The "Thor" franchise has always been a popular one in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's nowhere near the most popular. In terms of box office, the Chris Hemsworth-starring franchise falls considerably short of movies in the "Iron Man" or "Avengers" series (nor does it have the cult appeal of "Guardians of the Galaxy").

But is that grounds to end the "Thor" franchise early? And is Marvel planning to do so? Maybe. According to Christian Today, the God of Thunder may be killed off in the third film, "Thor: Ragnarok." They're claiming that because the Ragnarok storyline, both in actual Norse mythology and in Marvel Comics, involves the destruction of Thor's homeland and the killing of his people, that the film may spell the end for Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel universe. As well, Christian Today also adds that Loki may be killed in "Thor: Ragnarok" as well.

However, MoviePilot posts something even more interesting- that if Thor does meet his maker in "Thor: Ragnarok," it would mean the character would be absent from both "Avengers: Infinity War" and all future films as well. With that in mind, it almost seems like killing Thor would be a premature end for the character- Chris Hemsworth would have only gotten to interact with other non-Asgard characters in two films, "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Then, he'd be dead.

So while killing Thor in "Thor: Ragnarok" does seem like a possibility, if Marvel goes through with it, they may be cutting a budding franchise short. And besides, from the way Chris Hemsworth describes it, he won't find out Thor's fate for a while. According to Newsarama, Hemsworth said:

"I mean I have asked the question but the truth is no one has the answer yet. We don't know how it's going to end and the biggest concern is this one here you know, more so than two or three films down the line."

"Thor: Ragnarok" hits theaters on November 3, 2017, and will star Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.