Avengers: Infinity War is almost upon us, and the mad titan is coming. At this point predicting which cast member will emerge as the best is still an exercise in futility since many of them have an edge over others, but picking one is kind of fun since it leads into a lot of discussion. So in this humble writer’s opinion, Thor is going to be coming out of Infinity War looking pretty good. That might be a surprise that I didn’t say Hulk or Iron Man or even Captain America, who’s seen stopping Thanos from smashing him in one fell blow. But this is also a writer that used to be a comic book nut and can remember the original Infinity Gauntlet series. Trust me, I waited for each individual book to come out just to thumb through it again and again.
But the reason Thor should be coming out is that while he has come full circle as being the upstart warrior and then exile, and then wise warrior, and then finally king of Asgard, his story isn’t quite played out yet as he’s going to experience something of a rebirth. He has to replace his hammer, Mjolnir, and it sounds like he’ll be picking up another new item along the way as well. Now while this won’t make him a straight up match for Thanos it will grant him an edge that will allow him to stand toe to toe with the mad titan and go blow for blow. If there’s anyone out there that remembers how things went in the Infinity Gauntlet series you’ll know that Thor was delivering a serious beatdown to Thanos at one point, and was only one blow away from smashing in that purple face for good. But Thanos managed to touch him just in time with the gauntlet and turned Thor to glass, smashing him into a thousand pieces only moments later. One theory I have about that is the fact that Thor’s power was bound up in the mortal, Eric Masterson, and it was Masterson guiding his actions.
It’s a thin theory but it goes to show just how big of a difference there is when someone is wielding the power of a god and when one is actually THE god in question. Thor is a skilled warrior and knows to strike when the time is right, meaning he likely won’t hesitate where Eric did if this battle comes into play. Plus in the trailers it’s funny that you don’t see Thor engaging Thanos or the others that have attacked the Avengers. That might not mean much, but the fact that Loki is walking by what would appear to be dead Asgardians would mean everything. Thor would be out for vengeance for his people and when he’s good and angry not even the Hulk can stop Thor, as we saw in Ragnarok. With Thor reaching his true potential it’s bound to be a much better fight than anything that’s been seen to date.
That’s my pick and I’m sticking by it. Let the thunder roll and the lightning strike. For Odin! For Asgard!
