Thor: Ragnarok’s Willy Wonka Scene Shows Why Love & Thunder Didn’t Work

Thor: Ragnarok’s reinvention of a more comedic God of Thunder manifests itself in one particular scene, which also proves Love and Thunder’s failure.

Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder are both comedic additions to the MCU, but a key difference in their humor explains why the former works better than its successor. Released in 2017, Thor: Ragnarok redefined the MCU’s depiction of its title character through a comedic lens following his more serious portrayals in Thor and Thor: The Dark World. While Thor: Ragnarok garnered widespread praise for its humorous reinvention, 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder was criticized for oversaturating its story with comedy and turning the God of Thunder into a parody of himself. One scene in Thor: Ragnarok, a reference to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, makes this disparity clear.

The MCU has been defined by its mixture of humor and serious topics throughout the Marvel franchise’s 14-year history. Emotional sincerity and comedy work to keep its projects family-friendly and palatable for a wide audience, yet still heartwarming and impactful. Thor: Ragnarok serves as a perfect example of drama and comedy coordinating well to generate a compelling story of the God of Thunder’s estrangement from the world he knows and his journey to rediscovering his sense of self. Thor: Love and Thunder, on the other hand, fails to properly balance its elements, and thus, it undersells its narrative.

Related: How Comedy Thor Went So Wrong So Quickly

Thor 3’s Wonka Scene Shows Comedy Thor Working

In Thor: Ragnarok, the titular hero is captured by Valkyrie’s scrappers and brought to the planet Sakaar to meet the Grandmaster. Thor, strapped into a chair, advances through a starry tunnel while the tune “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory‘s plays, in reference to the 1971 film’s Wondrous Boat Ride scene. Suddenly, the illusion ceases and Thor screams in surprise as he faces the Grandmaster. This Easter egg in Thor: Ragnarok works because it employs its reference as a joke, though it simultaneously establishes the Grandmaster’s lavish, egotistical, and playfully sadistic persona.

The joke doesn’t reduce the movie’s drama; rather, it improves the story in a comedic way. It’s a prime example of how Thor: Ragnarok reconstructed the hero as an amusing and sincere persona. In relation to the God of Thunder, the silliness of the sequence makes sense given he’s alone on an alien planet, as it illustrates the human side of him that is scared and confused in an unknown place. Even though the plot revolves around the destruction of Asgard and the dismal state in which characters like Thor and Valkyrie find themselves, its humor is always purposed toward developing personalities and lightening the narrative’s gloomy reality.

What Love & Thunder Missed About Comedy Thor

Thor: Love and Thunder‘s comedy falls short of the standard set by Thor: Ragnarok because it turns its hero into a complete joke without a reasonable purpose. Its humor does not serve the story but instead gets in the way of any deeper message the story is meant to convey. The ever-present comedy in scenes with Thor, Jane Foster, Valkyrie, and Korg clashes with the sinister and tragic nature of Gorr the God Butcher to the point where it’s impossible to take the villain seriously. The humor also dulls the emotional impact of Jane’s cancer battle and the heartbreak of her leaving Thor only shortly after they reconnected.

More: Hemsworth Is Right About Thor’s Tone (But Raises Another Problem)