Avengers: Infinity War
Major spoilers forThor : Ragnarok .
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Thor : Ragnarokmay be the end of the Thor trilogy , but it ’s also one of the final motion-picture show before the mega - franchise MCU turn over its epic culmination withAvengers : Infinity War- and you may depend Taika Waititi ’s film sets that up with a few carefully placed clues .
For the most part , Ragnarokis focused on being its own affair : an all - out comedy in line with director Waititi ’s previous efforts ( What We Do In The ShadowsandHunt for the Wilderpeopleare indispensable pre - catch ) as much as it is the story of Asgard ’s death ( although it is that too ) . But just because it feel like a focussed experience - a individual installment of a Saturday sunup sketch - does n’t mean there ’s nothing playing into the big time of year arc .
Ragnarok ’s litter with spacious MCU references , with legion callbacks toThe Avengersbut also some directly linking into Thor ’s future and specifically the next outing for Earth ’s Mightiest Heroes .
Asgard is Gone - And Earth is Open To Attack
The big case at the end ofThor 3is Ragnarok itself - Asgard ’s end . This was always to be expected - the film is literally named after the Norse Revelation of Saint John the Divine - although its manner was somewhat surprising ; it was n’t the issue of villain Hela , who really only wanted to rule , but a last act of desperation from the God of Thunder himself to protect his people . Loki unleashed fire demon Surtur from his timeless imprisonment in his headpiece by way of the Eternal Flame ( first see inThor ) and he predictably get raising Asgard to the ground - taking Thor ’s sister , the Goddess of Death , with him .
Of course , as Thor learn on his " journeying of self - discovery " , Asgard was really its citizenry , not the piazza ( that was an essential part of him becoming Odin , something sure to play into his emplacement inInfinity War ) . However , while that ’s thematically inviolable , it ignores one major part of Asgard , the spot : it serve as protection for Midgard . Odin was always verify to protect the Nine Realms ; now he ’s dead and the realm is destroy , Earth is assailable to lash out from anybody - includingInfinity Warbig bad Thanos .
This is n’t the first time we ’ve seen an ancient protective decree destroy by our heroes that inadvertently countersink us on the route to the Mad Titan ’s arrival . InGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 , the squad kill Star - Lord ’s father Ego , a live planet and the last known Celestial ( it was rumoredJeff Goldblum ’s The Grandmaster was also a extremity of this ancient metal money , but nothing inRagnarokcorroborates that ) . It was n’t stated explicitly , but Ego ’s existence - while ego - involved - was involve to provide some lodge in the galaxy . Between his and Odin ’s demise , Thanos has no major cosmic obstacle to aggress any of the emplacement holding Infinity Stones .
We ’ll come back to this right asThor 3does a flock of sly setup for those six gems , but first there ’s an angry time - bomb to deal with .
Hulk’s Romance and Bruce Banner’s Possible Death
Bruce Banner ’s had quite the complicated relationship history in the MCU . InThe Incredible Hulk(when the scientist looked like Edward Norton ) he was in an alienated relationship with Betty Ross , but byThe Avengersand an actor change to Mark Ruffalo she was move . InAge of Ultron , he was in an even more pregnant , provisional situation with Black Widow , one that ended tragically when Hulk reject to settle down and vaporize off into the great stranger ( which we now know wasa portal to Sakaar ) .
While it ’s not at the forefront ofRagnarok , something of a love triangle was introduce from this . A recording of Widow ’s last subject matter to Hulk is what snap the Green Goliath out of his two - yr stint subjugate Banner , after which the scientist enters into a repeated , simmering flirtation with Valykrie , with both bring together over a faint credit of her friendship with Hulk . This is n’t resolve , but with both Natasha and Valykrie set to return inInfinity Waralongside Banner , it ’s indisputable to come back up .
That ’s not the only dangling motion regarding Hulk . Banner ’s biggest awe inRagnarokis turning back into his wild alter - ego lest , this time , he never escapes . He eventually puts that away when it ’s empty the only way he can help economise Asgard is to transform ( lead to the film ’s funniest moment as he completely messes up a superhero landing but ultimately makes the twist ) . The film ends with Hulk a in full - formed , cognitive brute , but that surely ca n’t last ; there ’s dandy fight between this Jekyll and Hyde to come .
We jazz that both of these threads are run to be important inAvengers 3and4care of Kevin Feige and Ruffalo themselves ; in lieu of making a straight - up Hulk movie ( something tricky due to right issues ) , they ’re planning totell what a solo outing for Banner would be overRagnarokand the two - partInfinitystory . So , whileThor 3has its own mini - arc , the bigger picture is in table service of set up where he ’ll be going in next movie . And , as Ruffalo still has one more moving-picture show on his declaration , it wo n’t end there either .
The Infinity Gauntlet and Stones
Of course , when it comes toInfinity Warsetup , it ’s really about the Infinity Stones . Thanos ' main goal is to bring together these six ingots form at the institution of the cosmos and put them together in the Infinity Gauntlet so he can wield near - outright power and rule all - realism . And whileRagnarokgoes against expectations anddoesn’t bring out the final Stone , it does have some pretty boastful reveals in this regard .
Perhaps most satisfyingly , it explain away a pretty massive plot hole that has its ancestor in the originalThor . That 2011 publish showedthe Infinity Gauntlet in Odin ’s vault , but thenthe mid - credits scene forAge of Ultronhad Thanos get his mitts on the glove in an entirely different location . Feige clarified at the time that in - cosmos there were two gauntlets and most chalked it up toThorreleasing priorThe Avengersand thus before the actual Infinity storyline was map out . However , Ragnarokcuts through that and reveals Odin ’s copy was a phoney ; as Hela goes through the bank vault , she call most of his novelty dust , include the Gauntlet . This sly retcon pass up any confusion going intoAvengers 3 ; Thanos has the real gantlet .
Not everything in the vault is fake , however . It also contains the Tesseract , make there after the upshot ofThe Avengersand the grounds Volstagg and Sif present the Aether to the Collector inThor : The Dark World ’s mid - recognition scene(keeping just two Stones together is dangerous ) . Loki also ends up in the room when render to rise Surtur and spends a practiced few indorsement star at his former plot MacGuffin . The picture cut short , but there ’s a definite possibleness that he train it , mould doubt on his honest loyalty to Thor . Indeed , in theSan Diego Comic - Con trailer forInfinity War(not uncommitted online ) , Loki was shown handing the Tesseract to Thanos , suggesting he does have it and wo n’t be a Revenger for long . On the note of Loki , he also express care for returning to Earth , highlighting a potential complicatedness when the other Avengers are impart into the admixture .
As for the still - missing net stone , that ’s not referenced . Although what ’s made clear is that Thor wo n’t be all that helpful to the Avengers when it come to gem knowledge ; while he was find out hasten off at the closing ofAge of Ultronto track downthe subject field of his pool dream , in the opening he expose he did n’t learn anything more about any of the Stones in the two years he spent search .
The Black Order Is Here
The biggest connection toInfinity Warcomes , slightly expectedly , in one ofthe post - credits scenes . Thor and Loki stand on the new Asgard ballistic capsule and talk about their future , only for a monolithic ship that dwarfs their colony to appear in space behind them . There ’s no explanation of what this new vessel is nor is there any obvious risible parallel , but this is most likely the introduction ofthe Black Order , the tyke of Thanos who inAvengers 3are on a missionary station to arrogate the various Stones . The ship look of a similar construction - albeit different conception - to Thanos ' in the SDCC trailer , induce that a safe shot .
It ’s further unclear why Asgard has become the target . It could be due to Loki have the Space Stone on the ship or Thor ’s late ascension to King , although it may just be that the fresh Odin is really unlucky . Whatever the case , we do in reality have an indication of how this will end - and it ’s not good . The SDCCInfinity Wartrailer opened with Thor flying through wreckage before smacking into the windshield of the Milano and coming face - to - face with the Guardians of the Galaxy ; presumptively , that ’s the aftermath of whatever goes down .
Thor : Ragnarokmay do its own thing , but it ’s absolutely full of establishment for the MCU ’s time to come . As rum as Asgard ’s destruction ironically was , it ’s clear thing are only going to get intense inAvengers : Infinity War .
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