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| photo courtesy of denofgeek.com |
Your one-stop Ragnarok shop.
SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS MARVEL MOVIES, OBVIOUSLY
THE BASICS (SKIP IF YOU’VE SEEN A THOR MOVIE)
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| Thor staring pensively. photo courtesy of cinemablend.com |
Just in case you’re a total Marvel
newbie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), known as the God of Thunder, is a member of the
Avengers superhero team. I guess he’s technically an alien, because he’s also the
heir to the throne of Asgard, a super-fancy, Norse-inspired kingdom out there
in space filled with long-living, humanoid people and ruled by Odin Allfather
(Anthony Hopkins). Asgard is one of the nine “realms” (Earth, or Midgard, is
another). It has a cool rainbow bridge called the Bifrost, which can transport
Asgardians anywhere in the universe via beams of light. Heimdall (Idris Elba), who
can see and hear all things, is the Bifrost’s guardian.
Thor has a host of superpowers and a
trusty super-hammer (called Mjolnir, which only the worthy can wield), and his
favorite tricks include flying and calling down lightning on his enemies. He
has a girlfriend named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a human astrophysicist who
lives on earth, and she’s part of the reason Thor gave up his claim to the
throne of Asgard to help protect Earth and the other eight realms on the front
lines.
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| Loki staring menacingly. photo courtesy of fanpop.com |
Thor’s archfrenemy is his adopted
brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), known as the God of Mischief. Raised by Odin
but secretly the heir to the throne of Jotunheim (where frost giants live,
obviously), Loki didn’t really take to his older brother. As in, he’s tried to
kill him more than once. His allegiance shifts depending on what serves him at
the moment, but Loki’s usually up to something sinister; he was the primary
villain in both Thor and The Avengers.
WHERE WE LEFT THEM
While Iron Man and Captain America were
duking it out in Captain America: Civil
War, what has everyone else been up to?
HULK
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| Hulk staring pensively. photo courtesy of screenrant.com |
Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) last
appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Hulk, for the uninitiated, is a guy who turns into a giant, green,
nigh-invincible rage monster every so often thanks to some botched radiation
experiments. Because reasons.
In Age
of Ultron, Hulk was in a relationship with fellow Avenger Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson), and with her help he was on his way to having relative
control over his alter ego. He was, however, starting to feel less at home with
the Avengers—mostly guilty about the destruction he causes in rage mode—and the
events of that film only made him feel worse about the whole situation. So for
all his friends’ sakes, he decided to remove himself from the equation by flying
mysteriously away in a jet at the end of Ultron.
We’ll find out where he got off to when he teams up with his buddy Thor in Ragnarok.
LOKI
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| Loki on the throne of Asgard. photo courtesy of geek.com |
When the dust settled after the events
of Thor: The Dark World, things were
not well in Asgard. Unbeknownst to Thor, Loki had survived the conflict with
Malekith by using his powers of illusion to fake his own death. Apparently,
Loki made his way back to Asgard undetected and overthrew Odin. What’s more, he
started ruling Asgard disguised as Odin—using those same powers of illusion—so
nobody (Thor included) had any idea that a switch had been made. What a
trickster, this guy. Meanwhile, Odin is M.I.A.
THOR
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| Thor has a bad nightmare. photo courtesy of marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com |
We last really saw Thor in Avengers:
Age of Ultron. After the Avengers dealt with that whole Ultron thing, Thor
left Earth behind to do some investigating. His motivations for leaving really
boil down to two things: 1) a vision of his homies back in Asgard warning him
that they’re in danger, and 2) the reveal of another Infinity Stone being
actively used on Earth.
Infinity Stones, by the way, are ancient
stones/ingots/gems that are so powerful that they’re dangerous in the wrong
hands. There’s a decent chance the final Stone, the Soul Stone, will make its
first appearance in Ragnarok before
all six find their way into Thanos’ hands in next year’s Avengers: Infinity War.
But for our purposes here, what matters
is that the Stones’ emergence made Thor suspicious. Without much of a lead, then,
Thor left Earth in a hurry to investigate the situation. And that’s the last we
see of him… except for one brief jaunt back to Earth at the end of Doctor Strange.
DOCTOR STRANGE
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| Doctor Strange staring pensively. photo courtesy of nerdist.com |
Doctor Strange shouldn’t be a huge part
of Ragnarok, but he will make an
appearance. Stephen Strange is one of the newer Marvel superheroes, and he’s the
first to use outright magic to accomplish his heroics. He makes it his personal
prerogative to protect Earth from big-time threats, like, say, Loki.
In the Strange post-credits scene, Thor paid a visit to Strange’s Sanctum
Sanctorum to enlist Strange’s help in locating his father Odin—with Loki in
tow. This means that Thor seems to have stumbled upon Loki’s deception in the
course of his search and is now trying to undo Loki’s mess. Ragnarok should help us fill in the gaps
concerning how all that played out.
ASGARDIANS
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| Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. photo courtesy of moviepilot.com |
Odin’s M.I.A, as mentioned above.
Thor’s mother, Frigga—for whom Loki
had some significant affection—died in The
Dark World. Heimdall was last
seen at his post guarding the Bifrost, excepting his appearance in Thor’s
ominous Age of Ultron vision. Lady Sif and The Warriors Three
(Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg if anyone’s keeping score) serve as backup for
Thor, and they’re presumably out there doing their thing after The Dark World. Lady Sif will not be
appearing in Ragnarok, but everybody
else who’s still alive will be around.
JANE FOSTER AND CO.
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| Erik Selvig, Ian, and Darcy. photo courtesy of fanpop.com |
Last we heard, Jane’s busy being a smart person, thanks in large part to her work
on the Convergence event that happened in The
Dark World. Erik Selvig, another
scientist and friend of Thor’s, got a job at the Avengers facility in upstate
New York at the end of Age of Ultron.
Jane’s assistant, Darcy, and intern,
Ian, were last seen in The Dark World goofing around and awkwardly
falling in love. Hope you aren’t too attached to these characters though,
because they probably won’t be in Ragnarok
(unless Marvel is being intentionally deceptive in press junkets).
FRESH FACES
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| Cate Blanchett as Hela. photo courtesy of cinemablend.com |
Hela, the Goddess of Death, is Ragnarok’s primary villain played by
Cate Blanchett. In the comics, she traditionally rules over Hel, where most of
the spirits of the dead reside, and her thing is trying to collect more souls. She’ll
be receiving back-up from fellow baddie, Skurge
(Karl Urban). Surtur, a powerful fire-demon-thing
and one of Thor’s archenemies in the comics, will also appear. Jeff Goldblum
plays the Grandmaster, a
super-ancient being who spends his time pitting people against each other in
gladiatorial-style battles, which you might have seen in the movie’s trailers.
Playing for the good guys is Valkyrie
(Tessa Thompson), a powerful warrior whose path will cross with Thor’s.
ONE MORE THING
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| Thor v. Surtur. photo courtesy of dreager1.com |
Oh, and what, pray tell, is Ragnarok? It’s the Norse apocalypse,
which sees most of the Norse deities, including Thor, Loki, and Odin, die.
Which, you know, doesn’t bode well. In the comics, it’s also the name of a Thor
doppelganger that shows up and wreaks some havoc. The movie’s title seems to be
referring to the former usage, but I guess we can’t rule out the latter making
an appearance, too. Either way, expect plenty of drama.
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