Thor writer hints Marvel One-Shots could come back

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, die-hard fans would be practically dying to get their hands on the Blu-ray or DVD of the movie – not just so they could put it on a loop at home – but so they could watch the new Marvel One-Shot. These short films expanded on the world of the MCU, but the project was, unfortunately, short-lived. But according to THOR writer Eric Pearson, the inclusion of these mini-movies could have a new life, if whispers are to prove true.

 The THOR: RAGNAROK writer, who wrote four of the five shorts, spoke with CinemaBlend recently and was asked about if the One-Shot shorts could come back anytime soon. Though Pearson cannot confirm it’s true, he’s heard rumblings that life could be put back into the pint-sized adventures

I think probably the drop in Blu-ray sales has hurt the One-Shots program — though I've heard whispers of it starting up again. I can't confirm that at all, but I've definitely heard whispers of it. And I have a whole folder full of other One-Shots that I just came up with. And I was like, 'Oh, this will be a fun eight to 12 pages!'

The One-Shots came attached to the home video releases of all the Marvel movies from the first THOR in 2011, to THOR: THE DARK WORLD in 2014, with the final being ALL HAIL THE KING starring Ben Kingsley. The loss of the shorts was a gut-punch to Marvel fans as they were a welcome treat in the “Special Features” section. Turns out, though, Marvel almost went down the Pixar route, throwing them in before the movie’s themselves in theaters:

When they first brought it to me I think their initial idea was to try and set up something like Pixar, where you could do a short film at the beginning with a lesser character, to kind of have fun, expand the universe, and test out the audience's appetite for one of these more obscure characters. So that would obviously be very expensive, especially when things were so 3D-heavy at the time. So the test process was going to be, 'Well, we'll do some shorts for Blu-ray content.' And that's kind of how it started.

No doubt the movies may have cost a pretty penny despite their short length, with ones like ITEM 47 utilizing some nifty special effects. Though they were canceled because of costs, the MCU movies are now netting more money than some small countries, and with extra features made much more accessible on digital platforms like iTunes and Vudu, perhaps now Marvel is thinking they can be used to flesh out the universe in ways the movies can’t.

I was a fan of the Marvel shorts, for sure, and thought they could even set up greater plots that would be explored in the actual movies. ALL HAIL THE KING took place after IRON MAN 3 and hinted that the “real” Mandarin was alive and looking for the fake one, played by Kingsley. But maybe they can just be small and enjoyable like Pixar shorts. I think a cute, animated story about a young superhero looking for their lost puppy would be quite uplifting.

THOR: RAGNAROK arrives November 3.