We are just over two months away from the return of Thor and Loki in theaters with Thor: The Dark World set to hit American theaters on November 8. Though last Wednesday's new trailer didn't give away much, we did catch a few glimpses of some of the villains Thor will be taking on both on Earth and in other realms. Let's do some research and find out who Thor will do battle against in The Dark World.
This meet and greet is a bit of a departure from what has been done so far in the fact that, as far as we know, Surtur does not play a role in the events of Thor: The Dark World. Why introduce him then? Surtur is too important to the story of Thor not to know about. If Surtur is not lurking in the background in this film, perhaps the great darkness that existed before everything else, then I believe he will be the antagonist of the third Thor film: a series of films that would become increasingly darker and, ultimately, end with the apparent death of the god of thunder. Thor: Ragnarok or something similar would have the potential to be a true Lord of the Rings type of fantasy epic and would, as Marvel continues to hope to do, rewrite the CBM genre.
Surtur is a 1,000-plus foot demon made of fire and possessing immense power whose existence predates the creation of Earth. Older and more powerful than even Odin, Surtur is the feared enemy of Asgard and it is Surtur, wielding his giant flame sword, who is destined to attack Asgard and bring about Ragnarok which will lead to the death and rebirth of the world following a great and terrible war that will cost most of the Asgardians their lives.
Surtur is the lord of Muspelheim, the realm of fire (similar, conceptually, to the Christian version of hell, though the Norse have their own version which is a different realm). He, and the fire demons over which he holds dominion, are pure evil and, over the years, have entered into all sorts of mischief and engaged in partnerships with other enemies of Asgard (Loki and Malekith, the Accursed to name two). Thought his power is indefinite he has been defeated by Odin in the past, including, and most famously, a time when he was imprisoned by the All-father in the core of Earth only to be freed by Loki. Surtur has attacked Earth as well, in order to draw the attention of Asgard away from their own realm and has defeated both Odin and Thor in battle in the past, once being responsible for the apparent death of Odin.
Malekith and the Dark Elves are clearly the main foes for Thor and the other Asgardians in The Dark World but from the trailers I get the feeling that while Malekith is powerful, he is not the darkness whose existence predates the universe and that he may be allied with Surtur. A lot of guess work and speculation there but since I'm just a fan I'm free to do so and I enjoy the process of trying to piece things together. Surtur's mere presence in the film, if only similar to how we saw Thanos in Avengers, would set up wonderful possibilities for the next Thor solo film including a way to potentially end or pause the franchise with the apparent death of Thor. At any rate he would present an absolutely incredible foe for Asgard and make for some spectacular CGI work.
Well we cannot be sure that we're going to see or even a mention of him in Thor: The Dark World, Surtur remains the great enemy of Asgard, one whose power would make him among the most powerful villains of the MCU.