Marvel Studios made some big announcements today during its fan event, one of which is the confirmation of the Thor 3 title and release date.  The studio announced that Thor: Ragnarok will open in theaters on July 28, 2017, with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston confirmed to reprise their roles as the God of Thunder and his tricky brother Loki, respectively.  Moreover, in introducing the film, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said it’s the key movie in the studio’s Phase Three, as it takes place directly after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.  So what is a “Rangarok”, you might ask?  Find out after the jump.

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In the Marvel Comics, the name “Ragnarok” references a character who is a cyborg clone of Thor.  Yep, clones are coming to the MCU.  The key piece of info that might tell us why this is the storyline that picks up after the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron is the origin of Ragnarok.  In the comics, the real Thor goes missing in action and is presumed dead.  Tony Stark subsequently uses one of Thor’s hairs (that he just happens to have) and, with the help of Ant Man Hank Pym, is able to clone Thor’s DNA and fuse it with Stark technology.

We’ve heard that Avengers: Age of Ultron will be a game-changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the way that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was, and Feige recently confirmed that the roster of the Avengers will change after Ultron.  So, with Ragnarok being the subtitle of Thor 3, might we assume that Hemsworth’s character faces grave danger in Age of Ultron, turning up missing or quite possibly dead by the end of the film?  Obviously we don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like a massive stretch of the imagination, especially since Ultron will see Stark pushing his technology to the limit in terms of creating an evil robot.

In the comics, Stark uses this clone Thor to fight for him during the Civil War storyline, which finds Stark and Steve Rogers on opposing sides of a battle over the registration and oversight of superheroes.  Civil War just so happens to be the subtitle of Captain America 3, which will co-star Robert Downey Jr., so it’s all connected, you see.  It’s unclear how Hiddleston will fit into the story since last we saw Loki he was presumed dead and taking on the form of his father, whom he likely killed, but the actor is one of the best parts of the MCU so I'm not complaining about his return.

A director has yet to be announced for Thor: Ragnarok, but with the release date set I imagine we should hear word on that front sometime early next year.  Currently, the film has the July 28th weekend all to itself, but Fox’s The Fantastic Four 2 is scheduled to open a week earlier.  If that film comes to fruition, I imagine a release date shift is in the cards.

The Thor movies have been the weakest part of the MCU thus far, so here's hoping the Ragnarok storyline gets the creative juices flowing and makes for an exciting film.  Hemworth's a really talented actor when he has the right material (he's incredible in Rush), so I'd love for him to get a chance to really shine with this third Thor movie.  What do you think about this news, readers?  For those of you familiar with Ragnarok, is this an exciting storyline for a third Thor movie?  Where would you like to see the character go?  Sound off in the comments below.

[Update: As many have pointed out in the comments, apparently there are two stories involving the word Ragnarok in the Thor Marvel comics.  The other refers to an event that marks the end of days for all of Asgard, and is taken directly from Norse mythology. Essentially, Ragnarok is a series of great battles that ends with the deaths of most of the major characters and the entire world of Asgard submerged in water.  Marvel's official Wiki for the word is in reference to the clone, but the press release for the film mentions the "Norse End of Days" without going into further detail.  Devin at Badass Digest is hearing that Thor doesn't appear at all in Avengers: Infinity War Part I, so you could say things might get pretty dire in Thor: Ragnarok.]

Catch up on our coverage of all of Marvel's announcements below:

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Image via Marvel Studios