How this lesser-known Marvel character became a scene stealer in 'Thor: Ragnarok'
- Korg is a minor character in "Thor: Ragnarok," but is a major reason why the movie is so funny.
- Director Taika Waititi voiced the character and did the motion-capture.
- Originally supposed to be in one or two scenes, Chris Hemsworth loved the character so much Korg scenes continued to get added to the movie.
Warning: Minor spoilers below if you haven't seen "Thor: Ragnarok."
Part of the fun of the Marvel movies is they introduce us to characters we might not have been aware of if we didn't grow up on the comics.
For many, the appearance of Korg in "Thor: Ragnarok" (currently playing in theaters) will be a delightful introduction.
Korg is a rock giant creature who befriends Thor (Chris Hemsworth) when the God of Thunder is on the planet Sakaar, and is forced by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) to take part in a gladiator-like battle and face his champion (which turns out to be the Hulk).
Korg, who first appeared in the "Planet Hulk" story within an "The Incredible Hulk" comic in 2006, is depicted in the movie as a gentle giant with a soft voice. He brings some of the best comedic moments of the movie and later fights alongside Thor in the movie's conclusion.
However, Waititi admits he didn't decide to voice Korg because he had some grand idea of how to make the character stand out. It really all happened by chance.
"I knew I was going to play something in the film, because I always put myself in my films, but I didn't know what," Waititi told Business Insider. "He was one of the few minor characters that hadn't been cast yet so I decided to do that one."
Figuring the role of Korg was small enough that doing the motion-capture on set for the character, and voicing it, wouldn't be much added work to his already busy schedule as the director, he claimed Korg and moved on to more pressing matters.
"We didn't end up doing a huge amount of it until much later in prep," Waititi said. "There were many other story points we had to worry about. We knew this character was going to be in at least one or two scenes as kind of an information giver."
But when Waititi began coming up with the voice for Korg in read-throughs, he and star Chris Hemsworth couldn't stop coming up with jokes for him.
Waititi said Marvel loved Korg too, so what started as a character that was in there just for exposition turned into Marvel's newest sensation.
"We injected him into more and more scenes and before you know it he was all over the movie," Waititi said.
Always feeling the pulse of its fans, Marvel can already tell audiences are in love with the big guy - along with his sidekick Miek - and the studio has hinted that there will be more from the bashing duo.
"We have plans for Korg and Miek," Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege told Fandango. "When and where we'll have to wait and see, but we, like the audience now that they've seen them, can't get enough."
Waititi better rest up.