Team Thor
Team Thor (also known as Team Thor: While You Were Fighting: A Thor Mockumentary and Team Thor: Civil War)[1] is a 2016 mockumentary style comedy short film directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo as their respective Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, Thor and Bruce Banner / Hulk. The short attempts to humorously examine what the characters were doing during the events of Captain America: Civil War. It was produced as a side project before Waititi began production of his film Thor: Ragnarok for Marvel Studios. The short was met with enthusiasm from fans and spawned two sequels.
Team Thor | |
---|---|
Team Thor title card, meant to look like a VHS title screen. | |
Directed by | Taika Waititi |
Produced by |
|
Written by | Taika Waititi |
Based on | |
Starring |
|
Narrated by | Chris Hemsworth |
Edited by | Joel Negron |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 4 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Plot
While Iron Man and Captain America were fighting, Thor took a short break in Australia. He lives with a local ordinary office worker Darryl Jacobson while trying to figure out what is going on in Asgard. As he does this he is interviewed by a news team and talks about daily life in Australia and shows short segments of events, such as his visit to a kindergarten, an attempt to send an email to Tony Stark concerning his conflict with Captain America with Darryl's help, and drawing a painting about the connections among the Avengers team members, Nick Fury and Thanos, who he describes as "the purple man in the floating chair". Lastly, Thor and Bruce Banner meet at a cafe, where Banner receives a phone call from Tony Stark and does not appear to want to talk to Thor.[2]
Cast
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor
- Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner
- Daley Pearson as Darryl Jacobson
Production
The short was produced in Australia and was made with a mockumentary style, the same type of style Taika Waititi had done previously with the film What We Do in the Shadows.[3] Filming of the short began about one month before the shooting of Thor: Ragnarok started and Waititi expressed that it was something that he and the crew of the film simply wanted to do for fun.[4]
Release and reception
The film debuted at a screening on Sunday July 23 at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, three days later it was released online for free viewing and later released as part of Captain America: Civil War's home media releases.[5] The short was very well received by the people seeing it at Comic Con and other fans.[6] Adam Chitwood of Collider also personally agreed that it was very funny, so much so that he felt he didn't want to reveal any of the moments to anyone.[7] Ross A. Lincoln of Deadline enjoyed it as well and hoped that it would serve as a good sign for how Thor: Ragnarok would turn out.[8] Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige stated that he felt the short and its sequels were good and developed Thor's character.[9] The new character of Darryl Jacobson became well liked by fans.[10][11]
Influence on Thor series
The Team Thor shorts are not meant to be strictly canonical to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Waititi made it clear that the film was meant to be "just for fun".[4] In fact, the short is assumed to be, at least partially, non-canonical given that Bruce Banner is portrayed as being on Earth in the short, while Ragnarok reveals that he has been on Sakaar since Age of Ultron, and has been the Hulk for the entirety of that time. Nonetheless, both this short and its sequel have influenced Hemsworth's portrayal of the character in future films. In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor refers to an e-mail as an "electronic letter", as he does when writing to Tony in this short, and Doctor Strange references that he does not have a phone, which Thor mentions to Bruce in the short as well. Waititi has expressed that he was glad he made the short since it showed the fans how irreverent he intended to be with Thor: Ragnarok,[4] and much of Thor's personality in this film carries over to Ragnarok, along with Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.
Sequels
The short was followed by two sequels, Team Thor: Part 2 and Team Darryl, also directed by Waititi. The latter short features Jeff Goldblum reprising his role as the Grandmaster.[12]
References
- Murthi, Vikram (29 August 2016). "'While You Were Fighting: A Thor Mockumentary': Watch Taika Waititi's Hilarious MCU Short". Indiewire. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Galuppo, Mia (July 23, 2016). "Comic-Con: 'Thor: Ragnarok' Director Reveals What Thor and Hulk Were Doing During 'Civil War'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Kreps, Daniel (August 28, 2016). "Watch Thor Explain 'Civil War' Absence in Hilarious Short". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Leane, Rob (October 24, 2017). "Thor: Ragnarok – director Taika Waititi interview". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- LUKE Y. THOMPSON (13 September 2016). "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR Blu-ray Is Just Shy of Perfect (Review)". Nerdist. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Caron, Nathalie (14 February 2017). "Team Thor Part 2 teaser: Watch it a gazillion times". SyfyWire. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Chitwood, Adam (28 August 2016). "See What Thor Was Doing During 'Civil War' in Hilarious Bonus Feature". Collider. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Lincoln, Ross A. (28 August 2016). "'Team Thor': See What The God Of Thunder Was Up To During 'Captain America: Civil War'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Davis, Erik (23 October 2017). "Marvel Has Big Plans for Korg and Miek from 'Thor: Ragnarok'". Fandango. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- Elderkin, Beth (September 18, 2016). "Here's Why Thor's Roommate Darryl Needs To Come Back for Ragnarok". io9. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- https://ew.com/article/2016/08/28/captain-america-civil-war-marvel-team-thor-video/
- Dumaraog, Ana (30 January 2018). "Thor 3 Blu-ray Details Include Team Darryl One-Shot". Screen Rant.