10 Things To Expect From Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3

6. Thor: Ragnarok (July 28, 2017)

While Thor's standalone features have been solid-if-unspectacular, the God of Thunder's first two movies still earned over a billion dollars at the box office. Despite the charisma and chemistry of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, both movies share similar problems (weak villains, Natalie Portman's underwritten love interest and Kat Denning's irritating comic relief) with the undoubted cinematic potential of the Nine Realms still yet to be suitably realized. All of this looks set to change in the character's third solo outing which bears the ominous subtitle of Ragnarok, described by Kevin Feige in this context as meaning 'the end of all things' and already labeled as the key movie of Phase 3, promising to 'take Thor to another level of his own franchise'. In the comics, Ragnarok was a cyborg clone of Thor by Tony Stark created from one of the Odinson's hairs, but it doesn't seem likely that the movie will follow a similar path, even if the character did first appear in the Civil War storyline. According to Kevin Feige, Thor: Ragnarok will pick up directly after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and will 'impact everything to come afterwards. What we'll do between now and the release date is educate the world on what that word Ragnarok means.' The title of the movie seems to be taking its cue directly from Norse mythology, which is essentially Armageddon on Asgard. With Loki sitting on the throne of Asgard as the credits rolled on The Dark World, it seems that Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief will be intent on causing yet more havoc for his brother in his attempts to keep the peace across the Nine Realms. With Asgard already established as a hiding place for the Infinity Gems, not to mention Loki's previous association with The Other during The Avengers, it seems increasingly likely that Thanos himself could be the one to lay waste to the realm. With a title as foreboding as Ragnarok, and its position as the penultimate standalone movie before Infinity War Part I, it seems that Thor's third movie could provide the real catalyst to Phase 3's epic conclusion.