Hank McCoy (Before the Fur)

I’ll be interested to see a third Thor film. I mean, I think the Thor: The Dark World was a really excellent follow-up to what we’d already seen. Of course the focus was still mostly on Thor and Loki, but in this different way than what had come before. And we got a little more screen time for Asgard and some of the population of the Nine Realms. I never cease to be amazed at just how well Marvel has done bringing these characters to life. If you had asked me fifteen years ago, would they ever even make a Thor movie my answer would have been "Unlikely...how weird would that look on film, right?"

But they’ve done it. And they’ve done it well. I joked that to some extent Thor: The Dark World is the best Masters of the Universe film I’ve ever seen, but that’s just me being snarky. Marvel did a great job capitalizing on what makes this comic tick by embracing the sort of Shakespearean drama between the characters and the elaborate weirdness of the world Thor exists in, which really is kind of a step removed from your standard weirdness in the Marvel Universe.
So where do they go from here? Will Thor make a cameo in Avengers 2? Sure, but I keep on getting the feeling that the line-up for this second movie might focus a little more exclusively on the Avengers’ second team. This is actually on course with what happened in the comics: the original run featured Iron Man, Thor and Hulk stumbling across a frozen Captain America. Shortly afterward, the original team didn’t cut ties to the Avengers exactly, but left Cap in charge with a bunch of new Avengers- Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, eventually the Vision, etc.

I’m wondering how much Iron Man and Thor might only feature to some limited extent in a second film. But if Thor does show up, well, I suspect adjusting to life on Midgard might not be all the god of Thunder expects it to me. I’ve enjoyed the romantic angle of Thor, but I suspect he and Jane’s home life might be complicated and tense. Maybe Thor will have to walk away from Jane to get back involved with some Avengers business near the end of the movie. Thor did seem to have a habit of showing up in the last few panels of an Avengers comic to pull everyone else’s bacon out of the fire. It might take time for him to get in there.

But for a third Thor film? I suppose there is the standard Thor vs Loki plot. I suppose that the way everything is positioned, things will have to movie in that direction. I’m feeling a little worn thin on this, at this point, and that’s part of why I found the Thor and Loki team-up in Thor: The Dark World compelling. I remember the concept of Ragnarok being a very important part of the Thor comics. This idea that sooner or later, Asgard would have an apocalypse of sorts; it was fated an unavoidable. I suspect they may close up with something like this, thus kind of shutting the door on Thor and his world for now. It’s an easy way to wrap up a trilogy.

But I’d still like to see more from Walt Simonson’s work with Thor. I remember Hela was a very scary sometimes evil/ sometimes benevolent figure in that comic. Hela’s realm seemed terrifying, too. Zombified warriors strode forward at her command, slowly overwhelming and overpowering everything in their path. Could any of the Asgardians escape this fate? Hela was, ultimately, the Asgardian personification of death. But unlike the passive Death that appears in the mainstay Marvel Universe, Hela seemed to feel that her rulership over the dead made her a legitimate contender for ruler of the entire Nine Realms. Even Odin might, eventually, have to ‘kneel to Hela. Death is inevitable, even to the Asgardians.

I feel like Sif has been a bit underplayed although she got a little more camera time in the second outing. I’m sort of surprised the Enchantress hasn't been put into play. This has always seemed to me to be one of the most classic, memorable Thor villains. It’s a real James Bond girl kind of deal with the Enchantress: she’s bad and all she wants is to seduce Thor and rule all of Asgard. But maybe somewhere in there she really has come to love Thor? Right and wrong are very blurry when Amora is involved, but I always found the Thor/Amora romance interesting. Obviously this would require a good cast, I think. And I’d love to see Amora’s infatuated companion the Executioner cast as well.

So there’s more that they COULD do with Thor. The question is: what, if any, of what I’m talking about WILL they do?