Ragnarok: Thor 3 May be More Important Than You Think

This article contains potential Marvel phase three spoilers and some minor ones for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Kevin Feige has promised that Thor: Ragnarok is "a very important movie for us in Phase 3...we plan on taking Thor to another level." We think we're ready to believe him. Here's why...

It's generally been assumed that the Captain America films have taken up the mantle of "the most important" Marvel Studios entries not explicitly known as The Avengers. Iron Man 3 was fairly self-contained, and other than a flirtation with Guardians of the Galaxy in its post-credits scene, Thor: The Dark World really only seemed to have any noticeable impact on a few mediocre episodes of Agents of SHIELD. On the other hand, Captain America: The Winter Soldier introduced enough new characters to populate franchises a-plenty, and the next one, 2016's Captain America: Civil War, may reshape the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Well, name recognition and fan service are both wonderful things, and that's exactly what Captain America 3 and its portentious "Civil War" title is banking on. But there are now a few things to consider about Thor 3 that should keep you quite interested in what's happening on the other side of the Bifrost. In fact, if the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron are anything to go on, this one is probably going to be every bit as important to the future of the Marvel Universe as Captain America: Civil War. It even takes its name, as those two films do, from a momentous comic book tale (not to mention Norse mythology).

Idris Elba's appearance as Heimdall (albeit as a vision/hallucination) in Avengers: Age of Ultron helped set up the fact that Thor needs to get back to Asgard to set things right. While the word is never spoken in the movie, we know that Ragnarok is coming to the Asgard of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ragnarok is, of course, the mythological "twilight of the gods," and it means the end of important players like, y'know, Thor, Loki, Odin, and Heimdall. But it was also the subject of a particularly excellent comic book story from 2004 by Michael Avon Oeming and Andrea Di Vito. While this comic book Ragnarok blended all manner of mythological elements with Thor's Marvel Comics continuity, there's something crucial to consider about this one, as well: it was part of a much wider Marvel storyline known as "Avengers Disassembled" which, you guessed it, broke up the team so that a new squad could take their place.

But it was Thor's departure (and death) in this storyline that really kicked all of that "disassembling" into high gear. Since Avengers: Age of Ultronspends a good deal of time "disassembling" our movie Avengers, then Ragnarok is the next logical stop.

I'm willing to make a few safe predictions about Thor: Ragnarok. It's safe to say that the fiery Surtur will be the main baddie of the piece, but he won't be coming alone. There's no way in any of the realms that they will leave the whole "Loki masquerading as Odin" thing unresolved, especially since at least one of them won't survive. Hell, it's even possible that Thor himself won't survive this one. 

Thor 3 will be the fifth entry in Chris Hemsworth's six picture deal. If they kill him off in Ragnarok, that frees him up to return for the feel good ass-kicking of the year in Avengers: Infinity War - Part II. The other possibility is simply that Thor ends up as ruler of the decimated Asgard, with the same result: it keeps him off the Avengers playground for one movie, and then he can come back for a triumphant ass-kicking to say goodbye.

And speaking of "staying off the playground,"Ragnarokwill probably be the Thor entry least beholden to Midgard. It had better be. When you're dealing with a battle so great that it eliminates gods, this might not be the place to focus on Jane Foster and her wise-cracking best pal. Since Natalie Portman's Jane Foster was one of the first characters we met in Thor's world, this should probably be addressed soon. Maybe now is finally Sif's time to shine, along with the rest of the Warriors Three. 

While the Marvel Studios movies aren't generally known for particularly overbearing directorial vision, Thor 3 might be the film that would benefit the most from a strong director. Perhaps Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro could find room in their schedules for...ahem...sorry. I was daydreaming. Jackson in particular has expressed some disdain for superhero movies, and Guillermo del Toro has his hands full with his own projects. But Thor: Ragnarok would be the perfect place to bring in a director with some "epic" experience.

I'm also going to leave this one, final, teeny-tiny possibility on the table for you all. Following the events of Thor: Ragnarok (or Avengers Disassembled: Thor depending on who you ask), Michael Avon Oeming penned another Thor-related story - Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill. Now, I'm not saying that Thor 4 is going to be a Beta Ray Bill movie...but damn it, maybe it should be. If nothing else, Beta Ray Bill would fit nicely in a future Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but now I'm just getting myself excited. 

Regardless, right now there's one thing we can count on, and that's the fact that Thor: Ragnarok opens on July 28th, 2017. You can also see our full Marvel movie release calendar by clicking here!