If He Had A Hammer

In November, Chris Hemsworth Returns In Thor: Ragnarok With An Old Friend, New Adversaries, A New Look, A New Planet...And Without His Signature Weapon. Inside The Radical New Chapter Of A Marvel Icon.

- Tim Stack

OMETIMES EVEN SUPERHEROES NEED A MAKEOVER.

And let’s face it: Thor’s hair was always a little too Nelson-circa-1990. So in Thor: Ragnarok, out Nov. 3, audiences will see the Norse god get his signature blond locks shorn. “It was nice not to have to sit in the makeup chair for that hour each morning,” Chris Hemsworth says. “It felt like a rebirth for me as the actor but also as the character.” Marvel’s third solo outing for Thor is a fresh start in more than just follicular ways. “I have a belief that if you’re lucky enough to get to part 3 of a franchise, it is your obligation not to fall to threequel-itis,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. The latest entry finds Thor battling not only the Goddess of Death, Hela (Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett), but also his frenemy the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) when the pair find themselves on a desolate planet called Sakaar. Still, despite a title that references an end-of-days-type battle in Norse mythology, Ragnarok marks a decidedly more comedic installment for the series, thanks in large part to director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows). “Taika has such a quirky, left-of-field sense of humor, which forced all the characters and the tone of the whole story to head in a new direction,” says Hemsworth. “Each day we were like, ‘Are we pushing it too far? Are we allowed to have this much fun?’ ”