Spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok ahead. The new movie Thor: Ragnarok is being hailed as one of the most comedic Marvel films to date, and one of its funniest parts is the cast of the Thor parody play, which the titular hero watches while he's on Asgard. The play summarizes what happened in Thor: The Dark World, but its casting is the most clever part of the scene, as Chris Hemsworth's real-life older brother, Luke, plays Thor, and Matt Damon dons a black wig to play Loki in the play parody. As if that's not great enough, Sam Neill appears as Odin, who Anthony Hopkins plays in the actual movies. The play within the movie is reminiscent of an Ancient Greek satyr, or some Shakespearean plot device, but theatrical references aside, it's really just plain funny.
And its casting is seriously spot-on. When Chris Hemsworth appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently, he was joined by Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, co-star Mark Ruffalo, and Damon. It made for a funny bit because of Kimmel and Damon's longstanding — and hilarious — feud, and it sort of made sense that Damon was there to support his friend Hemsworth. But once you see Thor: Ragnarok in theaters, it quickly becomes clear that Damon joined the cast and crew at Jimmy Kimmel Live because he was also featured in the movie.
The parody play reenacts a dramatic scene in which Loki fakes his death so he can be hidden as Odin, which really is quite Shakespearean itself. The whole meta-commentary fits the entire tone of Thor, except it's way more of a comedy than a tragedy. That's probably because of how ridiculous Damon looks with a Loki wig, and how funny it is to see Luke Hemsworth pretend he's his younger brother Chris. Yeah, there's double the Hemsworth power in Ragnarok, so in addition to being one of the funniest Marvel movies ever, it's also one of the most-Hemsworthy. In short: if Marvel wants to continue stepping up its game, the studio had better find a way to include Liam Hemsworth in the next Thor movie, too.
As you might have guessed, the scheme to get Damon involved in Thor was formulated by Hemsworth — Chris Hemsworth, that is. In an interview with ET about Damon's cameo, director Waititi explained, "That one is directly from Chris. You know, it's his mate." He continued, saying, "I know of a couple other movie stars, and I'd asked one of them. He was keen, but then he was doing some other thing, so he couldn't come. Boring story now, 'cause we can't say the name." The idea that anyone else was considered before Damon is pure blasphemy, because if there's anyone who should play the fake-brother to the fake-Hemsworth character, it's Damon. The actors have even gone on vacation together, so they're practically brothers already.
In his interview with Kimmel, Hemsworth joked that he is only friends with Damon because he feels sorry for him. "He has nothing, and I saw a friend in need so I just decided to extend a handshake," Hemsworth joked. Clearly, the two enjoy playing tricks on each other.
Even if Damon, Hemsworth, and Neill's cameos in Ragnarok don't last long, they make for a thoroughly memorable scene in the film that will surprise most audiences heading to the theaters. While the chances of other future cameos by these actors in Marvel movies seems unlikely, perhaps there will be another opportunity to see them all together again in a different film — and hopefully in one directed by Waititi, because he certainly knows how make people laugh. If nothing else, that's what the Thor play parody does, and it only makes Damon and Hemsworth's bromance all the more fun to observe.
