Thor: Ragnarok is mostly a standalone addition to the MCU, with director Taika Waititi putting his unique stamp on the superhero movie franchise. However, with things drawing ever nearer to the release of Avengers: Infinity War next May, there’s obviously a bit of foreshadowing for the big team-up event spread throughout.
Spoilers to follow…
*
*
*
The biggest example, of course, is the mid-credits scene. As we previously revealed, the first of Ragnarok‘s two additional sequences sees Thor and Loki discussing what’s next for them and the Asgardian people, now that their homeworld has been destroyed. Thor seems positive that everything’s going to work out fine, though…just as a humongous spaceship arrives, completely dwarfing the already sizeable Asgardian refugee vessel.
Though the scene left it ambiguous what was happening, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this ship belongs to Thanos, whose hunt for the Infinity Stones will come to the fore in Infinity War. While speaking to The Wrap, Marvel chief Kevin Feige has confirmed that this is indeed the Mad Titan’s doing. He didn’t say much, but he told us all we needed to know.
“We call it the Sanctuary II,” said the producer.
For those who are unaware, the Sanctuary is the name of the planetoid that Thanos calls home, as seen in The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Just like in the comics, then, the Sanctuary II is his enormous mother ship. Which suggests that Josh Brolin’s villain is coming to attack Thor’s ship himself. He did say he was taking a more hands-on approach to capturing the Stones back in Avengers: Age of Ultron, after all.
We can only guess what happens next, but thanks to the leaked Avengers: Infinity War trailer, we might already have a clue. In the preview, Thor was shown to be flung onto the windscreen of the Milano, putting him face to face with the Guardians of the Galaxy. We’d say that this is likely the outcome of his unsuccessful battle with Thanos.
What this could also mean is that the Mad Titan begins Infinity War with one Infinity Stone already in his possession, as Loki likely has the Tesseract with him on the Asgardian refugee ship. After that, he’ll no doubt travel to Xandar to get the Mind Stone, to the Knowhere for the Reality Stone and finally, to Earth for the rest.
Thor: Ragnarok is out now, while Avengers: Infinity War lands on May 4th, 2018.
