Will Thor’s third outing see his homeland go up in flames?
Marvel’s cinematic universe has thus far maintained a consistently high level of quality. Even the most mediocre films *cough* Iron Man 2! *cough* have added something to the mythos. But while Iron Man 2 had the manic charms of Robert Downey Jr. to enchant the audience… the Thor films have been, well, alright.
Not to say Thor and Thor: The Dark World are bad. They do exactly what they need to do as far as play out their stories and character arcs… but they don’t have the extra spark that really made films like Iron Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy stand out.
Well, according to the rumors Marvel is looking to change all that with Thor: Ragnarok.
How?
Well, word on the street is that the film will be one of the darkest films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… if not the darkest altogether. Apparently, this film is to Phase 3 what Captain America: The Winter Soldier was to Phase 2.
It actually makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. The Winter Soldier set a lot of groundwork by changing the fundamentals of the setting that was set up in Phase 1. Because we’re heading into more cosmic territory with Avengers: Infinity War, it makes sense they’re using a Thor film to set the stage.
What will Thor: Ragnarok do to set up Infinity War?
Well, ask yourself the following question: What did The Winter Soldier do to shake up the MCU?
Answer: It destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.
If Infinity War really will be about the Avengers fighting Thanos in full possession of the Infinity Stones, the stakes are going to have to be incredibly high. That means the Avengers will have to be fighting by themselves with very little in the way of allies, the most powerful of whom in the cosmic space being Asgard.
So, in order to really set up the desperation of the struggle to take place in Infinity War, Asgard is going to have to be taken out of the picture. In Norse mythology, Ragnarok is an apocalyptic event, so it all lines up that something’s going to happen in the upcoming Thor movie that either completely destroys or cripples Asgard.
Oh, and if you may recall the cosmic cube is being held in Asgard… which means Thanos is going to be able to come right in and pick it up for his collection.
What would the destruction of Asgard mean for our characters?
Well, aside from the cosmic cube being up for grabs, it leaves the Avengers without cosmic allies to fight Thanos. We can also assume that by the start (or at the start) of Infinity War, the Nova Corps will be taken out of the picture as well since Thanos is going to have to cripple them to obtain their Infinity Stone.
That leaves one friendly group in the galaxy that could help the Avengers:
Yup, we’re totally going to see the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers team up. Don’t pretend you didn’t think it was going to happen.
