When I was on the set of the original “Thor,” the person who spent the day showing the press around was Craig Kyle. At the time, he was one of the junior guys with the company, but it was obvious that, like most of the guys at Marvel, he had one character who was more near and dear to his heart than any of the others, and for him, that character was Thor.
As a result, I’m pleased to see that Craig Kyle’s been hired to co-write the third “Thor” film with Christopher Yost.
He was the senior vice-president of Production and Development for Marvel when this decision was made, and he’ll obviously leave that job to become the writer of the film. Yost, his co-writer, was one of the guys who shared screenplay credit on “Thor: The Dark World,” along with Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and Don Payne and Robert Rodat. There are some big story threads that have been left dangling at the end of “Thor: The Dark World,” including Loki’s final trick, and I would assume the third “Thor” will deal with those elements as well as whatever story threads are set up in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.”
What’s interesting about the Phase Three films that Marvel is planning to make is that they are all going to have to be fairly focused on moving major story elements forward, considering what happens to the team at the end of “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” If the first film was all about building the team for the first time and proving that they could work together, it was also about Thanos testing Earth’s defenses so he could figure out what he was up against. “Age Of Ultron” is more focused on each of The Avengers having to deal with the results of actions we’ve seen from them in earlier films, with some serious fall out on every front. By the end of the film, the team that we saw in the first film will be shattered. There will still be a group of people called The Avengers, but it’s not going to be Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America anymore. The third film will have to bring everyone back together to stand against Thanos as he finally makes his move on Earth, and considering how many of the Infinity Stones he’ll have by that point, I’m not sure how anyone’s going to plan to stop him.
More importantly, if my sources are correct, the end of “Age Of Ultron” sets up a difficult situation for Thor as Midgard and Asgard find themselves looking at a possible war. Could we be looking at the beginning of Ragnarok, brought on by Loki in the guise of Odin? Could the third film find Thor having to fight against the realm that he’s spent so much time defending?
I have innate trust in Kyle and Yost. If nothing else, “Thor” is in caring hands now, and I suspect we’ll get something special out of this last film in the trilogy. It may be the last time we get a stand-alone Thor film for a while, too, as Marvel shifts their priorities to some of the newer series like “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” “Ant-Man,” and “Doctor Strange.” If so, I hope they go out with a bang.
“Avengers: Age Of Ultron” arrives in theaters May 1, 2015.