Recently, reports came out that Matt Damon would be appearing in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love And Thunder—reports that have seemingly been confirmed by Damon’s arrival in Australia to film a “major movie.” We don’t know who Damon might be playing in Love And Thunder, but this won’t be his first appearance in the Thor series of films. He had a funny uncredited cameo in Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok as an actor playing Loki in a self-aggrandizing play that Loki himself had written, but with him possibly returning in the next movie, we have to ask: Was Matt Damon playing himself in Ragnarok? And if so, will he be playing himself in Love And Thunder as well?
Let’s look at the facts:
- Matt Damon in Ragnarok is an actor, and Matt Damon in real life is also an actor.
- Matt Damon in Ragnarok looks like Matt Damon and (though he is acting) he also talks like Matt Damon, while Matt Damon in real life also looks and talks like Matt Damon.
- Matt Damon in Ragnarok does not have a name, meaning his name could be anything (including, say, Matt Damon).
Now let’s look at the arguments against this Matt Damon being the real Matt Damon:
- Matt Damon in Ragnarok is on Asgard, while the real Matt Damon primarily lives on Earth.
- The Matt Damon in Ragnarok played Loki, while the actor who plays Loki in real life is Tom Hiddleston.
- Actors aren’t necessarily playing themselves when they play unnamed characters, and it’s silly to think otherwise.
Given that information, we can safely say that, yes, Matt Damon was playing himself in Thor: Ragnarok. But what about Love And Thunder? Well, most of the people on Asgard are dead, either from the events of Ragnarok or Thanos’ rampage at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Also, we don’t know how the real Matt Damon got to Asgard in the first place, so we don’t know if he could’ve possibly escaped before everyone got killed, but it seems unlikely that a regular human with no special powers would survive when so many Asgardians did not… so we’re going to say that Matt Damon is probably not playing himself in Love And Thunder because the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Matt Damon is probably dead.
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The only version of Matt Damon that matters.
I still think it’s the funniest thing how originally the Matt Damon puppet was going to be as self-serious as Alec Baldwin’s, but that idea was dropped immediately in favor of “MATT DAAAMONNN!” when the rubber face came out of the mold slightly deformed.
Primarily? Does Matt Damon have a villa on Mars or something I’m unaware of? I don’t believe the events of The Martian actually happened, otherwise I think he’d have spent some time in rehab for his crippling vicodin addiction and the trauma all those potatoes did to his BM’s. Of course, I probably would be unaware of the different residences Matt Damon spends his time at, so I guess he might.
I think it’s obvious: Matt Damon is playing another stranded being whom the collective Thors must attempt to rescue from wherever he is.
Where in the world is Matt SanDamon stranded?
Huh, he was also Loki in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot…so I guess it’s the Marvel Cinematic View Askewniverse now? I doubt even Patton Oswalt predicted that.
Fuck Oswalt. Steve Allen thought of that already!
Now that Steve is dead, there’s no one smart enough to tell us how smart he was…
So…Cock Knocker is a canon MCU supervillain then?
Asking the real questions here.
I actually didn’t notice before that it was Damon, so now I’m curious if this is why he was invited. I can easily imagine Waititi as a fan of Dogma. And also he pulled the same stunt on What We Do in the Shadows, the show, when he invited a ton of actors who played vampires before.
That fits. I didn’t realize it was Damon either, but I tend to mix him up with a few other actors—particularly Jesse Plemons—to the point that I once nearly lost a big bet arguing he wasn’t in the movie EuroTrip (luckily, someone clued me in). Waititi seems like a cool guy.
The Nesquikening Doesn’t Know!
Jessie Plemons looks like a version of Matt Damon who got hit in the face with a shovel. (He’s also a terrific actor.)
Jesse Plemons is known by his other name, Meth Damon.(Or Fat Damon but I find that cruel.)(But funny.)
This is a very specific and somewhat baffling burn on Matt. I’ll allow it
If it was a burn, it was unintentional — I genuinely do confuse them. I’ll admit it’s bizarre, though, given that I definitely recall hearing the “Meth Damon” thing, now that it’s been mentioned. But seriously: I watched all of his Black Mirror episode at the start of lockdown saying to myself, “This can only be Matt Damon.” Of course I should’ve known: If Damon is looking just a bit chunky and playing a sadist, it’s probably his chunky, non-union, sadistic New Mexican equivalent, Todd the Neo Nazi.
I forget who said it but somebody claimed that they were talking about who to have play the role and Chris Hemsworth said, “Oh, my friend Matt Damon can come in and do it” and nobody believed him but they asked and he said yes.
Maybe a future MCU Film can team up the character with the character Julia Roberts from the film Ocean’s 12, which feature Matt Damon the actor but not Matt Damon the character
Wait a second…Marvel Cinematic Askewniverse…MCA…Beastie Boys…Beast Boy…MARVEL/DC CROSSOVER MOVIE SERIES CONFIRMED!
They should have got Affleck to play “Thor.”
In support of him escaping, he does have the super power of being Jason Bourne!
I’m a trickster.“Oh shit.”Really good line readings.
One of my favorite parts of probably my favorite Marvel movie thus far.
That ‘Hopkins playing Hiddleston playing Loki playing Odin ‘ “Oh Shit!” line is probably my favourite too.
Sam Neil disgustedly taking off his eye patch always gets me.
Oh oh am I in time to make a joke about him playing with himself?
I really, really hope he was playing himself, and that Loki-as-Odin hired him (or, more likely, abducted him) to perform in his play about himself. And that Thor sent Matt Damon back to Earth afterward, but not before telling Matt Damon that he (Thor) could easily beat up Jason Bourne.
This was my thought upon seeing it. If you were casting yourself in a production would you hold auditions with the schmucks from your hometown that you secretly kinda loathe but have to pretend to like? Or would you go after one of the most famous talents on a different planet as a way to show off how much better you are?
If I was a self-centered jerk like Loki, I’d pick someone who publicly dislikes me and force them to portray me as a tragic heroic figure.
Ahh yes, the old Space Jam Maneuver.
I kinda want him playing himself, because Loki actually kidnapped Matt Damon to play him.And I want him to get Affleck in for a cameo, with Kevin Smith writing the dialogue:“You mean all comic book crap Kevin Smith never shut up about is real? I thought we were just humouring him.”“Oh, absolutely. On both counts. Like, that Loki guy. I met him. Worked with him. And, y’know, go easy on the ‘comic book crap’ thing. They provide a valuable contribution to the great cultural tapestry of America- nay, the world.” Damon and Affleck both turn and stare directly down the camera lens for a full second.“Wait- worked? You’re saying you worked for that guy who wrecked New York?Killed all those guys in Germany? Doing what?”“Acting.”“Acting?”“He wasn’t looking for someone to remodel his bathroom. Incidentally, I’ve got some ideas about about the shower recess in your-”“So this guy- what is he? An alien?”“Excuse me? ‘Alien’? Dude, ease up on the anti-extraterrestialism, ok? That is a very hateful and hurtful term for non-Terrans, and it’s not the sort of language I will tolerate in my presence, especially from someone I consider both a friend and colleague. He’s not trying to impregnate Sigourney Weaver.”“Well, what is he – apart from a mass-murdering terrorist responsible for taking the lives of thousands of innocent ‘Terrans’, attempting to conquer and subjugate our entire planet, and remodelling downtown New York like one of your bathrooms?”“Hey. Downtown New York was lookin’ kinda tired. You know that. It’s like two hundred years old, just a…horrid…mishmash of clashing styles from dozens of different architectural ages and themes that really don’t-”“Just answer the question.”“He’s, well, he’s kinda like a god.”“A GOD?!?”“Demi-god, really. But, y’know, I wouldn’t let him hear you say that.”“What could a deity, of any sort of quantity, percentage, or fraction, possibly want with you?”“Loki, he put together this little project and needed someone to play the lead.”“You’re on first-name terms now- the lead?”“To play him. It was sorta like a biopic.”“You were playing a god?”“Demi-god.”“So, lemme get this straight. You up and disappear for eighteen months to go off and do some demi-god’s little pet film project halfway across the galaxy? You’re doing vanity projects now?”“Oh, what, and Live By Night wasn’t?”“Dude…”“And it was a play. They don’t have cameras on Asgard. Legitimate theatre. You know I’ve always wanted to get into theatre, the rawest, more pure, and dare I say most powerful form of thespianism, with no barriers between the performance and the audience. It’s- it’s just you and the people watching you, no special effects, no editing, just what you bring with you under the proscenium arch.”“How’d he even get you to do this? You turned me, someone in your own words is a friend, a colleague, and, most importantly, not a mass-murdering intergalactic terrorist, down for Argo.”“Hey, I thought the screenplay was incredibly unfair to the Canadians, our noble, frostbitten brothers and sisters to the north. And I never disagreed with you about the mass-murdering intergalactic terrorist thing.”“It won three Oscars! Nominated for seven.”“YOU GOT CENSURED IN THE NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT FOR YOUR VENAL LIES. And, well, maybe you should’ve teleported in to my house while I was on the can and threatened to kill me if I didn’t accept the role.”“Why didn’t you just say he put you under duress.”“Well, Loki was impressed with what I’d done with the bathroom. That didn’t hurt.”“Huh. So, uh, he didn’t need a director?”“OH, COME ON.”
Wow…this is so far beyond cringey I don’t even know what to say.
And yet it didn’t prevent you trying to say. Feel free to shut the fuck up and fuck the fuck off.
I know; I was reading the article thinking “nobody could take this seriously; surely people can suspend their disbelief enough to understand what a cameo is,” yet here we are, not just agreeing with the article’s premise, but getting giddy over it.
This is so Smith it hurts.
I, too, would like Kevin Smith to write that dialogue.
That was a Roger Federer-level backhand
SNOOOOOOTCHIES
Kudos, you nailed it.
I still think a lot of people are going to throw in a cameo from another dimension where Matt Damon was ___.I’m guessing they’re doing the whole Sinister Six for the next one, and I vote they bring back Willem Dafoe.
“Where Matt Damon was (an occupation).Mortician
Where Matt Damon was (an adjective)MATT DAMONoh shit now I want to see another Marvelverse where Matt Damon is Corey Feldman and released an unspeakably awful album called “Daemonic 2 Tha Core”
I’m almost willing to lay money on his role in Love and Thunder being an extended cameo again, specifically during a montage scene where potential spouses present their arguments to Valkyrie. He’ll be like “I’ve played Loki, for Odin and… Loki.”
“That was just through contacts,” Waititi told RadioTimes.com of how he pulled off the hilarious casting coup.“If Loki was gonna write a play about his death, then he would want
to get the most talented actors he could, the biggest stars of Asgardian
theatre, to come and do this thing.”
Well, this had a downer ending.
another to add to the ‘and then all of a sudden matt damon’ category of cinema.
ranging from eurotrip to interstellar and everything in between.
“Matt Damon” is a name occasionally used by Bragi, god of the skalds and poets. From time to time, he deigns to step down from Asgard and give us mere mortals a glimpse of his endless talent.
To brag, you mean ?
Or…you’re just massively overthinking this in a typical nerd fashion?
Usually my sense of reality is strong enough to tell reality from fiction, but for many years now, I have been unable to tell whether it’s Matt Damon that I greatly dislike, or whether it’s the characters he plays. He might just be a really good actor.
Something seems very odd about this. Damon’s appearance in Ragnarok was a fairly humorous cameo however I seriously doubt its worthy of expanding into a larger role. Yes he could be repeating it for a running gag but I doubt anyone would put themselves through the long-haul flights to Australia and then 14 days imprisonment in a hotel room just for an afternoon’s filming. I doubt Marvel would want to foot the bill for such an endeavour either.I figure he’s probably here to either shoot something else but may crop up in Thor as an aside.
Actually, Damon conned Disney into paying his way to Australia so he could work for several months in a country where he can kiss his co-star without worrying she’ll give him a potentially fatal lung disease. He told them he’d punch up the script between takes — having done that, he’s now doing Niles in the Aussie version of FRASIER, with Paul Hogan as Frasier Crane and John Noble as Martin….
Jane Leeves will reprise her role.
well- a 0.02% chance it’s fatal, anyway!
Something seems very odd about this. Damon’s appearance in Ragnarok was a fairly humorous cameo however I seriously doubt its worthy of expanding into a larger role. Heh. Tell that to the Alien skull in that Predator ship…
I will. I will tell it very hard.
That dick has brought us nothing but misery and one good videogame
Why? nothing was ever done about that. Certainly no illogical cash-grab collaboration movies were made. None whatsoever…
counterpoint: gets to play w/ koalas while there.
Koala’s are just claw-ey, chlamydia-ridden geriatric furballs. Not worth the flight. Quokkas on the other hand are absolutely delightful however they’re on the other side of the country and not even someone with Matt Damon’s star power could get past Western Australia’s North Korea-like border restrictions
Yeah; I’m pretty sure the first appearance is what they call a “camero,” a cheeky, unflashy appearance from a typically-serious, flashy actor. What he’s doing in the unfilmed movie is kind of beyond this article and comment section’s pay grade.But yeah, let’s have fun pretending what “in-universe” reason there is for Matt Damon to be in a movie rather than simple real-world money.
I don’t remember any sports cars in the film.
The eagle-eyed viewer would have seen it.
If you’re looking to cast someone in the role of Matt Damon look no further than Ben Affleck.
Maybe he’s playing a new character of the Thor mythos we haven’t seen yet like Balder or the Enchantress? Maybe he’s playing one of those two characters.
Love Odin/Loki’s “Oh shit.” when he notices Thor. Waititi is brilliant at balancing comedy and pathos.
I like the theory. Loki may well have picked up a bit of a fancrush in his time on Earth and grabbed the actual Matt Damon to come to Asgard. Why not.
Affleck does DCU. Damon does MCU. They’re playing Top This.
*gasps* What if Taika is throwing in a MUSICAL NUMBER?!
I don’t know if anyone has noticed but Marvel really knows how to make a movie.
This is the quality, well thought out content I visit this site for almost monthly.