A few weeks ago we got a hefty dose of info on the third solo outing for Thor with THOR: RAGNAROK with a number of casting announcements and a few sparse details that tease the story. Now, you’ll recall that we broke the casting news of Mark Ruffalo back in October of last year, which has obviously been confirmed since then. The other new additions announced last week are Cate Blanchett as Hela, Karl Urban as Skurge, Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster, and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie (and yes, even Jaimie Alexander has assured us she’ll return as Sif).
Since our initial report of Ruffalo appearing as Hulk in the film we’ve heard rumors of how the story will play out and just how “Planet Hulk” the film will be. Well, here’s what we know: The film will definitely have the Planet Hulk element in it, operating as a kind of mash-up with the Ragnarok story. How Thor ends up on the planet in question is unclear, but he will definitely be involved in some gladiatorial games run by none other than Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. In terms of Hulk’s appearance in this portion of the film, he will be rocking the one-shoulder armor as seen in the comics, so expect him to be decked out in the familiar Planet Hulk look.
And speaking of appearances, expect a major change in the look of The God of Thunder himself for this part of the film as he will be sporting a shaved head (but not completely bald) for at least a portion of the film. Also, expect a very different look for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, who is traditionally a blonde-haired warrior type in the comics. For RAGNAROK she’ll be wearing war paint on her face, much like a Native American warrior, which should be an interesting take on this variation of the character.
In terms of story, there’s still much in the air, but the gist of Thor’s mission in the film is that he needs to find the ultimate weapon to stop Ragnarok and reset the universe. What is that weapon and how does he gets set on that path? Your guess is as good as ours, but the whole thing just sounds like a big ball of awesome already, so we’re on board with whatever direction they go. With the official cast details released last week and now more on the look and feel of the film, THOR: RAGNAROK is sounding more and more like a solid event film more so than another solo outing. Sound familiar? I’m pretty sure the solo Marvel films will only remain as such for the first outing with each new sequel being more of an ensemble piece going forward. Expect to see that across the board and we’ve already seen it trickling into the comic book films of DC and Fox’s X-Men films. It’s the new shit, so settle in.
Now, on top of the Thor scoopage, we also have some tidbits on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, although these are more confirmations than brand new scoopage, so adjust your expectations accordingly.
Director James Gunn is hip deep in production on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 and thus far we don’t know too much about what he has in store for the next iteration of Marvel’s space-set franchise. But, just to get caught up before I put out this latest bit of info, here’s what we know so far.
Now, outside of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, and Vin Diesel returning to their respective roles in the film, we also have some new players in town, including Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Chris Sullivan as Taserface, Tommy Flanagan as Tullk, and three other actors in mysterious, unknown roles, including Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, with one of them presumably being Star-Lord’s long-lost father, although that’s not something I can confirm at all. Just my own speculation.
However, there’s one other star that we don’t know of yet and that’s Elizabeth Debicki, who you may know from THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE GREAT GATSBY, and The Night Manager. Now, although we can’t confirm that she’s playing this specific role, we can confirm who the main villain of GUARDIANS 2 is…and it fits Debicki quite well.
The villain is none other than Ayesha aka Her aka Kismet aka Paragon. Yes, she’s gone by many names and had quite a few forms in the comics, but almost always as a blonde goddess-like being. Comic Book Movie broke this back in March, so credit where it’s due, but we can confirm from our own independent sources that the villain in the film is, in fact, Ayesha.
Now, the significance of Ayesha in GUARDIANS 2 and the greater MCU is rather huge, especially when you consider that she was created by The Enclave, a group of scientists dedicated to taking control of the world, starting with the creation of the perfect genetic beings, made to restart humanity. Their first version of this, called HIM, would later evolve into the character known as Adam Warlock, who escaped The Enclave. However, The Enclave made a second being, which became HER aka Ayesha, who also escapes and goes looking for HIM, who she considers to be her perfect mate to start a new perfect race.
How much of that origin factors into GUARDIANS 2 we can’t say, but we know that Ayesha is the main antagonist for our fun-loving space criminals/superheroes and it certainly teases at some broader strokes into the cosmic realm of the MCU.
In addition to confirming Ayesha as the main villain, we can also confirm that Guardians of the Galaxy will most definitely be teaming up with The Avengers for the upcoming AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR films. How much or how little they’ll appear is unclear, but expect the team-up that The Russo Bros. have been tap dancing around in the press rounds for Civil War.
And that wraps up this little Marvel scoop. Again, nothing major or hugely spoilerish, just some fun elaborations on already announced information that should help get you excited for things to come.
THOR: RAGNAROK is scheduled to hit theaters on November 3rd, 2017 and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is set to hit play on May 5th, 2017.