Thor: Ragnarok's Deleted Scenes Hide Odin's Original Death

Thor: Ragnarok's deleted scenes have been released, but there's one key sequence fans have been waiting for since the first teaser that's missing: Odin's original death.

For the most part, Thor 3's deleted scenes are pretty standard. They're mostly focused on the Sakaar side of the story, featuring copious extended adlibbing between Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner and, most prominently, Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster. There is an interesting hint at Skurge's redemption (he spies Heimdall escaping the city but lets him go, defying Hela early) and an extended Hulk/Thor bromance chase before the green goliath reverts to Bruce, but for the most part, it's standard extension.

Related: Is Thor: Ragnarok Too Much Of A Comedy?

One scene, however, stands out because it's actually different: Thor in the Sanctum Sanctorum. It starts with Doctor Strange yanking out a strand of Thor's hair to find Odin, who he reveals is still in Manhattan. After a back-and-forth over how Strange can't shift Mjolnir, he provides Thor with a key to where Loki is being held: in this version, a toilet cubicle. The hair pull happens in the finished film, but everything is noticeably different: straight after turning the golden lock into some magic, Ragnarok smash cuts to Strange's stairwell, where he frees Loki from his never-ending fall, Thor grabs the Mjolnir umbrella without debate, and the brothers step into Norway.

Different locations, different character positionings, different modes of transport: this is a totally different opening to Thor: Ragnarok. And yet the deleted scenes are still hiding the big thing.

This Page: Odin's Death Was Completely Changed

Odin's Original Death

Thor 3 brought with it some big changes for the MCU (albeit no Soul Stone), with Asgard destroyed by Odinson in a bid to defeat his sister Hela, Loki swiping the Tesseract from Odin's vault, and Miek gallantly almost giving his life to help Korg's revolution. But perhaps the most essential, one that shook the God of Thunder to his core and may have finally removed one of Thanos' final barriers to leading an all-out Infinity War, was the death of Odin.

That said, the farewell to the Allfather in the version of Ragnarok that hammered the box office last November was a little different to promised. In 2016, set photos gifted us "Hobo Odin" - an exiled Anthony Hopkins dressed up in a tattered, homeless getup in the streets of New York - and the early trailers showed Thor first confronting Hela in a Manhattan alley. The conclusion drawn was that Thor would find his father in NYC, only for him to die - possibly at the hands of his daughter - before Hela destroyed Mjolnir and sent the God to Sakaar.

Related: How Did Odin Die in Thor: Ragnarok?

The plot thickened with the suggestion that this sequence would also reveal the location of the Soul Stone: behind Odin's eye. This came from the assumption the last Infinity Stone had to be in Ragnarok, bolstered by a shot of Hela in that New York alley surrounding by an orange glow very similar to the movie Soul Gem's coloring. Of course, that's since been disproven, but will be important later.

Odin's Death Was Completely Changed

Of course, this was not what happened in the movie itself. Marvel shifted the action to Norway, with Odin living out his final moments in tranquility on a nondescript cliff. Once Thor and Loki arrive, he shares some touching final words before disappearing in a shower of light. Then Hela turns up, destroys the hammer, and the movie continues in its Planet Hulk direction.

The first suggestion something had changed came with a TV spot in early October 2017 that moved the location of the Mjolnir's destruction, immediately catching our attention. Further sleuthing revealed this was indeed the product of the film's three-week reshoots: everything from the smash cut in the Sanctum Sanctorum to the staircase (a set presumably borrowed from Avengers: Infinity War) through to the portal to Asgard from Norway wasn't in the original cut and only filmed in mid-2017. The same presumably goes for Hopkin's vision scenes later in the film.

Definitely a shame (the grimy alley fight looked to be a perfect way to evoke Highlander, a movie Ragnarok shared common ground with), what's truly shocking is why it was cut. Shortly after the release, Taika Waititi explained it was a result of test screenings; Odin's death made audiences "feel too sorry for him" and so the decision was made to go with something more calming and regal. Essentially, they changed the death of one of the MCU's most powerful beings because it was too emotional. That's a questionable move, one that lines up with the criticism that Thor: Ragnarok was focused on "fun" to an extreme degree.

Read More: It's Not Enough For The Marvel Cinematic Universe To Be œFun

However, what's most interesting about Waititi's statement was that he said it "might be on the DVD". It isn't. Why?

Odin's Original Death Creates A Problem For Marvel

Despite Waititi's promise, Odin's original death scene isn't anywhere on the Thor: Ragnarok home release. Only the preceding scene is provided, which is so removed from the Odin aspect that those unaware of the change may not even figure anything's up.

That could actually be why it isn't here. The portaloo joke is funny by itself and easy to accept as an alternate gag, but actually showing a different death for the Allfather raises many more questions about something that directly contradicts the provided movie. Worse, they can only be explained with the dreaded "reshoot" word and the murky world of test audiences. It's easier to hide it and avoid questions.

We saw a similar thing with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The initial plan for Maz Kanata was much more involved, with her displaying some level of Force mastery and going from Takadona to D'Qar with the Resistance. This didn't change until very late in the day - all these scenes were shot and her handing the Skywalker lightsaber to Leia made it into the teaser trailer - meaning a lot of practical footage was cut. One of these scenes was revealed on the Blu-ray, but with a major omission: Han, Finn, Chewie and Maz trapped underground by stormtroopers, then Solo distracts them with jokes at Snoke's expense. The released scene cuts there with no explanation for their escape, but we know from concept art it resolved when Maz brought the ceiling down with the Force. It's presumed this second part wasn't included because the effects weren't finished, but may also be to avoid confusion with Maz's changed role in future movies.

Related: Thor: Ragnarok's Removed Trailer Scenes and Reshoots Explained

Is Odin's Death Change Related To The Soul Stone?

However, just as Maz using the Force seems has been dropped from Star Wars canon, Odin's original death could say more about grander story developments. If we buy the evidence of the Soul Stone theory discussed earlier, it may be that in an earlier version of Ragnarok Odin did have the final Infinity Stone, but it was changed during post-production to better fit the bigger MCU story.

What makes this so intriguing is the timeline. The reshoots came about in Spring 2017, around the mid-point of Avengers: Infinity War's production; if they were to decide to move the starting point of the Soul Stone in that film mid-filming, it would as a knock-on effect require Thor to change up Odin's death. This late shift would also mean that Black Panther (then wrapping up production) could have no reference to the Soul Stone regardless of if it's in Wakanda or not.

It's all a little conspiratory - the solution may be a little more simple - and still doesn't explain what would have happened to the Soul Stone after Hela's death, but at least presents a better reason to reshoot than test audiences caring too much for Odin.

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The fact of the matter is that for whatever reason it was cut, Odin's death scene disappeared. It wasn't present in any of Thor: Ragnarok's B-roll provided upon release and is mostly overlooked (as is the reshot version) in the home video bonus features. Here's hoping it does surface at some point, if only to give the Allfather the emotional sendoff he deserved.

Next: Thor: Ragnarok Ruins Avengers: Age of Ultron's Ending

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