MARVEL RUMORS: Thor and The Road to Ragnarok

Hey, everyone!

Welcome to the first blog post for Marvel Rumors on STEEMIT. I am Gengar and I will be writing ahead on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) rumors, speculation and facts of all the awesome Marvel Films we have been so graciously praised with since the first Iron Man film of 2008. These blog posts will run more like a tabloid for the MCU as it is mainly based on the rumors going around about what's going to happen next within the MCU and the many possibilities that can potentially lie ahead.

With the next entry in the MCU being "Thor: Ragnarok", I thought it would be a great start to see how the title character reached this story arc; in which he faces his fellow friend/Avenger team member, Hulk, on the planet of Sakaar (Be sure to check out the first trailer).

Last we saw Thor, was during the events in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". From the start of the film, Thor was an active member of the Avengers team. We see him fighting off the super advanced HYDRA soldiers during the teams mission to capture Loki's scepter from the hands of Baron Von Struker, a high ranking HYDRA member, out to use the Chitauri technology left behind on earth during the battle of New York in the first Avengers installment of 2012.

During these events, Thor and team come across two enhanced humans, twins, by the names Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively). Through the course of the film, the twins seek revenge for the death of their parents by a missile attack, bombing their home and village. The missile fortunately didn't set off, but crushed their home and parents with it. The 'Stark Industries' logo remained on the missile, and that set the path for the Maximoff twins to seek revenge.

Meanwhile, the Avengers team are celebrating their victory of retrieving Loki's scepter with a party at the Stark Tower. During a previously failed experiment of A.I. security, created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, the experiment takes on a life of it's own by attacking J.A.R.V.I.S (Tony Stark's sassy but helpful A.I. assistant) and breaching the entire security of Stark Industries, and very soon after, the entire world, all through the internet. This creation is known as, Ultron.

Through the film, Ultron seeks out many upgrades for himself through the trade of Vibranium. This special precious metal is very rare and very expensive, with the help of the revenge seeking twins, Ultron gets exactly what he needs from a shady Vibranium dealer, Ulysses Klaue. There is just one thing missing..... the mysterious powerful stone that lies inside the scepter of Loki. The stone inside the scepter is the Infinity Stone knowns as the Mind Stone.

Ultron retrieves the Mind Stone, and through his crazy worldwide internet connection, he finds and holds captive, scientist Helen Cho. Dr. Cho is working on a completely synthetic material that can create a lifelike humanoid android, and Ultron sees that as a new upgrade to his final body. He uses Dr. Cho and he places the Mind Stone into this new stronger/synthetic body and gets ready to transfer himself over. But, through another Avengers team infiltration, they succeed in retrieving the body and keep it at Stark Tower.

*Now, I know I've been stuck in 'Age of Ultron' a bit, but it's necessary to get into Thor... stay with me.

Wanda Maximoff uses her mind power to see into the synthetic body and only has a vision of destruction. A heated debate ensues and the entire team starts fighting over what is right. Destroy the synthetic lifeform, or let it live and have the possibility to be helpful to the team? Thor disagrees and uses the power of lightning against the synthetic body within his hammer, Mjolnir.

Instead of destroying the body, the lightning attack gives a jump of life to to the synthetic body, and through what was left of the J.A.R.V.I.S program, the latter fused with the body creating humanoid and future Avengers member, Vision. After the team figure out Vision is harmless, and is worthy of holding Thor's hammer, Thor and Vision have a talk on how to defeat Ultron. The Avengers do succeed in Ultron's defeat, but Thor still feels something strange going on.

Thor has noticed there has been an influx of run-ins with the all powerful Infinity Stones, and it doesn't sit with him well. The Tesseract (Captain America/Avengers), The Ether (Thor: The Dark World), and now the Mind Stone from Loki's scepter. Thor feels someone is trying to get all of these stones together, because it's too strange that 3 of the 6 stones have made an appearance on earth and have had a direct connection to global conflict.

Thor seeks more information, and parts with the Avengers team to begin his quest. The God of Thunder reaches out to his old norse mythology buddy, Eric Selvig. Selvig and Thor head to the Norn Cave to seek answers through a mythological vision brought upon by the cave (Probably one of the most confusion scenes in the film). Thor's vision shows his home realm, Asgard, in peril and ruin, with Heimdall spouting off dangers ahead.

This is the last time we actually see Thor.... Kinda.

The next time we see Thor, is in a short film with a humorous take on Thor living on earth and with a roommate. There is actually two different short films with this subject matter, but it has recently been said that these short films are not canon to the storyline of the MCU, but it is used at an attempt to portray Thor as a more comedic superhero.

The NEXT time we see Thor is in a post-credit scene, during the end of "Doctor Strange" (2016). In this scene, Thor is sitting with Dr. Stephen Strange and discussing seeking help to find Odin, Thor's father. Odin went missing at the end of "Thor: The Dark World", with Loki using his powers to appear as Odin as he took over the throne of Asgard. Many speculated we will see the Sorcerer Supreme fight along the side of Thor within the upcoming 'Ragnarok' film. As it is, leaks and international trailers for the film have already confirmed this.

But, questions remain. Apparently, it has been two years since the events in 'Age of Ultron' when we lead into 'Ragnarok' according to the films director, Taika Waititi. In the latest Thor trailer, we see Thor already on Sakaar fighting it out against AND along side Hulk but, how did Hulk get there too?

Where has this quest, to find whom is behind the Infinity Stones collection, lead Thor over the past two years? Why didn't he go back to Asgard first, after seeing such a terrible vision of his home realm?

Rumors are also speculating that The Grand Master (Jeff Goldblum) is working with Thanos to gather these stones as well, but will we even see any of the stones in Ragnarok? That link has still not been confirmed. The Grand Master might only be in this film, but in the comics he is considered one of the Elders of the Universe. The other Elders also includes The Collector (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Ego (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2). Will the Elders of the Universe have a play in this, or has Marvel simply used them as single plot characters? That remains to be seen, but I believe the latter.

And finally, where is the next Thor film going lead us to? Rumors going around state that the MCU is going to introduce members of Thanos' Black Order into the films before the release of "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018). There has already been rumors going around that the Black Order member, Ebony Maw, will be in next years "Black Panther". Is the African Wakandan nation withholding the next powerful stone?

Let's speculate that rumor in a future post about the upcoming events in 2018's "Black Panther".

Until then, thank you for reading! Please comment below and let me know what you think is going to happen next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! I'll happily take any questions, or input you may have on these subjects, and I hope you continue to read up on some MARVEL RUMORS!

-Gengar