How ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Leads Into ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Revealed

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s next two space-trotting adventures, many are expecting Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War to be intricately tied. But according to one of Ragnarok‘s producers, those connections will be a little unexpected.

ComicBook.com was one of the outlets that got a chance to chat with Ragnarok producer Brad Winderbaum during a set visit in Australia. And as he explained, the events of Ragnarok actually take several MCU resources off the table, similar to the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

“It’s much like how The Winter Soldier kind of took a lot of ideas off the playing field, to make it harder on the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Winderbaum revealed. “It’s a similar thing.”

Considering the apocalyptic-sounding title, many fans have expected that the MCU will never be the same after Ragnarok. Winderbaum echoed that, adding that Hela’s (Cate Blanchett) possible destruction of Asgard will make the cinematic universe more vulnerable.

“The whole cosmic world of the MCU was like okay,” Winderbaum explained, “‘You had Thanos, and you had Chitauri, and you have all kind of threats from above coming. But you also have Asgard, you also have these protective forces out there too.’”

It sounds like Asgard’s role as a protector of the cosmos is more important to the MCU than fans might have thought. And according to Winderbaum, the absence of that security – particularly after Ragnarok – might have a hand in how Infinity War‘s massive roster of heroes are forced to team up.

“We make it much harder for those protections to come help our heroes.”

Thor: Ragnarok opens in theaters on November 3, 2017. Avengers: Infinity War will arrive on May 4th, 2018.