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The touching origins of Thor: Ragnarok trailer line, "He's a friend from work!"

Friends from work… Thor and Hulk in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (credit: Marvel Studios)
Friends from work… Thor and Hulk in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (credit: Marvel Studios)

It’s already the most celebrated line of dialogue from ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ – and it’s sudden rather poignant now that Chris Hemsworth has revealed its beginnings.

The first trailer for the upcoming Marvel sequel – which racked up a record-breaking 136 million views within its first 24 hours online back in April – got fans in a frenzy with the reveal that Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder was being forced into gladiatorial combat with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk.

However, the line that really brought the house down – Hemsworth’s enthusiastic cry, “We know each other! He’s a friend from work!” – was not in the script, nor was it an ad-lib on Hemsworth’s part. Instead, it came from a young fan visiting the set via the Make A Wish foundation, the famed charitable organisation which organises once-in-a-lifetime experiences for seriously ill children.

Hemsworth explained to Entertainment Weekly, “We had a young kid, a Make-A-Wish kid on set that day, and I was talking to him between takes. He goes, ‘You know, you should say, ‘He’s a friend from work!’”

Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in a gentler moment (credit: Marvel Studios)
Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in a gentler moment (credit: Marvel Studios)

A wonderful contribution to what promises to be a real treat for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hear the line in the trailer below.

Nor is this the only instance of ad-libbing on ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ as director Taika Waititi – best known for his work on low-budget comedies ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ – encouraged the cast to play with the lines, which Hemsworth suggests occurred with “95%” of the dialogue (although we suspect he’s exaggerating slightly there).

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ opens in UK cinemas on 27 October.

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