How ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Connects With Christian Faith in Four Freaky Ways

Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok, photo courtesy Marvel and Disney

Thor is Samson

In an interview with Time, Ragnarok director Taika Waititi discussed the difficulty of turning Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into a sympathetic character. “Traditionally, Thor is basically a good-looking rich kid from outer space,” says Waititi. “You don’t want to root for that guy. So how do you knock him down?”

You humble him, that’s what you do. You take away his hammer—which Hela (Cate Blanchett), goddess of death, memorably does. You hack off his hair. You stick a buzzy tracker thing on his neck, effectively immobilizing him. You force him to become a gladiatorial performer—an attraction meant to stoke the prestige of his “owner,” the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum).

Samson is the Bible’s own version of a good-looking rich kid—one of the few guys in Scripture whom God had obviously blessed from the get-go. He was incredibly strong, presumably good-looking and impossibly arrogant. He reminds me of Thor from the first movie, actually.

But Samson’s humbled in Judges 16. He’s laid low by a woman (as is Thor). He loses what he presumes is the source of his power (as does Thor). He gets his hair cut and is thrown in chains. And then, to make the parallels even more clear, he’s turned into an entertainment sideshow. “Bring out Samson to entertain us!” His captors shout.

And you know what else they do to Samson? They blind him.

Do you know what happens to Thor near the end of Ragnarok? He loses an eye—and it’s only then that he can truly see.

His dead dad Odin makes fun of him in his weakened state. “Who are you, the god of hammers?” No, Thor’s the god of Thunder. He’s still incredibly powerful. Samson, too, learns that his power wasn’t in his hair, precisely: It was in God. And when Samson is finally humbled enough to ask God for a little help one more time, he tears down a temple.