Thor: Gotterdammerung
(Note: I’m skipping Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it still exists. I’m just not doing it. Same goes for everything after this movie, because this will be the last MCU movie I do. I'll still work on the TV shows.)
The film opens with Odin sitting at the edge of Asgard, watching water fall over and into space, where it freezes. In front of him, a runestone has been raised in dedication to Frigga, which Odin notes. Shedding a tear, his image briefly flickers, revealing he is actually Loki. He apologizes to Frigga, saying he wasn't a good son and was responsible in a way for her death. The camera pans away from Loki and moves through the stars, flying faster and faster as planets and ships like those found in Guardians of the Galaxy (including a Xandar that is being bombarded by Thanos’ ship) zoom past. The camera finally stops on a small frozen planet orbiting a black hole. Focusing on the surface, we see a mob of raiders fighting an Asgardian garrison that seems to be protecting an ancient seal in the ground. During the battle the seal is damaged. The camera moves under the seal, revealing a frozen and dark open space interwoven with chains of energy coming from the seal, each chain dissolving as the energy from the seal dries up. Following the chains, we arrive at Hela, who is bound with them. As the chains dissolve, Hela awakens and then breaks free, the cavern shaking as she gets to her feet. On the surface, the raiders flee, and the Asgardians turn to face the seal, but they are instantly killed when Hela breaks through. She then uses necromancy to resurrect them as her undead soldiers before turning to the fleeing raiders. The camera focuses on her eyes and the scene cuts to the Marvel Studios logo as she says, "It's time..."
Thor is then seen battling Surtur on Muspelheim. Thor defeats him, takes his crown, and returns to Asgard. Arriving home, Thor arrives to see Heimdall with a new assistant, Skurge. On his way to “Odin”, he first arrives in the city and encounters several Asgardian citizens (perhaps some from the previous films) and Sif and the Warriors Three, who celebrate his return and share some stories about what they've been doing (some of which were depicted in their spinoff series, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three). Sif hopes she and Thor can take their relationship to the next level with Jane out of the way, but Thor does not see the obvious signs.
When Thor arrives at the palace, Thor sees the theater play and chastises "Odin" for abandoning his duties to protect the Nine Realms and failing to plan ahead against enemies plotting Asgard's demise, mentioning the appearance of the Infinity Stones and someone possibly directing events behind the scenes. Their relationships with Alfheim and Vanaheim has become stale over the past two years as Asgard remains peaceful in isolation. Just as Thor is about to deduce "Odin" is actually Loki, Heimdall sounds an alarm and warns an enemy army is attacking Alfheim. "Odin" uses the opportunity to declare he will restore Asgard's relationships with the other realms by defending them against this threat, with himself and Thor personally leading the army.
"Odin," Thor, the Warriors Three, and the Asgardian army take the Bifrost to Alfheim, where Hela's undead army is overwhelming all resistance and assimilating the dead. "Odin" orders the army to charge, with disastrous results. Most of the army is consumed by the undead, including the Warriors Three, who are resurrected as more undead, while "Odin" falls and disappears into the horde. Thor orders Heimdall to evacuate him, Sif, and the few survivors.
Back in Asgard, "Odin"'s death is met with grief and anger, as the people of Asgard mourn the death of the only king they ever knew (mirroring the reaction to the death of Franz Joseph) and demand vengeance against whoever is leading the undead army. When asked who will be the next king, everyone looks at Thor. His coronation is rushed and barebones, with Thor bored out his mind as ancient priests recite scripture and hand him the royal regalia. The instant the coronation is over and everyone is gone, Thor takes the crown off his head and throws it across the room, hitting it with Gungnir in mid-air. He confides to Sif that he doesn't think he will be a good ruler, as there is no way he will ever live up to his father (also telling her "Odin" is Loki but that they can't tell the rest of Asgard due to the situation at hand), and he failed to stop the army and save the Warriors Three. Sif reassures him, saying he doesn't have to be like his father to be a good ruler. He just has to be himself.
The undead Warriors Three report to Hela. They do not say anything, Hela instead reading back their memories to learn about how the battle went. She stops the playback on first Thor swinging his hammer and then "Odin" as his disguise briefly fails, revealing Loki fleeing the battle. "Cowards," she says, "There is only one child of Odin worthy of wearing his crown and wielding his hammer."
On Asgard, Thor and Sif talk about how to defeat the undead army, which Heimdall informs has now consumed most of the Nine Realms and will soon head for Asgard. Thor decides to find the real Odin and seek his advice. He leaves Sif in charge of Asgard's defense, mobilizing the elite Einherjar and placing them under Sif's command. He then heads to Earth to seek Doctor Strange's help, tricking him into revealing he knows where Odin is (pure luck, as Thor thought Strange would just help him find Odin). Strange leads him to a farmhouse in Scandinavia, which he had been mystically hiding from the rest of the universe on Odin's wishes. Odin asks his son to sit with him as he has little time left. He says he has been hiding on Earth of his own free will following Loki's coup, although he could have easily taken back the throne, because of the impending Ragnarok. The prophecy says Odin's death in battle will trigger Ragnarok and the destruction of Asgard, so Odin believed if he left Asgard and didn't fight any battles, he could avoid Ragnarok and save Asgard. But Thor is here, no doubt because something serious happened, so Odin understands Ragnarok has likely begun.
Odin reveals he knows the leader of the undead army. It is Hela, his firstborn and Thor's older sister. In Odin's early years as King of Asgard, Hela craved power and sought to rule the entire universe. When Hela rebelled against Odin to achieve this, he imprisoned her in Hel, a mystical prison for Asgard's worst enemies (all of which have since died over the centuries). Hel is guarded by a powerful seal connected to Odin's life force. Odin's exile from Asgard weakened the power of the seal, leading to its presumed undoing. As Odin begin to feel weaker and start to disappear, Thor braces for the worst. Odin stands up and reassures him and also Loki, who is revealed to have been hiding outside, having followed Strange and Thor. Odin tells Loki that, after staying on Earth for a while, he finally understands the reasons behind Loki’s actions in the first movie and feels guilty of not understanding sooner and asks for forgiveness, not as a king to a prince, but as a father to his son. Turning to Thor, Odin reassures that with him gone, Thor would have to bear the burden of being king and asks him to protect Asgard as he reminds his son of his status as the God of Thunder, urging him to defeat Hela. Odin hugs both his sons one final time and tells them that he is proud to have both of them as his sons before approaching the edge of the cliff. Finally, Odin tells his sons he shall give their regards to their mother before he dissolves into energy. After he is gone, Thor blames Loki for Odin's death. Strange attempts to mediate their dispute while also reminding them of the need to defeat Hela. Thor responds he doesn't have an army. Strange responds they don't need an army, they need a team (upon which Loki grimaces, recalling bad memories).
Hela uses her powers to summon the Bifrost and jump to Asgard with the Warriors Three, where she is confronted by Hogun, Skurge, and several Einherjar (getting advance notice of her arrival, Heimdall hides in the Bifrost's machinery for unknown reasons). Hela explains Odin is dead and she is their new queen. Uneasy of the situation and not believing her story, Hogun orders her to be arrested for trespassing, but Hela easily kills the guards and overpowers Hogun and Skurge, offering to spare them in return of their loyalty. Skurge easily gives in, but Hogun refuses, pleading his loyalty to the true king, Thor, and not some intruder. Confused and irritated that she is unrecognized as their queen (showing her disconnect from current Asgardian events and making her wonder how much Odin hid from his people), Hela has the Warriors Three kill and resurrect him, much to Skurge's horror. Declaring herself queen, Hela recruits Skurge as his "Executioner" as she travels to the city. Heimdall is seen sabotaging the Bifrost and escaping, then alerting Sif and the other Einherjar. Hela arrives at the city steps, with Sif leading the Einherjar against her and her thralls. The undead Warriors Three wipe out the entire army in minutes. Sif initially holds her own against all four of them. The Warriors Three find themselves holding back against Sif, despite Hela's orders. Hela then recalls them and fights Sif herself, with Sif still holding her own. Eventually, Hela gains the upper hand and prepares to kill Sif, but Heimdall creates a distraction and helps her escape. Without any major challenges, Hela proclaims herself queen, both as Odin's firstborn and by right of conquest, among the scared citizens.
Having heard rumors of powerful individuals on the planet of Sakaar, Thor urges Strange to take him there (and to help keep an eye on Loki). Here, Thor is immediately captured by Brunhild, a former valkyrie, and taken to the Grandmaster as a potential contender in his gladiator fights. However, the Grandmaster, being an ageless cosmic being, retains some knowledge of Asgard, so when Thor mentions Asgard is in danger, the Grandmaster remembers Asgard as the "Nation of War" and claims to faintly knew Odin as a ruthless warlord a long time ago. Thor dismisses the Grandmaster's ridiculous accusations and demands him to be released. Intrigued by having an Asgardian prince as a contender, the Grandmaster offers him to chance to win his Contest of Champions in exchange for his immediate freedom. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he relucantly agrees. Loki convinces Strange to buy them tickets.
While training for his match, Thor meets Korg and Meik, two failed quasi-equalist revolutionaries from one of the Nine Realms, along with Beta Ray Bill, a member of the endangered Korbinites who fled his planet's destruction by Thanos. The two get into a rivalry over who can win their freedom first, with the winner getting Thor's hammer (although Thor expects Bill to be unworthy). Loki projects an image of himself into the training room to spy on Thor, upon which Thor continues blaming Loki for Odin's death, saying Odin's life force was tied closely to his proximity to Asgard, and stranding him on Earth killed him. Although he feels guilty, Loki insists it was Odin's idea in the first place to leave Asgard, and he was only taking advantage of this. Thor orders Loki out, and he leaves. Thor is then put in matches against increasingly challenging champions, all of which he defeats easily with his hammer. Reaching the semifinals, he is shocked to find his next opponent is none other than the Goliath himself (not teased in trailers), having fled Earth after Ultron's rampage and staying as Goliath for the last two years, long enough for him to have learned to speak coherent sentences. The fight is a draw as Thor summons a lightning bolt to knock out Goliath just as Goliath knocks him out (in a series of attacks identical to those he inflicted upon Loki in the first Vindicators), with the Grandmaster sending the unconscious Thor to Goliath's quarters. Bill wins his freedom and picks up the hammer, visiting Goliath's quarters to show a shocked Thor, who faints again.
As Thor lies unconscious, Heimdall telepathically connects with him to alert him of what's happening on Asgard: Hela and the Warriors Three have killed Hogun and the Einherjar and now stands as the sole ruler of Asgard, while Sif escaped. As Thor watches, Hela summons the citizens to the throne room for a public address, resurrecting her loyal mount, Fenris Wolf, to demonstrate her power. She gathers Skurge and the rest of the Asgardian citizens in the throne room to reveal Asgard's true past and legitimize her role as Queen of Asgard. Believing that Odin had used the passage of time and a suppression of history to make everyone forget after her banishment, she destroys the ceiling mural to reveal Asgard's hidden past:
Before becoming the protectors of peace, Odin was a war-mongering conqueror, seeking to expand his rule to all the 9 realms with the pretense that under his rule, peace among the realms can be achieved. With Hela as the first leader of the Einherjar, Odin successfully conquered the 9 realms but then realized peace was still not achieved, beginning to regret the conquest. Hela, who had great ambition, wanted to expand their rule beyond the Nine Realms. However, when Odin began to feel true peace was not achievable in conquering the Nine Realms, he began to establish treaties with the other realms and normalize diplomatic relations, effectively undoing their centuries-long conquests. Hela felt betrayed and used her army of the undead to lay waste to the palace to overthrow her father and put herself on the throne to continue the conquest. In retaliation, Odin sent the valkyries to push her and her dead army away from Asgard to Hel on the isolated world of Niflheim (the planet from the introduction). However, most of the Valkyries were no match for her and only a very few of them managed to survive the onslaught before Odin arrived in Hel to personally seal her away.
Hela attempts to reason with her people by stating that she plans to continue the conquest of the Nine Realms for sake of the "glory of Asgard" and assures the protection of her people via the undead army, which is now made up of the Einherjar soldiers as the sabotage of the Bifrost prevents her from bringing in reinforcements presently. However, when her plan is met with widespread contempt among the people, she unleashes Fenris to warn the people to not get any ideas of leaving Asgard (here the sabotage of the Bifrost works for her) or rebelling against her rule. The people have no choice but to obey Hela's orders to protect themselves from Fenris. Hela reassures the people that they are safe under her leadership and she will reclaim what is rightfully theirs once she finds Heimdall and undoes his sabotage.
Heimdall retreats to an ancient Asgardian bunker in the mountains, where he meets Sif and a group of civilians she had helped escape the city. Before ending their telepathic link, Thor promises to return to Asgard as soon as possible and asks Heimdall to ask Sif to protect the citizens and stall Hela from leaving Asgard until he returns. As Thor's consciousness returns to his body, Heimdall and Sif begin to plot the evacuation of Asgard by means not involving the disabled Bifrost.
Now understanding Hela's plan and motivations, Thor becomes properly motivated to return to Asgard and to stop the conquest from resuming. Goliath only joins after Thor makes him revert to Brenner using a method Natasha and Barton developed in the second Vindicators movie. While Bill jumps at the opportunity to be a hero (and holds on to the hammer, to Thor’s dismay), Brunhild is reluctant, not willing to fight for a kingdom she believes sent her to clean up its imperialist messes and then abandoned her when her sisters in arms were slaughtered. Thor learns she was part of the valkyrie attack against Hela and was the sole surviving member. Brunhild eventually comes around to supporting Thor’s plan, on the grounds that she be the one to kill Hela and avenge her sisters. Thor helps Korg and Miek launch an equalist slave rebellion to distract the Grandmaster while the rest steal the now-upgraded quinjet Brenner came on and escape. Loki attempts to betray the group, but Thor catches him and kicks him off the ship, where he is taken in by Korg and Miek, who steal the Grandmaster’s ship; Loki convinces them to take it to Asgard. As the quinjet goes to hyperspace, Brunhild asks Thor if he has a name for their group. He decides on the name “The Justifiers.”
Back on Asgard, Hela threatens to kill a random civilian unless they tell her where the central component of the Bifrost machine (Heimdall’s sword) is hidden. One civilian speaks up, saying he will reveal the location of the bunker. He leads Hela and Skurge to the bunker, but as part of the plan, it is already abandoned, with Heimdall and Sif having slipped back into the city to evacuate the population. Walking through the bunker, Hela realizes it to be her old base before her uprising and begins to recall past memories of her time as Odin's executioner.
Flashbacks show her and Odin waging war against the Nine Realms together, to her enjoyment. At one point, she remembers her last encounter with Odin on Niflheim after he banished her, an exact copy of Thor and Odin's conversation in the first Thor film before his banishment to Earth. After the elimination of the valkyries (with Brunihld in the background falling off her pegasus), Odin himself arrives to personally deal with her and her undead army. Before a final confrontation, Hela chastises Odin for betraying his people by forging treaties with the other realms when they should be conquering them for Asgard's glory. Odin attempted to convince Hela that war is not the way to peace and Hela is fighting not for Asgard but for herself. The climax here would be for Hela to repeat Thor's words in the first film: "You are an old man and a fool!". Now realizing Hela would never change her ways, Odin firmly decided to prevent her from causing any more harm by locking her in Hel using his very own life force.
Inside the bunker, it is revealed to be a trap by Sif and the surviving einherjar, who ambush Hela. Although initially on the defense, Hela manages to slaughter the einherjar one by one until only Sif remains. Sif declares her revenge against Hela for killing her comrades and holds up against her for a while. Although she manages to slightly injure her this time (as opposed to their first fight, when she couldn't land a single hit), Hela praises her efforts and determination, even offering a final chance to serve under her in exchange for her life. When Sif still refuses and accepts her fate, Hela prepares to kill her, only for her to escape again through a hidden passage. Hela contemplates on her next move, until she hears Thor (who has been watching her through Heimdall) summoning her from the throne room, waiting for her with Gungnir in hand.
As she returns to the throne room, Hela explains her motivations to Thor on the throne, who understands her perspective as seeing his old brutish war-mongering self in her. Thor explains that while he was able to learn from his mistakes due to his banishment, Hela has not changed at all, thus making her unworthy of the throne. However, Hela won't give up the throne so easily, and they fight.
Outside, Heimdall leads the surviving civilians to the Bifrost observatory only to find Fernis blocking the entrance and the undead army and the Warriors Three blocking the other end. Brenner transforms into the Goliath to battle Fenris, clearing the way to the observatory. Heimdall arrives and repairs the Bifrost, using it to evacuate some of the civilians to a safe planet while Sif, Brunhild, Strange, and Bill hold off the undead army. Sif tries her best not to fight the Warriors Three, even though she can defeat them easily, as she can’t bring herself to kill her comrades. Skurge secretly tries to escape among the people as well but before entering the Bifrost, he has second thoughts on fleeing when he sees the others fighting. Fenris gains the upper hand against the Goliath by lunging him against the column supports of the Observatory, damaging its supports. Heimdall retreats the remaining citizens back to the bridge and Skurge manages to rescue some trapped people from the collapsing Observatory. The Observatory falls into the abyss for good, permanently severing Asgard's immediate connection to the rest of the Nine Realms.
Now cornered on the end of the destroyed bridge, Heimdall, Skurge, Sif, Brunhild, Bill, and Strange stand between the citizens and the undead army. With Brunhild commandeering the quinjet and Bill dealing massive damage with the hammer, Goliath defeats Fenris by sending it over the cliff. At the same time, Loki arrives with the freed gladiators from Sakaar in the Grandmaster's ship (with Korg and Miek reciting stereotypical equalist slogans), and Strange creates portals to help the citizens board it.
In the throne room, Hela easily overpowers Thor and gouges out his right eye, snapping Gungnir in half. With Odin's vision reminding him of his true potential, Thor unleashes his full potential as the God of Thunder, summoning a massive bolt of lightning to briefly incapacitate Hela and wipe out a substantial portion of her army on the bridge, allowing the civilians to finish boarding the Grandmaster's ship. Realizing the only way to stop her from leaving Asgard is to cause Ragnarok itself, Thor orders Loki and Strange to resurrect Surtur. Thor, Goliath, Heimdall, Sif, Brunhild, Strange, Bill, and a repentant Skurge stall Hela and the Warriors Three and the undead on the bridge. As Thor plows through ranks of undead and recognizes the Warriors Three, the battle slows down. Thor does not want to fight them, but they are now the enemy, and he reluctantly puts them out of their misery with a bolt of lightning. Hela still easily defeats them all and attempts to board the ship, but Skurge blocks her path. As Skurge stalls Hela a while longer, Hela kills him and gloats to Thor she cannot be defeated. Meanwhile, Loki locates Surtur's crown and places it in the Eternal Flame, causing Surtur's resurrection as he destroys the palace and the city. Horrified, Hela attempts to stop Surtur by fighting him head on, while the rest take the opportunity to escape on the ship. Despite an attempt by Goliath to fight him (surprisingly successfully at first), Surtur destroys the city and apparently kills Hela in the process.
Thor and the remaining survivors on the ship solemnly watch Asgard's destruction from afar. He personally feels the guilt of the destruction of his home, as he embraces the mantle of king. After a moment of contemplation and with his comrades by his side, he decides to pick up the evacuees on the other planet and take the survivors to Earth.
In a mid-credits scene, Thanos is shown sitting on a throne in his flagship in orbit over a destroyed Xandar as Ebony Maw informs him of Asgard’s destruction. Thanos smiles, telling him that with Odin out of the way, there will be no serious challenge to his plans. He holds up the Infinity Gauntlet, now equipped with the Power Stone.
In a second mid-credits scene, Sif is revealed to have recovered the bodies of the Warriors Three and asks Strange for help resurrecting them (setting up their resurrection and consequences in the next season of Lady Sif and the Warriors Three).
In a post-credits scene, Thor and Loki reconcile in time for Thanos’ ship to attack them, with a blast from the Power Stone instantly cutting the ship in half.
