‘Thor: Ragnarok’ VFX Supervisor Jake Morrison Loved Making Hulk Fight Thor

Drew Dietsch
Movies Marvel
Movies Marvel MCU

Thor: Ragnarok brought a whole new vibe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and part of that had to do with the stylish fantasy effects.

We got to sit down with Visual Effects Supervisor Jake Morrison, who has had a long history with the MCU films. He’s worked on all three Thor movies as well as Iron Man 2The Avengers, and Ant-Man.

The Wacky Taika Waititi

thor ragnarok taika waititi
Director Taika Waititi (left) gives Chris Hemsworth (right) some direction.

When asked what made Thor: Ragnarok a different experience than the other MCU films Morrison worked on, the VFX guru immediately singled out the film’s outside-the-box director, Taika Waititi.

“Of all the MCU films … [the Thor films] reflect the director that created them. You’ve got the Shakespearean vibe that Kenneth Branagh brought to it, and that sort of gritty, Game of Thrones-y feel that we got from Alan Taylor on [Thor: The Dark World]. And then, you go into the absolute lunacy of Taika.”

After a few chuckles, Morrison went on to describe how Waititi’s comedy and improvisational background lent a freshness to the Thor series.

“Taika is such an actor’s director. He likes to improv on set, he likes to shoot a lot, he likes to throw lines at actors to keep them off balance. And the note [we got from Taika] was, ‘I never want to have to cut camera for 30 technicians to come in and fix something.'”

And that need to be able to shoot visual effects on the fly led Morrison and his team to be able to think on their feet and give their director the ease he needed to make the best film possible. That approach definitely paid off.

The Big Showdown

But, when we got on the subject about the big effects moment that he was looking forward to the most, Morrison didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“The Hulk versus Thor fight. We did a small version of that in The Avengers and I always felt that it wasn’t as full contact as it could have been. The chance to go back and do a really good god versus god fight.”

It’s probably the most memorable action sequence in the film and it wouldn’t have been possible without Jake and his incredible team of VFX artists.

Thor: Ragnarok is now available on digital and will be released on Blu-ray/DVD March 6.

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.