Halfway Through the Hiatus

Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer

As we inch closer to the release of Season Four, we dig into one of the One-Shots. The One-Shots were a series of short films that Marvel produced to be released on several of their movies when released on physical media. This particular One-Shot was actually released on the Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray and DVD, not on Thor.

For our purposes, however, it makes a lot more sense to talk about this one now because the events in it literally take place as Agent Phil Coulson, always played with incredible charm by Clark Gregg, drives from LA to New Mexico to investigate what turns out to be the arrival of Thor and his hammer on Midgard, aka Earth. In this episode, Matthew and Andy are joined by Pete Wright. You remember Pete – co-host of season one: Iron Man. He’s also the co-host with Andy on The Next Reel film podcast. (It’s certainly worth checking out if you haven’t already.)

So much to talk about in this One-Shot!

Even though it’s a short film, there is a lot in here to discuss. Just where is Puento Antiguo exactly? We try to plot that out based on the mileage signs. And how about all that product placement. It’s everywhere except the gas pump itself which advertises Roxxon. Yeah, that Roxxon. We debate which Little Debbie donut would be the smarter pick for Coulson, but he’s interrupted by men with guns holding the gas station up.

Coulson’s incredibly good at disarming the robbers with his off-putting and weirdly direct comments. Did you know the stunt work in this One Shot used up 80% of the budget for this one and The Consultant? It just goes to show how smart they were in using the money. We discuss the stunt performers as well as the connection to the original Broadway show and subsequent movie “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Why is it so hard to find the One-Shots??

The biggest question we have with the short is why Disney doesn’t seem interested in doing anything with this or the other One-Shot shorts officially. (We say that knowing they've put them on Disney + periodically, most notably with the buzz growing for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. They were only officially released on the physical media editions of several of the MCU films. Why? We may never know, but what we do know is that it’s a lot of fun and certainly worth a watch.

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Film Sundries

• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • Netflix • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script Transcript
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Source Material
• One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer
• Marvel Swing