‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Viewers Are Freaking Out Over Matt Damon’s Cameo

No one saw it coming, and the Thor: Ragnarok cast has managed to keep Matt Damon’s surprise cameo a secret until the Marvel film finally hit theaters.

The news would have made headlines months ago, but Matt Damon is now officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And fans realized it only after the release of Thor: Ragnarok last Friday. In an article published on Monday, the Hollywood Reporter warned moviegoers who were planning to see the new Marvel film to keep a sharp eye out for Damon’s surprise appearance in the movie.

Damon’s cameo in Thor: Ragnarok can be easily missed, as the 47-year-old Hollywood superstar appears only for a few seconds, and some viewers may not recognize Damon playing Loki. It appears that Easter came early for Marvel fans, and director Taika Waititi decided to hide an Easter egg in plain sight!

Toward the beginning of the film, Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) returns to Asgard and finds his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), posing as their father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and watching a play, which he commissioned from the people of Asgard. Only a few people actually realized that those actors in the play-within-a-movie weren’t just unknown extras playing Thor, Loki, and Odin.

In a brief glimpse of the three people on stage, under all the makeup and wigs, the actors in the play were Matt Damon (Loki), Chris’s older brother Luke Hemsworth (Thor), and Sam O’Neill (Odin).

This was apparently one of the instances when directors tell their cast and crew members, “You cannot tell anyone about this, not even your spouse!”

Damon’s cameo in Thor: Ragnarok managed to remain under wraps until the film’s release. Speaking about the hidden Easter egg in the Marvel film, which has thundered to over $430 million worldwide, director Waititi told the Hollywood Reporter that the cameo essentially recapped the ending of Thor: The Dark World. At the end of the 2013 film, Loki is seen taking over Odin’s throne by impersonating him.

“I wanted to have an interesting way of returning to see Loki as Odin,” Waititi told the publication. “Because I don’t know if people would remember him from the end of Thor: Dark World as sitting on the throne.”

The Thor: Ragnarok director also revealed that the Marvel team initially considered portraying Loki at a wine tasting or having his portrait painted, but they eventually went with the play-within-a-movie scenario, as it’s “the most narcissistic thing Loki could do.” And Marvel fans couldn’t be more excited about the director’s choice, as they finally got to see Matt Damon become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Screenwriter Eric Pearson also explained why they chose Damon specifically to play the part of Loki in Thor: Ragnarok.

“[Executive producer] Brad Winderbaum took me over to the side, and showed me the picture [of Damon] in full costume and I lost my mind,” Pearson told the Hollywood Reporter, adding that the secrecy around Matt Damon’s cameo was “more crazy than anything.”

Thor: Ragnarok viewers are freaking out over the A-list actor’s cameo appearance in the Marvel film, with many realizing that it might make sense to re-watch the film to see if there are other hidden Easter eggs in the Marvel movie.

[Featured Image by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Images]