How the Epic Fight Scene in 'Thor: Ragnarok' Came Together

The latest installment in the Thor franchise featured an epic confrontation between the God of Thunder and the self-described Strongest (not Stupidest) Avenger. And the success of that scene was all down to the effects team.

Visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison has worked on other Marvel Studios productions. He explained to ComicBook.com that Thor: Ragnarok was one of the most CG intensive films he's worked on, with "about 98% of the film went through the visual effects department."

He revealed how they crafted the titanic clash between Hulk and Thor, saying one of the biggest challenges came from the disparate size between the two characters.

"Can you come up with a realistic fight between two individuals, which are literally impossible? The 8'6" character just isn't something that you can find and actually rehearse or choreograph a real fight," said Morrison. "So, trying to find a way to make that moment, 'cause if you think about it that is almost the moment that sells the tickets for the picture. You know, it's Thor versus Hulk, it's the original Marvel What If…? comics.

"So, we felt that, that was a moment in the film where we had to try and find a way to make it really just like a battle between two Gods, and make every single punch feel like it was an atom bomb, and make all the physics of the event feel real."

The trick was finding two people not the size of Thor and the Hulk, but actors with size differences relative to the two Avengers. And then they simplified the arena, which almost seemed like a deadly, American Gladiators-style obstacle course.

"We did the [motion capture] and we cast a 4'8" stunt person, as Thor and then a 6'4" person as Hulk, to get the sort of relationship right," Morrison revealed. "And then removed almost everything from the battle aside from that… You know there were different levels that would go up and down. I can't quite remember, but there were almost sort of like blades swinging around, and channels of water that you could electrocute yourself, and stuff like that.

"And gradually we stripped all that stuff back and it became clear that the interest would actually be in just a clear God versus God fight."

The scene was lauded as one of the best fights in Marvel Studios' history, and harkened back to the characters' first meeting in The Avengers.

Thor: Ragnarok is now available on Digital HD, and will be sold on Blu-ray and DVD on March 6th.