Thor: Ragnarok
Release Date: July 28th, 2017
Synopsis: Thor: Ragnarok is a tricky little beastie, because Ragnarok the character is actually a cyborg Thor clone created by Tony Stark following Civil War, while Ragnarok the event is far more exciting. When the film was announced, Kevin Feige explained that “Ragnarok means ‘the end of all things,” in Norse mythology, and that the film itself would “affect everything that comes after” it in Phase Three. Based on the title alone, we can expect Ragnarok to be a major event in the MCU, as Thor and his comrades will engage in a potentially apocalyptic battle for Asgard.
Origin: As I mentioned before, the character Ragnarok was created by Tony Stark after the real Thor went missing and was presumed dead. My guess is that Marvel will stray as far away from a cyborg version of the God of Thunder as possible. In the 2004 comic book storyline written by Michael Avon Oeming and Andrea Di Vito, Asgard and more of the nine realms were attacked by the Fire Demons of Muspelheim, led by an enormous fire demon named Surtur. The storyline led right into Avengers: Disassembled, which in turn broke up the Avengers team and eventually led into Civil War, which took place in 2006. So, Marvel is mixing things up a bit on the film side of things, but Thor: Ragnarok has the power to be one of their biggest films yet and have the most lasting consequences on the MCU as a whole.
Powers: Surtur is the most powerful of Asgard’s enemies. He’s older than Odin himself, is over 1,000 feet tall and wields a giant fiery sword called the Sword of Doom. He’s one of the major elemental forces of evil that the Asgardians feared. Odin once banished him to the Earth’s core but he was released by Loki, who hoped he’d wreak havoc on Earth. Surtur attacks Earth and lures Asgard’s armies there, leaving the realm defenseless. He then crosses the bifrost and faces off against Odin, Thor, and Loki, eventually falling into a dimensional rift and taking Odin with him.
As you might expect from a giant fire demon, Surtur possesses a wealth of powers and abilities, ranging from super strength and immortality to levitation, molecular manipulation, the ability to travel between dimensions, and wield immense magical powers.
Greatest Enemies: As deadly as Surtur is, he likely won’t be attacking Asgard alone. As I mentioned before, he has a whole realm of fire demons at his disposal and will likely bring them along for his Asgardian siege. There’s a good chance that Loki will serve as an antagonist once more in Thor: Ragnarok as well. He is impersonating Odin, after all, and is likely responsible for leaving room for Surtur to attack Asgard.
Casting: Chris Hemsworth is set to reprise his role as Thor, while Tom Hiddleston will once again be playing fan-favorite God of Mischief Loki. As with the previous Thor films, the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg, played by Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Ray Stevenson, respectively) and the Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) will likely fight alongside their king, while Anthony Hopkins will presumably return as Odin.
As for the Earth-bound characters, they probably won’t factor into the events of Thor: Ragnarok as much as they did in both Thor and Thor: The Dark World. Ragnarok stands the chance to be the film that strays the farthest from our realm of Midgard, which is something fans (including myself) have been clamoring for for quite some time now. No casting for a character like Surtur has been announced yet, though you can bet Marvel will find someone intimidating to take on the role, which is all but guaranteed to be brought to life via motion capture or CGI.
History and Future: As I said, Thor: Ragnarok can easily be one of the biggest Marvel films to date, and will likely affect the larger MCU in ways that make Captain America: The Winter Soldier look like child’s play. Asgard will likely fall or get heavily destroyed by the end of the film, and many characters are likely to die. My money is on Odin kicking the bucket and falling into a dimensional rift along with Surtur, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Thor’s friends fell with him. We’ve heard rumors that Thor won’t play a part in the first Avengers: Infinity War film, and it’s possible that that’s because he’s forced to stay in Asgard as its king and rebuild. As far as Loki goes, we recently learned that he’ll play a part in both Infinity War films, so Hiddleston is safe and sound, for now.
– James Garcia