Hank McCoy (Before the Fur)

I can’t imagine why Thor: The Dark World won’t be a good movie. I mean, why WOULDN’T it be a good movie? They somehow managed to make Thor work. I’m still kind of surprised that it has worked as well as it has. I mean, he's kind of the oddball of the Marvel Universe. He's so damn powerful and he’s from this other world that seems wildly disconnected from the backgrounds of the other characters, but they got it on film and it didn’t feel too cheesy or too way out there. It felt fun and funny and pretty awesome at times.

I will not mind one bit if they take the fact that Thor has had his cameos with Cap and Iron Man as license to go really, really nuts with the Thor universe. They have my permission to just let loose and totally immerse us into the strange and Dungeons and Dragons-like world of Thor. There can be dark elves, ice giants, fire demons, all that jazz.

And that’s kind of what I’m expecting. For them to go really crazy with it in this next film.

I’m a big fan of Walt Simonson’s run on Thor in the 80’s. I’ve already raved about Simonson and compared him to Chris Claremont at times. One thing I think Simonson did well was really round out the cast of Thor. I mean, in this first film, Sif and the Warriors Three seemed sort of content to be Thor’s tagalong companions and don’t come across as very distinct. Their role in the comics is much, much different.

Sif and Thor’s romance, for example, is an important part of the story and Sif herself seems to stand out as a heroine perhaps on equal par with Thor. Volstagg might seem like comic relief and seems cowardly at times, but is actually a pretty savvy warrior and seasoned adventurer. And if Kurse gets in here, I’ll be psyched. You can expect to see Thor go toe to toe with a giant, mystic, metal monstrosity. That's one thing that’s cool about a Thor film- the Norse God of Thunder will have to have staggeringly powerful opponents to face in order to maximize the drama.

Of course, I think it would be cool if the Enchantress and the Executioner got in here, as they are Loki’s sometime allies. In fact, I’m sort of surprised that they aren’t slated to be in it. Maybe the film makers will surprise us. As for the ‘darkness’ Thor is facing…it would seem to me that Surtur, a big bad fire demon that features prominently in Simonson’s run might be the big bad Thor is facing along with Malekith the Accursed, a particularly nasty dark elf.

I am tantalized by the idea that Ego the Living Planet might make an appearance here. This is probably just a fantasy I cooked up, but I’m fairly certain Ego first made his appearance in a Thor story. This would be a totally cool, out-of-nowhere plot twist that would make fanboys freak out. It’s a relatively under-recognzied piece of the Marvel Universe that is just whacked out and weird enough to make it cool. What if THAT is the ‘darkness’ that Odin is talking about in the trailer? Again, this is unlikely, but could Ego be the Thor: The Dark World?