The hammer swinging Avenger made his return to Irish shores yesterday, with our American friends getting Thor: The Dark World on the 8th of November (a review can be read here), but with our latest slice of Marvel's Cinematic Universe consumed, we can't help but thinking: what's next for Thor 3? So join this rambling old comic book nerd as I go through some possibilities.
WARRIOR MADNESS
Despite being technology advanced, the Asgardians are, at their heart, a warrior race, and one of the side effects of this is Warrior Madness. An affliction which leaves even the mightiest warrior an unstoppable, destruction happy ball of rage, Thor succumbed to this in the comics, felling some of the strongest of Marvel's cosmic heroes, including The Silver Surfer, and fighting Thanos (who we all know by now from The Avengers end credits sequence) to a standstill. Only by fighting the personification of his madness inside his own mind was Thor able to survive. Now, while Warrior Madness may not be strong enough to carry an entire movie, it would work as a hurdle for our hero to overcome before facing off against a bigger threat. But who would be a worthy opponent for Thor is this maddened state? The Asgardians we have met already would serve better as cannon fodder to show how powerful a rage filled Thor is, and both Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World have proved the Avengers only assemble for their own movie. Odin maybe, but personally I think this would be the perfect time to introduce fan favourite Beta Ray Bill.
Who's Beta Ray Bill? Glad you asked. A member of the alien race known as Korbinites, he was genetically modified to have a vaguely equine face, and has proven to be one of the very few people, outside of Thor, worthy enough to wield the hammer Mjolnir. Proving himself to a great warrior, Bill was granted his own hammer, Stormbreaker, and has being a staunch ally of Thor ever since. Thor: the Dark World does point towards Asgardian's making the trip into space, so introducing Beta Ray Bill wouldn't be that much of stretch, and how awesome would it be to see an uber destructive smackdown between two hammer wielding god-like beings?
THE COMING OF SURTUR
In Norse mythology, Surtr is a frost giant, and plays a major role in Ragnarök, the end of the world. His comic equivalent, Surtur, is a gigantic fire demon, from the realm of Muspelheim, and a recurring foe of our favourite thunder god. Surtur's major beef is actually with Odin, who imprisoned the demon within the Earth for hundreds of years, and has tried time and again to usurp the All-Father and take Asgard for his own, wielding the gigantic magical blade Twilight. One of his major appearances saw him storm Asgard, while an army of his demons invaded earth, ending in the death of both himself and Odin. While an ancient evil returning might be too close to Thor: The Dark World's Malekith and his Dark Elves, Odin and Surtur's enmity would add some new layers in a third movie, and Surtur's slaying of the All-Father (think about it. It's been two movies, it's time to kill Anthony Hopkins) would add some nice emotional weight behind Thor, not only the death of his father, but the realisation that he has no choice but to take his place on the throne of Asgard.
Like his Norse counter-part, Surtur also plays a major role in Ragnarok, in the comic envisioned as a war that will bring about the destruction of Asgard and everyone in it. This would be the perfect upping of the stakes needed for a third movie, Thor literally fighting the end of the world.
ASGARD ON EARTH
In the comics, after the events of Ragnarok, Thor found himself reborn, but with Asgard and his fellow Asgardians no where to be found. Finding his peoples souls trapped in the bodies of normal human beings, Thor set about awaking them, and rebuilding the glory of Asgard, this time on Earth, floating above the town of Broxton, Oklahoma. The Thor movies have being all about other dimensions impacting on our own, so this would fit in perfectly. Quite how Asgard gets to Earth would require some messing around with the storyline, but it would provide the other Asgardians, through their interactions with the inhabitants of Earth, something to do, having being wasted in the first two movies.
FROG THOR
I don't care how this comes about, I just want to see it.
