Screenwriter Eric Pearson really brings down the hammer in Thor: Ragnarok.

Ragnarok finds Thor stranded on the planet Sakaar, where he encounters -- and clashes -- with his fellow Avenger, the Hulk. Eventually, Thor convinces Bruce Banner, his half-brother Loki and the warrior Valkyrie to unite against the Goddess of Death, Hela. Having escaped her eternal prison, conquered Asgard and resurrected Fenris Wolf, Hela vs. the "Revengers" promises to be an epic battle that may forever alter Thor’s status quo and destiny in the MArvel Cinematic Universe.

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Ahead of the film's North American opening, Pearson spoke with CBR about what awaits Thor on his latest adventure. Over the course of our conversation, the writer opens up about the appeal in seeing the Odinson battle the Green Goliath, the level of threat Hela truly represents, and how it all fits into Marvel's roadmap to Avengers: Infinity War.


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CBR: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost are also credited as Thor: Ragnarok’s screenwriters. At what point did you become involved in the writing process?

Eric Pearson: I began work January 1, 2016. I remember because I got a call the day before Christmas from Brad Winderbaum, the executive producer on Thor. He told me to find my agent and see if I’d be able to come in and start work. They were starting to shoot July 4. We worked it out over the break. Brad, myself, Kevin [Feige] and Taika [Waititi] were in there eight or nine hours with what we were going to do and how we were going to build off the new script. From there, I was pretty much on it until the end of post-production.

When you landed this gig, what were some of the comic-book cornerstones that you looked at for inspiration?

Obviously, "Planet Hulk" was one that they brought in. I forget the name of the run with Gorr the God Butcher. (CBR: The story ran in Thor: God of Thunder #1-11) That was one of my favorite Thor stories. I looked at the first appearance of Hela, Skurge and some of these other characters. But I was under a deadline crunch; I read the package Marvel gave me over the break, then it was pretty much, “I have to get a script out,” because they were shooting in six months.

How does Thor’s journey come full circle from where we first met him?

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In the first movie, he’s the arrogant illustrious prince who wants his throne, but doesn’t deserve it. In the second one, he turns it down to go find himself. In many ways, this was a bit of a homecoming, not to step on Spider-Man. The last time we saw him, Thor was turning down the throne and wanted to go out and still be a protector of the cosmos and a hero, but needed to find his own way.

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When this movie starts, some time has passed, and we wanted to introduce a new Thor. What he’s found in his own soul-searching and enjoying his independence as the solo cosmic Avenger. But, he is still tied through his family and fate and bigger universal sources to Asgard and the royal lineage. He left to be the cosmic Avenger on his own and find himself and some independent fun, and he unknowingly left Loki on the throne. Now, it’s coming back to bite him in the ass.

There’s been a time jump since viewers last saw Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Where do we currently find Thor and how has he changed?

A lot of this came from Taika. One of the first things he put down is, “This is a Thor movie. Thor has to be the coolest guy in it. And, we’ve got to make him fun and likeable and awesome.” Our thinking is you first met him with a little bit of a narrow point of view. He’s almost like a home-schooled kid, who has been home schooled in a giant, fabulous golden palace. His world view is a little restricted.

Through the movies, he’s been hanging out with Iron Man, and there’s been all these sarcastic quips thrown around. We wanted Thor to have this voice of a rogue adventurer. He’s been out trying to find himself outside of the context of just being the heir to the throne of Asgard. We wanted to have a little more fun in his voice and a little less regal.

As for where we find him, the last thing we heard in Ultron was that he was going to investigate the Infinity Stones. He’s been doing that for a while, but, he’s also heard word of some trouble around the Nine Realms. He’s taken a detour from his greater Infinity quest to come check out what’s happening at home.

Is being ruler of Asgard everything Loki imagined? Or has he bitten off more than he can chew?

The gig is everything he imagined. We imply there’s a great reckoning around the corner, but from Loki’s point of view, everything is great. He’s having a lot of fun. It was great to play to the Loki character with the façade of Odin, of Anthony Hopkins. There’s a couple of ways we could have gone, like a power-hungry Loki. What we found the most fun is the core of Loki’s essence. He’s pretty narcissistic, so we lean heavily into that.

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What was the thought process behind the shorter hair and change in Thor's costume? What does it say about the Son of Odin?

That was another thing that I came into. When I arrived, there were certain things they had already decided. “We’re going to break the hammer.” Another one was, “We’re going to cut the hair.” I said, “Why?” “Hemsworth doesn’t want to wear the wig. It takes a lot of time to get it right.”

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Thematically, what it turned into is, we were really stripping Thor down in this movie. One of the things that I realized immersing myself in Thor, and especially Thor in relation to the other MCU characters, is Iron Man, Captain American and Spider-Man start off kind of normal and they get their powers, or they make their powers, and then they become the hero.

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Thor is born a handsome, rich, strong prince with a magical hammer. The only way we had to bring him down was by taking away his hammer, by stranding him on this strange planet, imprisoning him. We had to put his back up against the wall because he’s so powerful. We put him up against forces that he wasn’t fully prepared for. And, also, the lost confidence of losing his hammer and whether or not the hammer is his power, or whether he wields the power of the hammer - we’ve put a lot of doubt into his heart. That was more of the hero’s journey of finding the confidence in himself to rise up against all this crazy stuff that’s happening to him.

Not many individuals could stand up to the combined might of Thor, Loki and Hulk. How is Hela unlike any adversary they’ve ever faced before?

When you approach these characters, there’s a lot of confusion, or, at least there was in my mind, of, “Are they gods? Are they aliens? What exactly are they? How do you define their power set?” With Hela, really locking onto the Goddess of Death aspect, I believe these titles are an extension of their personality. Hela is basically a weapon of war and can manifest weapons of death at ay moment. She’s like a Terminator. Hela has a point of view and an objective. If you don’t get in line, she’ll just walk through you. The no-nonsense attitude is what Thor and our other heroes weren’t ready for. Normally, there’s some greater machination to the villain. Hela knows what she wants from the beginning and there’s no time for anyone to react. She’s already on you by the time you’re thinking, “Well, how am I going to stop her?”

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Thor and Hulk’s previous interactions typically involve trading punches and witty banter. What made these two heroes a blast to bounce off one another?

Well, they are like the two oddballs of the main Avengers team. They are also the two worst suited to talk about their feelings. What we ended up doing is putting them in situations where they are upset. They need to talk about their feelings and all they have is each other. It plays for comedy and it also plays for a couple of unexpected, sweet moments, especially from Hulk. I think we’ve only heard him basically say three words in all of his movies so far. Now, he’s in a more permanent Hulk state than we’ve ever seen before. That’s allowing him to harness a limited vocabulary. But, it’s really interesting to see them try to communicate with each other. It was a lot of fun.

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The two rumble in this flick. Were there debates over who is the strongest?

Yeah, I think people will continue to have those debates even after the fight. I think that’s what is the most fun about being a fan of these kinds of things. You have your favorites. It is nerd sports. You have your favorites and your own belief in their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a blast to talk about who you think would ultimately win. There was a lot of attention paid to that fight. We knew it would be a big attraction. From the beginning, we were doing a lot to choreograph the moments that we needed. I think we gave a pretty satisfying ending to the fight. It’s both definitive and ambiguous, if that’s possible.

What is your take on the ax-wielding Skurge?

Skurge is like my dark horse favorite character. The way we went about him is, he’s an Asgardian redneck. He’s representative of the everyman, more like an infantry soldier. He’s part of the warrior culture in Asgard. He’s not as high-profile as Thor or Sif or the Warriors Three. He’s about wanting recognition and feeling like he could do so much more.

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He goes about it in a way that puts him in a crisis of conscious. I thought Karl Urban did such a fantastic job. He had to be funny and had to be a reflection of the danger throughout the movie, and the face of worry.

Karl Urban as Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok

It’s no secret Doctor Strange makes an appearance. What role does he play in this saga?

Doctor Strange is just doing his job, honestly, in the movie. He’s the Sorcerer Supreme. One of his primary duties is to look out for interdimensional threats. There is a moment where Thor and Loki visit Earth. That’s something that pops up on Doctor Strange’s radar. In that encounter with Thor, it’s extremely fun because I don’t know if it’s been since Avengers that major heavy-hitters have met each other with no context.

RELATED: Doctor Strange Has a Warning for Thor In New Ragnarok TV Spot

They just had to meet each other, recognize that they are both extremely powerful and are just sizing each other up. “Do I like this guy? Do I want to help this guy? Is this guy a threat to me?” I guess Civil War had a bunch of that, too. Those things are just so fun. The MCU has such amazing actors and a great foundation built for the characters. I feel when you start matching these worlds, it allows people to have a lot of fun. Hemsworth and Cumberbatch’s chemistry and humor were contagious.

What can you tease about how Ragnarok leads into Infinity War? What kind of conversations did you have with the Russos?

It’s interesting -- they flew me out of Australia because I was there for most of the Ragnarok production. They flew me to Atlanta to help Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely with Avengers III and IV. Most of the reason I was brought out there is because Ragnarok is so different and such a step in a crazy direction for some of the headliner characters that are going to be in Infinity War, Thor and Hulk especially.

For the Russos, Taika and Kevin, they wanted to make sure we maintained the continuity of the characters and how they would continue on their journey in the next movies. I’m hesitant to say anything specific, but having seen the amazing job Marcus and McFeely were doing crafting those stories, Thor and Hulk’s stuff is some of my favorite material going forward in these next two movies.