Thor’s been through a lot in these last couple of movies, from the death of his father and brother, to the loss of his home world, and to make matters worse, the God of Thunder has yet to live down his failure to go for the head at the climax of Avengers: Infinity War. But if some recently circulating speculation from the fans is anything to go by, Chris Hemsworth’s character could have another chance to get it right and deliver the final blow to Thanos in next year’s Avengers 4.
While this is obviously little more than speculation for now, there’s certainly good reason for considering Thor to be the most likely candidate. For one thing, the Infinity War sequel looks set to serve as the end of an era for the MCU, concluding many of the plotlines and character arcs that started in the franchise’s early years. With that in mind, it seems fairly probable that it will be a Phase 1 Avenger who has the honor of ending this fight. And seeing how Thor blew the opportunity in his last movie, it would surely make for a fitting moment of redemption if he succeeded the second time round.
Beyond that, you could argue that it’s a simple matter of which Avenger is strong enough to do it, and while the Hulk has already demonstrated that he’s no match for the Mad Titan, there’s some debate to be had over whether Tony Stark or Steve Rogers really have that final, satisfying finishing blow in them. And besides, Thor’s the one with the weapon that was specifically designed to take on Thanos, so shouldn’t he be allowed to put it to use?
Of course, all of this is resting on the assumption that it’s even the Avengers who ultimately defeat the tyrant, and that the finishing blow isn’t somehow a collective effort. In any case, the ones who really have the responsibility of finishing this fight are the Russo Brothers, who have some high expectations to live up to when Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd, 2019.
