The trailer for Thor: Ragnarok dropped yesterday. Here it is, if you need to see it:

You know, I heard about some of the plot details for this movie months ago. I was hoping they were just rumors.

Naturally, after watching it, I have a lot of burning questions, most of which will not be answered until the movie comes out in November. That’s the beauty of a movie trailer, though: it keeps you guessing. (Go to my Facebook page and you can see my reaction).

1. Is this “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “The Force Awakens” or “Thor” ?

I’m going to state an unpopular opinion here: I liked the first Thor movie. I liked what they had going with Thor’s friends on Asgard and his relationship with Dr. Jane Foster on Earth.  I also really LOVED the visual beauty of Asgard, the costumes and the architecture. I’m a sucker for eye candy, deal with it.

Of course, in the trailer we see Hela show up to destroy all of that:

And then Thor ends up in a strange and unsettling place in outer space.

These are the people who find him:

These are the people who want him to fight the Hulk:

Here’s where it gets trippy: I don’t know about you guys, but these weirdos remind me of the people at Knowhere in Guardians of the Galaxy.  I’m also getting a vibe similar to Maz Kanata’s castle in The Force Awakens. The costumes are bright colors and vertical lines, kind of trashy. Do you see the similarities? Also, the background music has more of a GOTG vibe to it, which is why I’m confused. This is a movie about an apocalypse. Why are we listening to rock music? A crossover on any number of levels would be interesting, I will admit. But this is kind of jarring to see in a Thor movie.

What we are hearing from the press releases leading up to the film that Thor: Ragnarok is going to take a different pace from the first two films. Honestly, Thor: The Dark World is not my favorite of Marvel’s films and I understand why people don’t like it. But does Marvel really have to go to such extremes to distance itself from its less-than-satisfactory offspring?

There is a lot going on in this trailer that is unsettling: the loud rock music, Mjolnir exploding, Thor’s haircut, take your pick. The thing to bear in mind is that Ragnarok is about the end of Asgard—the end of Thor’s world. So he’s finding himself in a position where he’s surrounded by the unfamiliar and the strange–in a place where he’s uncomfortable. If this is what the trailer is trying to convey then they nailed it.

2. Who is Hela and how is she related to everyone and everything?

I’ve heard rumors about a vengeful goddess unleashed from a prison by accident. I am really excited for Hela because I don’t believe that we’ve seen a female lead villain in the MCU before.

Here’s something  I don’t get: the only reason I can tell it’s Cate Blanchett under the wig is that I can see her nose. Based on looks alone, you could have paid anyone to wear that outfit. But her? Honestly this is not what I was expecting for her character, at least visually. She looks more like a punk rocker than a goddess out for revenge on Asgard—I mean, that’s not what I would wear I was thinking more of an evil sorceress in an awesome dress. Something…classy. I guess that’s more of what you would typically expect in the first two Thor films. To quote Mordo: forget what you think you know. Maybe she’ll have an outfit change during the film.

3. Are the events in the trailer chronological?

Of course, we see Thor wrapped in chains fall into an inhospitable cavern. Then we get what we presume are flashbacks. But does Thor lose his hammer and get lost in space before Asgard falls, or are the events related?

It seems like in the scene with Mjolnir exploding, he’s in a back alley. IMDB also mentions background characters in New York City. Maybe something brought him back to Earth?

4. What has Thor been doing since he left Earth?

The Team Thor sketch is cute, but as far as the actual films I set no store by it. I would be surprised if anything from it actually ended up in Ragnarok.

At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron (another MCU film that was kind of a miss), Thor has learned about the Infinity Stones, and he states his intentions to go back into the cosmos to find out why four of them have appeared in the last several years. He gets picked up by the Bifrost so maybe he goes back to Asgard? So where is he and what is he doing when he meets Hela?

5. What has Loki been up to?

Which leads me to my next question: we know from the ending to The Dark World that Loki has usurped the throne of Asgard. Odin has gone…somewhere (thank goodness he’s still alive). Thor would not have returned to Asgard long before he noticed there was something going on, which leads me to believe that prior to Ragnarok he has been in the cosmos trying to learn more about the Infinity Stones. Would someone else on Asgard—Hemidall or the Warriors Three–have noticed that something was up with Odin? Or has Loki decided to rule Asgard openly? It’s a bit of a stretch, but after seeing the trailer I feel like it’s a bit more plausible.

6. How/where/when does the Doctor Strange mid-credit scene fit in?

Benedict Cumberbatch is listed on IMDB as appearing in Ragnarok, but how big of a role he will play remains to be seen. (Gosh, Hiddleston and Cumberbatch in the same movie—I thought I was gonna have to wait for Infinity War for that, but I digress).

In the Doctor Strange mid-credit scene, Thor goes to visit Doctor Strange to ask him to help him find Odin. Thor still has long hair, but he looks kind of tired. It could be that Thor met up with Loki and found out their dad was missing before Ragnarok, and Strange sent him into the cosmos to find Odin but he found Hela instead. Or maybe this is after he meets Hela: again, the back alley shot. Or (the least likely theory) this is after Ragnarok has happened, and Thor and Loki survive whatever ending and decide to go look for Dad, and Thor hears about Stephen Strange.

7. How did Hulk end up in outer space?

At the end of Age of Ultron, Hulk stole the Avengers’ quinjet and flew into hiding. The quinjet was traced by the time the new Avengers’ base was set up, but by Civil War of course Hulk is completely off the radar. But how is Hulk on the other side of outer space in a life-and-death battle against Thor?  Did he get abducted? Did he find a way to get off Earth by himself because he was tired of destroying things? I kind of doubt that anyone ends up on the edge of space by design.

8. Is Bruce Banner still in there?

Yes, we will see plenty of the big guy. But what about his human alter-ego? In Avengers and Age of Ultron, Bruce Banner struggled with the choice of whether or not to live a human life or to just let the monster take over. We know that the Hulk is somewhat intelligent and that Bruce has some control over when/where he becomes the Hulk. I think, judging by his inglamorous exit when we saw him last, he might be trying to put his human identity behind him. It’s nice to hope that for a moment after the arena battle where Hulk shrinks back to Bruce and he and Thor have a heart-to-heart. But it might not happen. And I really miss Bruce.

9. How will this build up to Infinity War?

Of course we know that Thanos is watching the events of Asgard’s demise with interest. The Tesseract cube was being kept in Asgard’s treasury, last we checked. In the mid-credit scene for The Dark World Volstagg and Siff took the Aether to the Collector for safe-keeping–but we know that it isn’t very secure. Will there be an Infinity Stone in play during the events of Ragnarok? Will Thanos be gathering up the known stones for the Gauntlet while Thor is occupied elsehwere? Is Hela working with Thanos? Is Loki? And how much does Thor know about the Mad Titan?

10. Where are Jane and Darcy and Selvig and Lady Sif and the Warriors Three?

With Asgard falling apart—with Loki and Hela and everything—with Thor gone, wouldn’t Sif and her companions be working to defend the Nine Realms? Why can’t they stop what’s happening? According to IMDB, we will see Sif, Volstagg, and Hogun. Idris Elba will also be returning as Hemidall.  As for Jane and Darcy and Selvig—if Marvel was trying to cut them out of the picture entirely, don’t we at least get closure for their characters? As much as I hate to suggest character death(s), I would have thought in the events leading up to Ragnarok that Dr. Foster and her associates would be murdered by a celestial entity and tip off whoever is watching the situation on earth (or maybe that could lead up to Infinity War). That would be much better than Thor and Jane just drifting apart. I suppose maybe we’ll find out more details as November draws closer. But, please, the supporting characters were half the reason I loved Thor and Thor: The Dark World. For crying out loud, do we get some closure here?

11. How does Hela do that thing with her hair?

Or IS that her hair?

12. More importantly, how did Hela do the thing with the Hammer?

One does not simply grab Thor’s hammer and blow it to smithereens. She’s not even worthy to wield it, for crying out loud. And yet it happens. I think the more important question to ask here is, is there a way to fix that?

13. Can we not have Valkyrie be a love interest, please?

I may be feeling a little bitter about Jane getting shoved aside. But if people are tired of romance plots, how about instead of Valkyrie being a love interest she is just a female character that Thor has a hard time trusting, someone kind of like Loki except less of a drama queen? Judging from her and Thor’s interactions in the trailer, Thor isn’t sure whether she is a potential ally or an enemy. She just leaves him to get prepped for his big fight. She clearly has a stake in this gladiator event. She could be interesting. It would be even more interesting if she and Thor didn’t end up together.

14. Do I want to cosplay Hela?

Now we’re asking the hard questions. I’m working on like ten other cosplays right now and the last thing I really need is another one to add to the list. But on the other hand, and despite whatever qualms I may have about Cate Blanchette being a punk rocker or even becoming one myself, it looks like an outfit I could take a simple approach too. Black long-sleeve shirt and long pants, both torn up, messy wig, awesome sword, dark eye makeup. It’s doable. And plus I have no idea what I’m going to be wearing to the Ragnarok premiere—not that it matters.

Lizy Cole

Lizy Cole is originally from San Antonio, Texas but also has strong ties to Arizona. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in English. She enjoys reading, writing, and being a fangirl. Her current big fandoms are Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.