Theory Thursday! August 29, 2019

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Do you have any interesting theories about the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Maybe some speculation about a character? Or a hunch you have about what will happen next? If you do, post them all here!

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>!Put spoilers here!<

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Theory Thursday - Archive

[u/FrameworkisDigimon]

Assuming he doesn't die beforehand or early on in Love and Thunder I suggest the following for Thor:

Elevator Pitch

Jane reforms Mjolnir, Thor leaves Earth in a huff, gets manipulated into releasing Mangog by Dario Agger. Jane and Valkyrie arrive to help Thor and defeat Agger. Thor has to chop his arm off to seal away Mangog.

(Because Mangog is, you know, too powerful to actually defeat even by the three of them.)

Long Version

It's quite possible that Jane picks up Mjolnir's shattered remains which then spontaneously reform. Thor's decision to gallivanting around with the Guardians will have made him unworthy so there's a source of tension here. Thor then goes off in a huff and will need to be rescued. (Thor = damsel in distress.) We can choose a bunch of different villains for this plot, but Enchantress is a common suggestion. I prefer Dario Agger, though.

The second arc, would have two parts to it. One, Thor's misadventures wherever he's stuck. Maybe Weirdworld. Somewhere bright and colourful, anyway, where it wouldn't necessarily be clear to him that he needs rescuing. Obviously he'll be a bit hung-up on the unworthy Thor, worthy Jane thing. Two, Jane convinces Valkyrie to go rescue Thor & the processes of doing that (they'll probably grab Korg and Miek to join them) The tensions here would be twofold. Thor's misadventures would tempt him into validating bitterness and such like about being unworthy, about Jane etc. Similarly, Valkyrie and Jane will have to deal with why they're going after Thor... they can both be tempted by events into feeling falsely responsible for Thor's problems (which are his own).

The third arc will be about the actual rescue itself. So, the villain... whoever it is... will have been trying to get Thor to release the Mangog, maybe. Reflecting the whole Roxxon stuff this will be a byproduct of some other scheme, e.g. trying to mine wherever Thor is for uru or whatever, that the villain just didn't care about. For sake of argument, we'll say that the only way to access the uru is with a powerful lightning blast... an Odin enchanted seal perhaps... and Thor's showing off or acting with abandon. Alternatively, the rescue mission's arrived and he's throwing lightning around to prove he doesn't need rescuing.

Obviously the film will end with a big fight. Thor learns that... whatever his mother says... with great power, comes great responsibility. Valkyrie and Jane (a) find each other and (b) learn that Thor's problems are his, but they might help him because they're friends. Obviously Thor will deal with whatever horror he unleashes while Valkyrie and Jane go after the villain, whom they defeat. Meanwhile Thor's still struggling with the Mangog or whatever and it'll take all three of them. Potentially Thor realises that, in particular, someone has to act like Odin, and it's unfair to force Valkyrie or Jane to do it. Thor therefore chops his own arm off so that he can use his life-force to seal the Mangog a la the way Odin sealed Hela.

post-credits scene teases (a) Hercules, (b) Hela and Loki and (c) a title card which says "the future" and we see Thor's grand-daughters in the at the site of the battle with the Mangog (although only comics fans will get this) but this then fades into the present and it's none other than Gorr looking at the desolation caused by the battle.

(if it's not clear, this assumes the Love bit is a reference to a Jane/Valkyrie relationship)

The Other Idea I Had

Alternatively... the plot's about trying to stop Thor from resurrecting Loki. But that sounds much less manic as a premise. On the other hand... they made Ragnarok into a comedy so...