"There are three scenes on Earth in Thor: Ragnarok," he continued. "Everything else is Asgard, and worlds that certainly, in Thor lingo, are beyond the nine realms. There are planets that we spend a lot of time on in Thor: Ragnarok that certainly people would say, oh, that's sort of like the Guardians world — they're just other areas of the Marvel cosmic universe."

Beyond the third Thor, audiences should perhaps look at 2018's Avengers: Infinity War — which brings Thanos into the spotlight as the villain of the piece — and 2019's Captain Marvel, centering around a character who gets her powers from an alien source, as other movies that could feature extra-terrestrial influence … although who's to say where the microverse of next year's Ant-Man and the Wasp could end up leading?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is set to hit theaters May 5.