Marvel’s really hit their stride lately, seamlessly jumping between genres within the confines of the so-called ‘superhero film’. Spider-Man: Homecoming was a high-school comedy; Guardians of the Galaxy – a space-opera; Doctor Strange – basically Inception. This commitment to varying tone and style has put to bed the dreaded ‘superhero fatigue’ everyone yammers on about every three or so months. As long as Marvel can continue churning out aesthetically and tonally ambitious movies, there’s seemingly no end to their cultural dominance.

Case in point: Thor: Ragnarok. Not only does the third Thor flick not look like any previous Marvel franchise, it doesn’t even look like any of the prior Thor movies. Its bright, colorful, almost plastic aesthetic seems more Big Trouble in Little China than any Iron Man or Ant-Man. Taika Waititi, in particular, is an inspired choice to helm a big-budget superhero flick – his dry yet broad sense of humor a good fit for the oafishly heroic ‘God of Thunder’.

At the Comic Con Panel for Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige and the cast (Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, Rachel House and Tessa Thompson) debuted some exclusive new footage and discussed what to expect from the upcoming sequel. Here are the highlights:

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    Image via Marvel Studios
    Hemsworth on the changes to Thor’s look (shorter hair, no hammer): “Thor’s having a midlife crisis…. I’ve played this character five times so -- I thought if we’re going to make another Thor film, there needs to be some changes not just to [Thor]…. but to the whole Marvel universe.”
  • Per Hemsworth: “Thor gets his ass kicked in this movie.”
  • What’s up with Loki? Per Hiddleston – Loki has directed most of his energy into narcissistic self-gains (after taking over Asgard under the guise of Odin). This naturally has plunged the kingdom into debt and chaos, making it vulnerable to Hela
  • What’s Hulk up to in Thor: Ragnarok? Hulk refuses to change now into Banner. He’s given up on his ‘weaker’ alter ego. He really enjoys his time battling in the arenas because he “gets to kick some A.” Per Ruffalo – ‘He’ll be damned if he has to go back to being Banner.”
  • Ruffalo drops a bomb:“He’s been Hulk now for two years – so he has his own vocabulary.” That’s right – Thor: Ragnarok features a SPEAKING HULK!
  • Jeff Goldblum on his character The Grandmaster:“I’m playing The Collector’s brother… We’re very old. We came into being shortly after the big bang.”
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    Image via Marvel Studios
    Taika Waititi previews some new footage – featuring his character Korg, an alien made of rocks. The footage is INSANE. A brief recap below. We start with a homage to Willy Wonka’s crazy boat ride from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Thor wakes up dreary, chained to a chair. A voice tells him “Fear not for you are found.” The voice tries to convince Thor there is nowhere he can go and that he should give into The Grandmaster. The voice tells him, “No one leaves this place – Sakaar”. Thor travels through a bunch of freaky/trippy holographic images a la Willy Wonka, He screams at the top of his lungs helplessly – Hemsworth in good ham mode. Cut to Thor sitting in a throne room in front of The Grandmaster. The Grandmaster haggles over the price of Thor with Valkyrie, looking him over, coming to the conclusion -- “He’s wonderful.” Sold.

Cut to Thor thrown into a prison cell, where he meets Waititi’s Korg. Korg runs the prison and shows Thor the prison’s layout, which in this case is a circle that takes less than five seconds to travel around. How did Korg get stuck in this prison? “I tried to start a revolution but I didn’t print enough pamphlets.” Korg is my new favorite character EVER. Thor asks Korg how you get the hell out of this prison. Supposedly you have to beat The Grandmaster’s Challenger; but no one has. Thor say’s he’ll do it easily. Korg’s response: “That’s exactly what Doug used to say. See you later new Doug.”

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Image via Marvel Studios

We then cut to the new trailer, which you can watch here.

The footage looks great – You got Goldblum being super weird, Hemsworth playing the buffoon, a big bold, color palette – and have I mentioned Korg yet? He’s the best!

Korg… I mean -- Thor: Ragnarok opens in theaters everywhere November 3rd

And for more of our continuing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con, click the link!

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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel Studios