It's not too late for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to adapt Marvel's tremendous War of the Realms event. Taika Waititi is returning for the upcoming Thor: Love & Thunder, a film that's heavily inspired by Jason Aaron's comic book run. It will even feature the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster - only this time she'll be wielding a hammer as the Mighty Thor.

Aaron's epic Thor run saw the Nine Realms consumed by war, as the armies of the Dark Elf Malekith cut a bloody swathe across the realms of Yggdrasil. It culminated in War of the Realms, one of the best comic book events of the last decade, in which Malekith's forces attempted to claim the last realm - Midgard. The story had a bigger scale than the movies, and Aaron constructed its narrative carefully to ensure the central plot worked remarkably well. Aaron's popular and influential run is clearly informing the MCU, and it would be a shame not to incorporate this plot, his crowning achievement.

Related: War of The Realms: Complete Reading Guide for Marvel's Epic Event

Unfortunately, at first glance, it seems impossible for Marvel Studios to do their own War of the Realms. They've already introduced their version of Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, and they killed him off. Meanwhile, Asgard is gone, meaning there are no longer Nine Realms in the first place. So how could the MCU adapt this story?

Malekith Could Be Replaced - Perhaps With Cul?

The sad truth is that it's pretty difficult to resurrect Malekith; the Asgardians successfully retrieved the Aether from his corpse on Svartalfheim, so he's certainly supposed to be dead. But Marvel could simply choose to swap him for another villain. The Thor comics have no shortage of would-be cosmic conquerors to choose from; one of the most interesting is Thor's own uncle, Cul Borson, the brother of Odin. The self-appointed God of Fear, Cul considered himself the true All-Father and longed to establish his rule over all the Realms. Casting Cul as the villain would even allow Waititi to continue the themes of Thor: Ragnarok.

The Nine Realms Are Still Accessible

Thor's Bifrost Rainbow Bridge and Observatory

In the comics, Malekith's armies were able to travel across the Nine Realms because the Dark Elves had constructed the so-called "Black Bifrost." This became a major plot point, with an Avengers squad desperately attempting to destroy the Black Bifrost in order to prevent Malekith's reinforcements reaching Earth. In the MCU, of course, the Bifrost is actually a wormhole of some kind. It's unclear whether the MCU's Bifrost was created by the Asgardians, or by the Dwarves of Nidavellir; the latter seems more likely. If the former, any villain connected to Asgard could potentially understand the secrets of the Bifrost well enough to build their own equivalent; if the latter, the Dwarves could have built similar installations for other races.

The Fall of Asgard Has Left The Nine Realms Vulnerable

In the comics, Malekith's forces were able to advance because Asgard had been plunged into a time of chaos and confusion; in fact, Malekith only launched his attack on Midgard when he believed Asgard had been crippled. It's not hard to see a correlation between this idea and the MCU; in the movies, the Realm Eternal has been destroyed, with refugees settling on New Asgard on Earth. The other Realms had always depended on Asgard as their protector, but now they have absolutely no defense from martial predators like Malekith or Cul. They are, frankly, ripe for conquest. This is the perfect time for a War of the Realms plot.

Related: The Real Reason Captain Marvel Was Able To Lift Thor's Hammer

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It's actually surprisingly easy to adapt War of the Realms for the MCU. While the main villain's identity has to change, in truth the attraction of this story was its sheer scale. Nobody really cared about Malekith per se; rather, readers were both stunned and impressed at his martial achievements, as one Realm after another fell to his army, until Midgard was the last one left. Furthermore, this story would potentially allow Marvel to correct one of the errors of the Thor franchise to date; the fact the rest of the Nine Realms feel relatively underdeveloped as locations. War of the Realms would give Marvel the chance to explore all of the remaining Realms, in enough detail that they could be used again further down the line.

More: How Thor Ended Marvel's Biggest War EVER