: Ragnarok is a war meant to bring an end to all that is in the nine realms. True to form, the Infinity War begins soon after this one ends.
  • Watching Troy Burn: As the title implies, in the end the heroes witness the destruction of Asgard... even the foundations are gone.
  • Weaponized Headgear:
    • During the Bifrost Fight, Loki uses the horns of his iconic helmet to take down Hela's undead soldiers.
    • When Hela single-handedly takes on the entire Asgardian army, there are times during the melee when she uses the spines of her headdress to parry attacks and strike at the soldiers.
  • We Can Rule Together: When Thor is imprisoned by the Grandmaster, Loki suggests he and Thor align themselves with the Grandmaster until they can arrange a convenient accident for him. Thor isn't interested.
  • We Do Not Know Each Other: Subverted. Loki, who had gained the Grandmaster's favor, pretends not to know Thor when the latter first arrives on Sakaar, but Thor's not having any of that. This also echoes the one scene from The Avengers where it was Thor who reminded people that they were adopted.
    Thor: He's my brother!
    Loki: Adopted.
  • Wham Episode: Odin dies, Mjölnir is destroyed, Thor and Loki learn they have a sister, Asgard the realm is no more (though Asgard the people survive), Thor loses an eye and becomes king of his people, and a sinister-looking spaceship (possibly containing Thanos) finds him.
  • Wham Line:
    • "No Banner, only Hulk!" This is the Hulk's first line in the film, and is both wordier than any line that any previous live-action Hulk has ever had, and reveals that whatever the Hulk has been before, he's now a completely separate person from Bruce Banner.
    • When Odin is talking to Thor after Odin's death: "Are you Thor? The god of hammers?...It was never your source of strength." This helps Thor realize the true source and extent of his power.
    • Also taking place during that posthumous conversation: "Asgard is not a place. Never was." This gives Thor the motivation he needs to give Hela a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, evacuate the Asgardians, and start/cause Ragnarok.
  • Wham Shot:
    • Hela catching and destroying Mjölnir with one hand.
    • Hulk smashing out of a gate and revealing himself to be Thor's opponent in the alien Gladiator Games.
    • Thor landing on the Bifröst and summoning lightning without the aid of Mjölnir.
    • Thor and Loki ponder bringing the Asgardian survivors back to Earth... and then Thanos's ship looms in front of them, dwarfing the Statesman.
  • What Does This Button Do?: On finding the spacecraft they stole doesn't have any weapons because it's a pleasure yacht used by the Grandmaster for his orgies, Banner is told not to push any buttons. However when they're being shot at, Banner in desperation pushes the button that has an explosion on it. This activates the Grandmaster's birthday celebration fireworks which distract Topaz's craft shooting at them, causing her to crash.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Sif doesn't appear in the movie and it's unknown if she was among the Asgardians that evacuated their homeworld before Surtur destroyed it, leaving her fate unknown. A producer has suggested she might have been banished before the events of the movie, but nothing concrete has been laid down.
    • Likewise it is unknown if Lorelei from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. evacuated Asgard or if she was still locked up when Asgard was destroyed.
  • Where I Was Born and Razed: Upon running out of solutions to stop Hela, Thor decides to unleash Ragnarok on his own world, by ordering Loki to revive the fire demon Surtur. Surtur grows giant, fights Hela in an epic battle and shatters Asgard, rendering the Asgardians homeless.
  • Where's My Gun?: Thor spends most of the movie weaponless after Mjölnir gets smashed and has his entire fighting style thrown out the window. He instinctively tries to summon the hammer with no effect, relies on a sword and shield before throwing them away to use fisticuffs, and even briefly uses a laser gun before dropping the clunky thing. In the end, he learns to rely on his own power rather than a bunch of tools.
  • White Shirt of Death: The Valkyries were killed wearing their elegant white uniforms.
  • Why Won't You Die?:
    • Hela sounds very frustrated when she meets Thor again after having thought to have killed him.
      Hela: You're still alive.
    • Valkyrie gets really frustrated that she can't kill Fenris with the ship's gun:
      Valkyrie: This stupid dog won't die!
  • "Will Return" Caption: Thor will return in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • Win Your Freedom: The Grandmaster claims that any prisoner with a job who defeats his champion is freed from their indentured servitude. Emphasis on "claims," because when it seems like Thor is about to put Hulk down for the count, he activates the Shock Collar, setting Hulk up for the finisher.
  • Wizards from Outer Space: Reinforced. On top of the alien gods, demons and sorcerers we've previously had, Korg, a rock space alien, mentions a number of all new fantasy concepts over the film. For instance, when Loki's illusion shows up to get Thor in on his Evil Plan, Korg eventually runs over shouting "Piss off, ghost!" at it. In another scene, Korg mentions to Thor a pointy wooden stick weapon he's holding is probably only good for killing huddled together vampires.
  • Won't Get Fooled Again: Loki tries to betray Thor to the Grandmaster by creating an illusion so he can secretly go and activate the alarm. However, Thor explains that's exactly what he expected, revealing he stuck an obedience disk on Loki and promptly electrocutes him.
  • Worf Barrage: In the first Thor movie, Odin refers to Mjölnir as "a weapon without equal." Here, Hela casually catches the weapon and destroys it with one hand.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • Hela proves that she really means business when she catches and shatters Mjölnir with one hand and what appears to be minimal effort, depriving Thor of his most powerful weapon and main means of transportation. Previous enemies of Thor either couldn't lift it (Loki) or were killed using it (Malekith). And this is before she powers up. This could be because, as the hidden murals on the ceiling of Odin's palace reveal, Mjölnir was originally her weapon.
    • The Warriors Three have all been shown to be formidable fighters in the previous two Thor films. Hela kills all three of them in her first two scenes on Asgard, two of them with zero effort, and the third, while he gets to fight back and does well, simply doesn't have what it takes to even come close to harming her.
    • Hulk jumps onto Surtur's face and is casually picked up and tossed to the ground in order to show just how insanely powerful Surtur-at-his-best is.
    • A downplayed one, but in the first Thor movie it took Thor several blows with Mjölnir to shatter the Bifröst. Fenris casually gouges the Bifröst with her claws as she runs, and a bolt of lightning Thor unleashes on Hela on the bridge shatters part of the Bifröst with ease.
  • Worf Had the Flu: At the start of the movie, Surtur claims that he needs the Eternal Flame to reclaim his full power, and that his current form is not even close to that. Given how unstoppable he is in the climax, Thor was effectively fighting him on very-easy mode.
  • World of Snark: Loki, Hela, the Grandmaster and many others have extremely dry, sarcastic wits in this film.
    • While walking through the vault, Hela arrogantly dismisses most of the artifacts.
      Hela: [pushes over the Infinity Gauntlet] Fake! Most of the stuff here is fake... [looks at the Casket of Ancient Winters] or weak.
    • Loki, true to form, has some moments:
      Thor: Hey, listen, we should talk.
      Loki: I disagree. Open communication was never our family's forte.
    • The Grandmaster responds to watching Thor repeatedly trying to escape the magnetic chair he's stuck in with a dry, "He's a fighter."
    • Even Hulk gets in on the action, sarcastically saying he and Thor are the same before comparing their "similarity" to fire and water.
    • Thor himself has taken several levels in snarkiness, compared to his previous appearances, where he was nearly always one of the more dramatically serious characters. For example, when spinning around on a chain while trying to talk to Card-Carrying Villain Surtur.
      Thor: I'll be back around shortly. I really feel like we were connecting there.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Played for laughs with the "Get Help" strategy, where Loki feigns injury and clings to Thor for support, letting down their attackers' guard, before Thor hurls Loki at them.
  • Wrecked Weapon: Hela demonstrates that she means business by destroying Mjölnir.
  • Written by the Winners: The movie reveals that Asgard's power and influence was won through violence and conquest as with most empires. When Odin has a change of heart to become a benevolent king, that part of their history (including Hela's very existence) is covered up.
  • Written-In Absence: Jane is only offhandedly mentioned by Thor and a few New York citizens as having broken up with Thor sometime after Thor: The Dark World. She's never brought up again.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: A couple wrestling moves can be seen during the fight between Thor and Hulk.
  • The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Thor says this to Hela's face when she confronts him in the throne room.
    Thor: I understand why you're angry. And you are my sister, and technically have a claim to the throne. And believe me, I would love for someone else to rule. But it can't be you, you're just ... the worst.
    Hela: Okay, get up. You're in my seat.
  • Wronski Feint: During the chase on Sakaar, Banner presses a button on the Commodore, hoping it's a gun, but instead it just activates a birthday music and fireworks display. It works out for him anyway, since it makes it impossible for Topaz, who is in pursuit of him, to see. When Banner heads towards a big rock, he simply swerves at the last second. Topaz doesn't have time to react and crashes into it.
  • Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time on Sakaar works... differently. Valkyrie has been there for what, on Asgard, has been millennia, judging from the fact that she fought in a battle that took place before Thor was born and has since become mere legend (helped by Odin wiping their opponent from history), yet they appear roughly the same age. Loki, on the other hand, gets the opposite; being pushed from the Bifröst tunnel only a minute before Thor but landing ahead of him by several weeks — a time dilation of about thirty thousand.note 
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
    • Thor puts this into his Kirk Summation aimed at Loki, telling him that his constant betrayals have made him predictable and that he could be so much more than just the God of Mischief. This leads Loki to a Heel–Face Turn when he encounters Korg and his revolutionaries who are about to escape on a ship. He joins the group as their leader and turns the ship towards Asgard to save its survivors.
    • Later, when Thor is losing badly against Hela, he has a Dead Person Conversation with his father Odin. When Thor tearfully says, "I'm not as strong as you!" Odin retorts, "No. You're stronger." This helps Thor get a Heroic Second Wind.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Thor believes he has prevented Ragnarok by defeating Surtur, only for Odin to tell him shortly afterwards that it has already begun. Thor himself ends up being instrumentalga in bringing it to fruition.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Asgard is destroyed in the end, leaving its citizens searching for a new home.
  • You Did the Right Thing: At the end, when Thor and the refugees watch Asgard burn, Thor whispers "What have I done?", but Heimdall assures him that he saved Asgard from extinction.
  • Your Answer to Everything: A variation, since Hela doesn't say it to Odin, but about him:
    Hela: [to Thor about the hidden mural in Asgard's throne room showing her and Odin] It seems our father's solution to every problem was to cover it up.
  • You Remind Me of X:
    • A variation occurs when Thor and Loki first meet Hela.
      Thor: I'm Thor, son of Odin
      Hela: Really? You don't look like him.
      Loki: Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?
      Hela: [dripping with scorn] You sound like him.
    • Played straight after Hela cuts out Thor's right eye.
      Hela: Now you remind me of dad.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: After Hela summons a huge spike to pin down the ship holding the escaping Asgardians, it is a repentant Skurge who sacrifices himself to prevent Hela's undead army from entering the ship until it can break free.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: An interesting variation in the elevator scene before "Get help". Loki tells Thor that they should split up and Thor surprises Loki by agreeing with him. Thor goes on by talking about how much he loved Loki despite his constant betrayals, thus goading Loki into being ashamed of his own behavior.
  • Your Worst Memory: During a fight with Valkyrie, Loki makes her relive the moment when she and the other Valkyries were struck down in battle by Hela, leaving her as the Sole Survivor. It doesn't stop Valkyrie from kicking Loki's ass, and only ends up driving her out of exile and into Thor's camp.


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Thor

Thor is the Norse God of Thunder, heir to the throne of Asgard and member of the Avengers

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