Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder blasts into theaters today in some locations, and while this latest MCU adventure is mostly standalone in nature, it does have a few surprises in store.
Major spoilers follow from this point on!
When Gorr kidnaps the children of New Asgard, Thor and his crew travel to Omnipotence City to ask the Gods assembled there for help. Unfortunately, they find Zeus (Russell Crowe) to be less than helpful, and the Odinson is ultimately forced to kill (or so he believes) the arrogant deity with his own Lightning Bolt.
We don't find out what actually became of Zeus until the mid-credits scene, where the very-much alive and vengeful Father of the Gods swears to make Thor "fall from the sky" so that mankind will stop looking to "so-called superheros" to save them and learn to fear the Gods again. Zeus tasks his son, Hercules, with this mission, and it's then we see that Ted Lasso breakout Brett Goldstein has been cast as the Olympian powerhouse!
Hercules is usually depicted as a hero in the comics, but he was introduced as a rival of Thor's, and it looks like he will begin as a full-on enemy to the God of Thunder in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before (presumably) defying his father and joining the good guys.
Thor: Love and Thunder finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor.
Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
Directed by Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters July 8, 2022.