Why Thor: Ragnarok Will Blow Everyone Away

The first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok has dropped, and for less than two minutes of footage, it's positively loaded with intel. From how the Incredible Hulk fits into all this, to the new big bad who looks to take out all of Asgard on her own, here's everything we learned during our first glimpse of footage from Thor: Ragnarok—and why the film will almost certainly blow us all away when it drops November 3.

Outside of Loki, villains have long been a weak link across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the fairly boring Dark Elves in The Dark World, Marvel is looking to up the ante in a big way with the villain in Ragnarok. Cate Blanchett plays the Norse goddess of death, Hela—and she more than lives up to her advance billing. We get our first look at Hela here, and she's positively terrifying: neither Thor nor the full might of Asgard look to be a match for her destructive capabilities.

Thor's weapon of choice has been a key piece of the MCU since we first got a peek at Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team trying to mine it out of the ground in Iron Man II's post-credit scene. But all of that ends here. Thor tries to take on Hela by throwing Mjolnir, but she's powerful enough to stop it midair. Worse? She also crushes it into charred little hammer bits. Considering the big deal that's been made about this hammer, and how no one can lift (or in this case, hold) it without being worthy, it makes one wonder just how powerful Hela might actually be. With all the villains the Avengers have faced, none have been able to make short work of that magic hammer.

We see Hela face off with the whole of Asgard's army all on her own, then cutting to furious explosions as fire engulfs the entire city. Hela makes the point even clearer with her line: "Asgard is dead." We've seen Asgard face its fair share of damage in other Thor films, but we've never seen the city of the gods actually wiped out. The events here could have a lasting impact on the MCU, especially if it means displaced Norse gods roaming the galaxy.

After he spectacularly loses his fight with Hela, Thor finds himself flying across the sky and seemingly cast out of whatever's left of Asgard. When he stands up, he's in what appears to be an alien refugee camp, and is quickly captured. Yes, we've seen Thor cast out to Earth, trying to earn back his legacy, but this is a different type of story—this is Thor basically lost and alone after being walloped by Hela. The story seems to mirror a bit of the recent Unworthy Thor storyline from the comics, and it looks to be a very different take on the hammer-wielding hero.

From Robert Redford in Captain America: The Winter Solider, to Glenn Close in Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU has attracted its faire share of A-list actors over the past few years, and now it's time for Jurassic Park alum Jeff Goldblum to make the jump. Here, Goldblum plays the Grandmaster, who seems to be pulling the strings of the super-powered gladiatorial games where Thor finds himself after being captured following the apparent fall of Asgard. Goldblum looks amazing in his costume—which fits into the rich visual scheme of what might be the most colorful Marvel film to date.

The footage here gives us our first good look at Creed alum Tessa Thompson in the role of Valkyrie, an Asgardian warrior who seems to be working for the Grandmaster. We've been told Valkyrie will serve as a potential love interest for Thor, with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster off the board. Judging by what we see of her here, and the glances she shares with Thor, it'll be interesting to see how her allegiances are tested along the way.

After being captured by the Grandmaster's forces, Thor is tossed into the world of intergalactic gladiators and seems to be relatively resigned to his fate at first—he arms up and pops down his helmet to get ready for his big fight, which—to his delight—turns out be against the Hulk. Incorporating this element from the Planet Hulk storyline seems to be a perfect way to pit Thor (and the Hulk) against all kinds of wild characters for some action set pieces along the way. Hey, it can't all be about fighting Hela.

When last we left Loki, he was the secret king of Asgard, having assumed Odin's form at the end of The Dark World. But we see him back with his Tom Hiddleston face here, wielding a few knives during a fight scene—and resurfacing a bit later alongside the Grandmaster, with whom he watches Thor's fight against the Hulk. Is Loki pulling the strings to keep Thor locked up in the ring? Is he there to rescue him, or is he just there to enjoy the show? We can't wait to find out.

Idris Elba's Heimdall has been a quiet force in the Thor movies, guarding the Bifrost and generally being a badass of few words. He loses that fancy armor and finds himself flying solo in Ragnarok—the brief shot of Heimdall we see here shows him looking very much like scruffy Idris Elba, but he's still wielding a sword and mowing down bad guys as needed. We've never really seen Heimdall out on his own, seemingly without a Bifrost to defend. Will he eventually join up with Thor to try and retake Asgard?

As expected, the best moment comes at the end, when we finally get a look at Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in full-on Planet Hulk attire, ready to take on all comers in the gladiator ring. We still don't know exactly how Hulk ends up in deep space or why he seems keen to start wailing on Thor, but this looks like the weirdest buddy movie we never knew we wanted to see.

Guardians of the Galaxy set the tone for the MCU in terms of how popular music can be used to sell a story, and it seems Thor: Ragnarok borrowed a cassette or two from Star-Lord's repertoire. The entire trailer is set to the rocking beats of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," and combined with the neon colors and font book straight out of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, sets a tone unlike any Thor movie we've seen before. It also looks like the gods are having the most fun we've seen in Asgard in ages—well, you know, except for all the destruction and stuff.

Regardless of your allegiances, November looks to be one heck of an awesome month for comic book movie fans. We have Thor: Ragnarok hitting on November 3, followed by Justice League just two weeks later on November 17. Marvel and DC just love those box office battles, right? But no matter which film comes out of top of this one when all the money is counted, there's no denying they look to be two of the most wildly different movies you could see within the same genre. Ragnarok looks to be a big, goofy, bright, fun adventure in space. While Justice League has the weight of the DC universe on its shoulders to introduce several new heroes and wash out the taste of the critically panned grimdark left behind by Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In a world of dark and serious, Ragnarok looks like a crazy fun time.

The Thor movies have always made solid cash for Marvel, but they've never quite reached the stratosphere of a hero like Iron Man. But, the third time could be the charm–at least judging by the buzz around the film's debut trailer. The trailer was seen a mind-boggling 136 million times in a 24-hour span, marking the most successful trailer ever for Marvel Studios and Disney. Yes, that's even more than the Star Wars films (although the trailer for The Last Jedi hasn't been up for 24 hours at the time of this writing). But it wasn't enough to make Thor: Ragnarok the most viewed trailer ever. That prize goes to the breakout trailer for the upcoming remake of Stephen King's It, which was viewed 197 million times in the first 24 hours. The previous record was held by the trailer for Fate of the Furious, which was seen 139 million times in its first 24 hours.