When I saw Iron Man 2 (which is FANTASTIC by the way), I knew how Marvel managed to connect it with Thor, the next installment of the Marvel Movie Universe.

Here’s my question: How will Marvel connect Thor with the previous two movies (Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk)?

Here’s my answer…

The explosion of the Arc Reactor – which was a unique achievement that has never existed before, and therefore no one could predict the ramifications of its detonation – was somehow noticed by the gods of Asgard. Either it woke them out of some form of suspended animation, or brought them back into existence, or just made them aware of the power humans now have and they feel threatened. This would cause some of the gods, most likely Tyr and Loki, to want to attack humanity in self defense. They would enlist the Frost Giants, Dark Elves, trolls and others as their army. Other Asgardians, including Odin, Thor, Balder, Sif, Valkyrie and the Warriors Three, would try to stop them, believing that humanity should be left alone. The resulting battle, with humanity at stake, causes the tremendous storm we see in The Incredible Hulk.

But how does this explain the presence of Thor’s hammer at the end of Iron Man 2?

Instead of Odin sending Thor to Earth to learn humility (as it was in the comics), Thor winds up on Earth during the battle, and forgets everything about his Asgardian self. It could be from an injury, or it could be from a spell cast on him by Loki. While the rest of the movie deals with Thor recovering from the injury/spell and rediscovering himself, the battle ends with Loki’s forces victorious, and preparing to invade Earth…

Now I have to figure out how to connect this with the Captain America movie.