Major spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok.
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Thor: Ragnarok delivers a frankly shocking ending that leaves the Thor trilogy on a very unexpected, somber yet redemptive note and sets an interesting stage for the God of Thunder going forward. Today we're going to dive deep into how it all fits together.
The third Thor film is nothing if not different to what came before. Whereas forced into gladiatorial combat against the Hulk then bounds onto a mission to stop his maniacal sister Hela from destroying Asgard. Plot aside, it's funny (although given how humor has always been a calling card of this franchise, perhaps it's better to say "funnier") and ridiculous. But the movie is still named after Norse apocalypse, so when things get serious, they get really serious.
How Ragnarok Wraps Up The Thor Trilogy (This Page)
Thor Destroyed Asgard To Save Asgard
As Thor says in the film's opening, he's been plagued by visions of Asgard in flames - the foretold Ragnarok. He (correctly) believes this is the action of fire demon Surtur and so defeats him, seemingly ending the threat. However, it transpires that Surtur is a ive element and that the ultimate grand threat against his home - banished sister Hela - is inevitable. But, ultimately, it's not her that brings about Ragnarok, but him. In the finale, Thor realizes that his visions weren't a prophetic warning, more a signal of what he'd have to do; the only way to stop Hela is to destroy the world she wants to rule. And so, after the newly formed Revengers evacuate Asgard, Loki unleashes Surtur, who begins burning the realm to the ground.
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This is acceptable, and not realizing the villain's plans, because Thor's discovered the truth that Asgard isn't the giant gold pillars and trippy rainbow bridge, but its people. Throughout the Thor series we've witnessed the devious antics of Odin and his sons around the Throne of Asgard with minimal consideration for the people they rule over. Ragnarok makes them a key consideration and through a run of visions Thor has of his dead father it's made clear to truly rule he should put his subjects first - and so he does, saving them and then doing the only thing to stop the aggressor.
That entire final battle is about our heroes facing who they truly are. Thor aside, Valkyrie stops hiding from her noble past (although not her alcohol-induced stupor) and once again leads the fight against Asgard's aggressors in her white outfit, Bruce Banner realizes that despite his own personal reservations he's truly a hero when the Hulk and potentially sacrifices himself forever to become the Green Goliath, and Loki goes against his long-standing selfishness to bring the fight to Hela (although may wind up taking the Tesseract for his own nefarious deeds). Outside of the Revengers, Korg finally discovers what real revolution is and Skurge turncoats on Hela, sacrificing himself to save his people.
Ragnarok is a film more about its characters than its plot, and that makes each of these final stands all the more pronounced. The ultimate conclusion of them forsaking their well-being, what they're wanting to protect or, in Hulk's case, not fighting a big monster is that bit more striking.
Thor Is Now Odin
For Thor, the ending goes a bit deeper. It has him discovering that the prophecy he was fighting against was actually a destiny he had to fulfill (something that was explicitly set up in Avengers: Age of Ultron when his Scarlet Witch-induced vision saw Heimdall blame him for the realm's destruction), which is really emblematic of a bigger issue across the Thor trilogy: his inherited ascension to the throne.
The trilogy has been exploring that familial clash from the start. In Thor 1, he was banished for his brashness and had to re-earn the mantle of God of Thunder while proving he was worthy of his inheritance in the face of his deceitful half-brother, while The Dark World had him facing up against his father's previous errors and deciding he didn't want to rule (in both The Avengers and Age of Ultron he was primarily dealing with/cleaning up Loki's meddling on Earth, so these don't quite fit the broader arc). Ragnarok picks up there and has Thor thrust unexpectedly into responsibility first by Loki, then the death of Odin, then the threat of older sister Hela. She's someone who by all rights has a greater claim than him, but through a gladiatorial adventure, he endeavors to do what is right and stop her conquest. He is not just fulfilling the vision of Ragnarok, he's finally learning to accept the throne and appreciate the flaws that have always run through the royal family.
And so, at the end of the film, he becomes Odin proper. Hela symbolically gives him the key by slicing out his eye, requiring a very fetching eyepatch, and with her gone he's able to take the crown, leading a now mobile Asgard out to a new dawn. It's the sort of change that would have seemed impossible during Odin's rule, yet one totally fitting of his peacetime ethos - his willing death (or, given the recurring visions, transcendence to another plane of existence) shows an acceptance of the change.
While the Thor trilogy is the most disparate of all the Marvel franchises (Iron Man clearly charts Tony Stark becoming a hero without his suit, while Captain America is the fall and return of Bucky), it's not without its bigger picture, hammered home with this ending.
What Happens To New Asgard?
Asgard the realm is, quite simply, destroyed. Surtur finally gets to achieve his life goal and will presumably now just exist lording it over the scorched, fiery land. But, as we've established, that's not the real end. Asgard is now a flying city, jetting through the cosmos.
In the comics, after Ragnarök (notice the umlaut) Asgard is rebuilt on Earth just outside Oklahoma, with Thor populating it with surviving Asgardians. It stayed this way for a few years, but Secret Invasion saw it first attacked by Skrulls, then afterwards Norman Osborn destroyed it to get the foreign land off American soil (land Thor had bought using Asgardian gold). Once that whole thing was cleared, Tony Stark built Asgardia, a floating plain just above the previous site.
Read More: Thor: Ragnarok Post-Credits Scenes Explained in Detail
Something like this is probably on the cards for Thor at the end of the film - he's heading to Earth, much to Loki's worry, and presumably doesn't plan to be in the ship for too long. But that's not going to go quite to plan. As Thor and Loki discuss their plans in the mid-credits scene, a giant ship appears behind them. Quite what exactly isn't made clear, but it appears similar to Thanos' in the Avengers: Infinity War teaser, suggesting the Black Order. We already know that Thor winds up spinning through space towards the Guardians of the Galaxy from the SDCC trailer, so it seems things won't go too well for New Asagard.
Is Hela Really Dead?
While Asgard is destroyed in the finale, it's not quite clear what happens to our villain. She appears to go down with the realm, but this is someone who was trapped away for centuries if not millennia and is, after all, the Goddess of Death - actually killing her will be tricky.
It was theorized before release that the MCU's version of Death, whose physical embodiment in the comics becomes the object of Thanos' affections and kicks off the entire Infinity Gauntlet fiasco. Nothing in Ragnarok says that isn't possible, but Cate Blanchett hasn't been attached to any future films and the way Hela's presented as a very single-focused villain would make that seem further unlikely. Indeed, her death needs to be permanent on a thematic level: if she does survive, then Thor sacrificed his home for nothing.
What Happens On Sakaar?
Thor definitely leaves his mark on Sakaar, striking right at the heart of the Grandmaster's empire and sparking a revolution that ransacks the city. Korg and co. get off-world to help with the Asgardian plight, but the rest of the people who live for the Contest of Champions strike a little closer to home; the pristine upper halls become as ravaged as the junk-strewn landscapes.
As we see in the post-credits scene, The Grandmaster has been flung out of his palace, fleeing in an escape pod with a couple of women. He, naturally, tries to talk his way of it, saying to the dissidents he was important as the aggressor and declares the revolution a draw. Do they buy it? That's up to the audience to decide. Indeed, we don't actually know if Goldblum will be back in future movies or if this was a one-and-done situation. That said, The Grandmaster in the comics is certainly an intriguing character with more importance than was seen in Ragnarok and his MCU counterpart is the brother of Guardians of the Galaxy's Collector, so it would definitely be feasible.
