5 questions I have after watching Thor: Ragnarok

The next upcoming MCU movie hits cinemas on October 24 (in the UK - the US have to wait until November 3), but the Thor: Ragnarok reviews are in now and boy, are they positive! It looks like Marvel Studios has another hit on its hands and that’s no bad thing. I do have a few questions after watching the movie though… mainly about how it ties into the MCU timeline and the upcoming events of Avengers: Infinity War, but you certainly don’t want to read about them until after you’ve seen Thor 3 because there’s major spoilers wrapped up in those questions (and the answers). So, what I want you to do is save this page and come back to it once you’ve seen the movie. Done that? Is this you coming back to read about what that ending means? Ok, then, let’s go!

1. Where is the Tesseract (AKA, the Space Stone) now?

While Thor: Ragnarok doesn’t have loads ties to the rest of the MCU or the upcoming superhero-fest which is Infinity War, there was one scene which screamed ‘crossover information’ at the top of it’s lungs. When Hela is walking past Odin’s treasures looking for the Eternal Flame she complains that they’re all fake, flicking what looks like the Infinity Gauntlet to the floor. This clears up a long-standing inconsistency in the MCU where it appeared that both Odin and Thanos had the gauntlet - it turns out the one in Asgard is a fake. Interestingly though, Hela had nothing but praise for the Tesseract which was on display nearby leading me to believe that it most certainly isn’t a fake. That means it’s going to be a part of the Infinity War saga which starts next year. But wait, wasn’t Asgard destroyed at the end of the movie along with all the treasures (fake or otherwise) hidden in Odin’s vaults? So, where is the Tesseract now? Floating amongst the debris? No way, didn’t you see Loki giving it the eye when he went to unleash Surtur? He definitely picked it up on his way out. There’s no way he could have resisted it, which means Loki is currently in possession of the Tesseract, on the ship with the rest of Asgard, heading for Earth. Remember that… it’s going to be important.

2. Is Thor really not getting his eye back?

I know the eye patch at the end of the movie felt kind of permanent, but up until that point I was convinced Thor would be magically healed and get his eye back. It’s not often movie studios make big, dramatic changes to the look of their heroes, which need to be maintained across multiple films. And I bet it’s really itchy for Chris Hemsworth too! That said, there’s a nice symmetry between how he looks now and Odin (maybe it's mandatory that every ruler of Asgard only has one eye?) and I can’t wait to see how many one-eyed wisecracks Tony Stark comes up with.

3. Where will Asgard be rebuilt?

Asgard was destroyed by Ragnarok at the end of the movie, but as everyone who’s seen it knows, Asgard isn’t a place, it’s a people. And it’s people escaped the destruction on a ship along with Thor, Loki, the Hulk, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Korg and the rest of his revolutionary buddies. When it came time to choose where the new Asgard would be built, Thor, rather predictably, opted to head for Earth. Well, I guess he is pretty found of us. So, does this mean we’re going to see the birth of a new Asgard on Earth in Thor 4 or maybe even in one of the Infinity War movies? And if so, where on Earth? I’m opting for Norway. Odin did say that “this could be Asgard” when Thor and Loki found him in Norway at the beginning of the film and they are Norse gods after all. It makes sense. How will modern-day Norway feel about these all-powerful refugees turning up on their doorstep though? Pretty good I reckon, Thor is famous on Earth, you know?

4. Whose ship was that at the end?

Update: The script for Thor: Ragnarok was recently release online and confirms that the ship which appears at the end of the movie is indeed Thanos'.

It’s has to be Thanos, right? It HAS to be. Who else would turn up in an MCU post-credits scene, facing down the heroes in what can only be described as a ship SO BIG, it must be compensating for something. Thanos. That’s who. Ok, ok, so I don’t know that for sure, we didn’t see who was piloting it, but I think it’s a safe bet that it’s the big purple guy. He’s probably come to steal the Tesseract out from under Loki which will no doubt be easy given that the Asgardians haven’t even had a chance to recover from their battle with Hela. Could we be seeing the fallout from this scene at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War?

5. Where is that sneaky Soul Stone?

If you were hoping that the last remaining, missing-in-action, Infinity Stone was going to make an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, you were sadly disappointed. I certainly didn’t spot it anywhere (let me know if you did!), which means it’s either really well hidden or Marvel Studios are keeping the Soul Stone under wraps until Black Panther. It’s the only Infinity Stone we haven’t seen in the MCU yet and it makes sense that it will be introduced before Infinity War where it will no doubt be joining its counterparts in Thanos’ gauntlet. Many fans assumed it would be revealed in Thor 3, but it doesn’t look like this is the case, leaving the only other remaining MCU movie to be released before Infinity War - the solo Black Panther movie - the likely candidate for its reveal. I’ll be combing through that movie come February with a fine-tooth comb looking for the orange rock!