Why We Should Be Worried About Thor After Avengers: Endgame
Thor’s fat. He’s really fat. Fat enough to earn a comment from his mom about how he should try a salad. This is important because as of Endgame Thor is no longer the strongest Avenger. Thor used to be… well, built like a god: abs, biceps, the works, but now he doesn’t have these things and it’s obvious that his new body has weakened him severely. In his old body, he could combat Thanos while Thanos had a full-powered Infinity Gauntlet. In this new body, however, Thor could barely hold his own against Thanos despite dual-wielding both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, and in this case, Thanos didn’t even have a single Infinity Stone to rely on.
Obviously, this was done to nerf Thor in a way that he couldn’t solo Thanos — robbing the movie of its tension — but a nerf is a nerf, and this is a pretty major one.
It’s not just Thor’s body that suffered either. If things weren't bad enough for him, Thor's mind is also in recovery. Thor felt so devastated by his failure to stop Thanos that he just kind of gave up on himself. Unlike when he was at his peak in Infinity War, Thor didn’t really make a difference in Endgame. Hulk brought everyone back, Captain America assembled the Avengers and brought the damage with Mjolnir, and Iron Man finished Thanos by himself. At the end of the day, Thor even figured his people would be better off with Valkyrie presiding over them. In short, Thor’s not in his best state by the end of Endgame and that could be worrying. On the other hand, it could also turn out to be a good thing for him in the long run. Here’s what we think Thor’s new situation means for him moving forward in the MCU’s next storyline.
Upcoming Movie Appearances
There hasn’t been a single MCU movie to go beyond a trilogy, and there’s no reason to think that Thor would be an exception, yet Thor is still one of the few original Avengers left who can pull off the hero gig, and Chris Hemsworth is more than willing to continue playing the character, his only condition is that whatever movies he's in go the same direction as Thor: Ragnarok.
When Iron Man completed his trilogy, he continued to make appearances in other people’s movies. He was the deuteragonist of Captain America: Civil War and the mentor character of Spider-Man: Homecoming. The Hulk was the same way. He had one original movie, and then his story arc was carried out in other heroes films. If Thor’s journey is going to continue into the next big story of the MCU, it’s likely he’ll be doing it in this same fashion.
We think Thor’s story arc will go a little something like this:
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
In no way is it confirmed that Thor’s going to be in the next Guardians of The Galaxy movie, but it would be a pretty big waste if he wasn’t. Teasing him traveling with the Guardians at the end of Endgame is a pretty big deal, one that most people would be disappointed to find isn’t going to pan out. It’s not like he hasn’t been powered down enough. While he’s stronger than the Guardians, he’s not so absurdly powerfully now that he would destroy any tension that their movie has to offer. That’s a least one good thing to come from his major nerf. Both Infinity War and Endgame did a good job of proving Thor’s chemistry with the Guardians. It was hilarious to see Peter’s and Draxx’s reactions to Thor when they first met him, and he and Rocket can pull off a nice back and forth. Besides, if there’s any movie that would be like Thor: Ragnarok anyway it would be a Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
Chubby Thor can spend some time with the Guardians in an attempt to figure out what he wants to do with himself next. At the moment he has no responsibilities: his family has been completely destroyed, his people are under the rule of another, and his old team has more or less disbanded. He’s kind of perfect for the Guardians at this point: they don’t have any responsibilities either. They just roam around space getting into trouble and doing whatever it is they want. Thor can kick back with them basically. This movie will be something of a fun break in the action for him. He can’t, however, stay with the Guardians forever. Well, he could but the plot will probably demand that he can’t. After all, this would be the Guardians last movie as well, so Thor would have to move on. He’s had his fun and now it’s time to get himself back together. Who better to inspire him than the main character of this next film:
Captain Marvel 2
With his vacation with the Guardians done, the next film we think Thor would co-host would be Captain Marvel’s sequel. He’s already in space at this point so why not rejoin with the Avengers’ greatest space hero?
Thor took pride in the fact that he was the strongest Avenger, but in his current state that’s not the case. Now the title belongs to Captain Marvel. This could be just the motivation Thor needs to get himself back into shape. Why not? He’s still got no responsibilities, so he has nothing better to do, and if he sees Captain Marvel saving entire solar systems by herself when he knows he can help, there’s no reason for him not to want to pick himself back up physically. Saving mass amounts of people with Captain Marvel would also be a very good way for him to get his mental state back in a solid place (if his adventures with the Guardians didn’t do it already). It will help him remind him that he’s still a hero.
Captain Marvel’s a service member; she understands the importance of keeping fit. So aside from being incredibly busy saving galaxies by herself, there’s no reason she wouldn’t want to help Thor get back into fighting shape. After whatever adventure Thor ends up helping Captain Marvel with (we’re thinking something to do with the Skrulls because we’re stubborn), Thor can spend the rest of his time regaining his physique while he works with her. He’ll be able to keep up with her traveling speed using Stormbreaker’s ability to conjure the Bifrost.
The banter between these two characters should be pretty interesting too considering how they’ve both held the title of strongest Avenger at one point. It would be nice to see Captain Marvel’s viewpoint of Thor considering she had little to no interaction with anyone in Avengers: Endgame. If she’s going to be one of the new, main Avengers, we should see her interacting more with the other members. As it stands now, she’s a bit too “solo” happy for her good. In this way, she and Thor can learn from each other since he was the same way when he first started out: believing himself to be, more or less, above help.
Once Thor’s has his movie adventure with Space Cap and returned to his prime, he can progress to the next movie:
Avengers 5
When the Avengers are called again for their next challenge, Thor can make his reappearance back at his full power. It’s hard to say how Avengers 5 will handle itself. It makes sense that the movie will take the same direction as the first Avengers did, featuring only a handful of superheroes: It will be a showcase of the next six primary Avengers. In this scenario, since we’ve placed Thor with Captain Marvel. The “new six” lineup will look something like this: Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and of course, Thor. Thor and Ant-Man will take the place of Black Widow and Hawkeye, only they would be much more powerful.
Of course, Thor being one the new primary Avengers as well as being an original member might be a bit much. It may turn out that Captain Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the new Black Widow and Hawkeye. Still, even if Thor isn’t going to be a super active member it’s nonsensical to think that he wouldn’t be used as a secret weapon. At his peak, he’ll have more than enough power for it. At this point he may have regained himself as the strongest Avenger, at the very least he’ll be equal to Captain Marvel.
Beyond Avengers 5
As it stands now, Avengers 5 is as far as we see Thor going. It doesn’t help that we have no idea where the MCU itself is going. Maybe Thor’s vital; maybe he’s not. But for the most part, by this time, it doesn’t seem like there would be much left for Thor’s story arc: He’s recovered his body and mind. The only thing left at this point is for him to make a choice about what he wants to do with himself. He could take the Captain Marvel route and go around saving planets that don’t have an Avengers team to help them, popping in every now and again to guest star in something or help out when he’s needed. He could also do what most of us expected him to do in Endgame and just became king of Asgard already; he’s rejected that twice now, though, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s hard to tell where the MCU is leading him at this point.
Wrap Up
The way he is now, Thor’s at rock bottom. A good chunk of the power he earned up to the point of Infinity War is gone. His chubby appearance in Endgame was funny but leaves most wondering what exactly it means for him. Will he stay like this? Will he remain a joke character for the result of the time we see him? It’s likely the answer to these questions is “no,” but some people tend to worry about it all the same. It’s likely Thor’s new arc will take him back to where he was when he originally obtained Stormbreaker. It’ll just take some time for him to get back there.
Thor’s journey makes sense when you think about it anyway. He did have a chance to stop Thanos from killing everyone and failed due to his own (albeit understandable) lust for revenge. Then he kills Thanos afterward only for it to be a worthless action anyway because it doesn’t change anything. Of course, he’s fat and de-powered after five years of wallowing. This works too because Marvel still wants to use Thor for the future MCU storyline. A redemption arc gives them something to work with as they place him in future movies.
With Valkyrie in charge of New Asgard and the Avengers protecting Earth, there’s not much there for Thor to do, a good reason for why he decided to travel with the Guardians of the Galaxy for a bit. We don’t think he’ll stay with the Guardians forever, though, and he more than likely won’t recover himself after just one movie adventure with them. At this point, there's also still no reason for him to return to Earth. That pretty much leaves him with just one other hero to join up with.
After the Guardians Thor will party crash Captain Marvel. He’ll help her with whatever space adventure she has cooked up for her film and then be even closer to being what he was before. By the time Avengers 5 rolls around, he should be at his peak again or stronger. If not, he’ll be there by the time the movie comes to a close. Whatever happens to Thor after that remains to be seen.
Thor is Thor. If he’s still in action at this point then he’ll only progress. If he’s weakened now, he’ll be stronger later. That’s just how character growth works. There’s no reason to worry about the big guy.
