Thor: Ragnarok (Doubtfully optimistic) (Super long boring post) (Comics Lore)

Warning: Spoilers

So I've watched the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok, and I'm pretty hype about the movie, but kind of on my guard. The Thor movies haven't been the strongest of the Marvel Universe, as they tend to focus on Loki a lot, even when he's not the main villain. (Loki is important to Earth-199999, but he had much more screen time that he didn't need over the actual villain in Thor: The Dark World).

I'm not a huge Thor reader, so I won't be making a whole lot of points in this about Thor or Thor comics. (I have read a good portion of Vol. 3 though.) I have, however, read Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. (It's been years, so I might be a little rusty with the timeline.) These two story lines got me back into comics after a long time away from them. (I am also going to be talking about just how much there is in this.)

I personally think there just might be a little bit too much crammed into this movie. To be honest, I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but it certainly seems that way because of the trailer.

The first thing I want to talk about is Ragnarok, because Ragnarok is a big deal about Asgard, and is a big deal for the universe. Ragnarok is an extinction level event that occurs, but only after one specific thing happens. Balders' death.

(Balder the Brave)

Some time after Thor was banished, Odin left Asgard, and because Thor was still banished, Balder became the Ruler of Asgard until Odin returned. Instead, he died, and that death is what triggered Ragnarok.

But, Balder doesn't exist in the universe of Earth-199999. Of course there's going to be differences between comics and movies and what-not, but Balder isn't just any old Asgardian that you can just forget about, because he's a true-blooded son of Odin, and when Thor was exiled from Asgard a second time, he became the true King of Asgard in place of Odin and Thor.

I just sort of wanted to bring that up, because Balders' a good character.

The second thing (Character) I want to talk about is Hela. Hela is the Goddess of Death to the Asgardians, and looks absolutely badass in the trailer. But, because of how close Avengers: Infinity War is to Thor: Ragnarok, I believe that they may have rolled her up with Mistress Death herself.

(Mistress Death)                                     (Hela)

  

I make this assumption based on the fact that Avengers: Infinity War will have the Avengers going toe-to-toe with Thanos, and Thanos is famously infatuated with Mistress Death, and his whole reason (If I remember correctly) for getting the Infinity Gems was to kill as many people as possible to impress and woe her. Hela also being a Goddess of Death and her role in Ragnarok would be logical for them to make the jump to her also being Mistress Death.

In the comics Hela does ally herself with Thanos, and is able to grant him the only wish he's ever wanted.

(But before I say what, I also want to point out the differences in both Mistress Death and Hela. Mistress Death is a Cosmic Entity, as old as life itself and the only truly unkillable being in all of Marvel. Hela is the alleged daughter of Loki, or she was created by Loki, and then granted dominion over death, Hel, and Niflheim by Odin.)

She, at some point, was weakened and thrown out of Hel and Niflheim, at which point she allied herself with Thanos. That thing that was the only wish that Thanos wanted?

She granted him death, because at some point in the comics he was cursed with immortality, which prevented him from being with Mistress Death, his one true love. (And as you can see, she did this by making out with him.)

Now to switch over to Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, and why WWH is never going to happen. The reason that Planet Hulk and World War Hulk happened in the comics was because the Illuminati decided that the Hulk was too much of a danger to Earth, and sent him off to space.

A brief history of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk: Hulk shot into space. Hulk made into arena slave. Hulk kill Red King. Hulk make baby with Caiera the Oldstrong. Hulks' ship blow up and kill entire Planet that kills Caiera (And presumably baby). Hulk throws himself at Earth to kill everyone (Especially the Illuminati).

Do you see now why World War Hulk will never happen? It's because in the universe of Earth-199999, Hulk freely leaves the planet (Presumably). When his ship explodes and destroys Sakaar, he put blame on the Illuminati, but now that that isn't what's happening, there would be no motivation for him to return to Earth (Attempt) to kill everyone.

And if they were going to make a Hulk movie, they would've made one out of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, but Planet Hulk is being smooshed into Thor: Ragnarok and World War Hulk is just something that's not going to happen in the Earth-199999 universe.

(A little side note: on first (and second) watch of the Ragnarok trailer, I sort of assumed that Valkyrie was Caiera, but obviously that's not the case. She does seem to take the role that Caiera had in Planet Hulk, being the bodyguard of the Red King, who seems to have had his roll filled by the Grandmaster in the movie.) Ragnarok Valkyrie does bear more resemblance to Caiera than she does to Valkyrie:

Valkyrie (Comics)

Valkyrie (Movie)

Caiera (Comics)

Her style of hair (How it's cut and then put into a ponytail) and the markings are all very similar to Caiera, of which Valkyrie doesn't share, having no markings and her hair loosely put into twin braids. Valkyrie from the movie also has armor that is similar to neither of them, it being full leather with an asymmetrical cut while Valkyrie has something similar to the style of Thor and Caiera usually dons a full metal ensemble.

Moving away from that though, there's also the fight between Thor and Hulk, which is very likely to end in a draw or something like that. The fight (Which Hulk has had two times before, once against the Silver Surfer in the comics and once against Beta Ray Bill [AKA Horse-Thor in our house]) usually ended with the Hulk winning, but this is a Thor movie, and a movie that also leads into Avengers: Infinity War, which they're both a part of. 

And something that I'm just bringing up to bring up, is the fact that in the Planet Hulk movie, Star Lord and Gamora both make cameo appearances in the audience.

Now (Above) doesn't really have any relevance to Thor: Ragnarok, but the overall tone of the trailer really just screams 'Guardians of the Galaxy' to me. Even if it's a mid or end credits scene, I really do think they'll make an appearance. But it's really weird to see Thor get a Guardians treatment with his trailer. Late sixties/early seventies song? Check. Beat up space ships? Check. Pretty glowing space stuff? Check. Colorful title? Super Check.

(And though I couldn't get a good screenshot of it or that much of a good look at it, it appears that one of the ships in the trailer looks to have Nova Corp markings and the Nova Corp colors [Black, red, and gold], though it isn't the same design as the other Nova Corp ships from the Guardians of the Galaxy. The one I'm talking about is the ship at about the one minute mark in the trailer, after Heimdall.)

Finally getting away from Planet Hulk/Guardians of the Galaxy, and moving to Doctor Strange. We already know he's in the movie, so it's kind of weird that he wasn't in the trailer. I sort of think I know what kind of roll he'll have other than helping Thor find Odin, like it was said in the mid credits scene in Doctor Strange.

Because the Mjolnir was also broken in the comics (It wasn't shattered though, as most of it was whole with an exception of a few pieces) and Doctor Strange is the one who repairs the Mjolnir, but binds it to Thor, so that if the Mjolnir were ever broken again, Thor would die for real. (This was after the Ragnarok cycle was broken, so if he died, he would die forever this time).

(Click for full image)

It is also possible that this could happen in Infinity War, since Doctor Strange will also be in that movie as well. But either way, I don't think the Mjolnir will stay demolished for long.

And finally we'll circle all the way back to my thoughts and feelings on the trailer. I'm hopeful, but I already know it's going to be a great movie. The Marvel movies seem to just keep getting better as time goes on. Obviously there's going to be cut content, no matter what source material gets made into a movie, but my concern is that they're shoving too many things with too much lore into such a small space that it may overwhelm the movie and the final product may seem a little unfocused. That's my thoughts on it anyways.

I'll still probably enjoy it though.

-EDR