We Now Know What Thor Has Been Up To Between Endgame And Love And Thunder
Leave it to a toy leak to provide clues about the plot of "Thor: Love and Thunder." It never fails: there's a new superhero film coming up, and plot details are scarce, but then images of the tie-in merchandise — in this case, action figures — make their way online, rendering some of the secrecy in marketing moot. A Reddit user recently posted a photo of an upcoming wave of Marvel Legends figures based on "Thor: Love and Thunder," and now we have a better idea of what's been going on in the god of thunder's life between the events of "Avengers: Endgame" and "Love and Thunder."
If you're enjoying the lack of a trailer for "Love and Thunder" and would rather not know anything about the fourth "Thor" movie before going into it, look away now, as there's a potential mild spoiler incoming in 3, 2, 1 ...
It looks like Thor will at some point be a Ravager in "Love and Thunder." The conclusion of "Endgame" saw Thor linking up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we know that several actors from that franchise will be appearing in "Love and Thunder." But if you thought Thor was going to become an honorary Guardian, it appears he drifts more to the Ravager way of doing things. There's a figure in the Marvel Legends wave called "Ravager Thor," which would seem to indicate that Thor will be joining the band of space pirates that the blue-skinned Yondu (Michael Rooker) once led.
Ravaging from the rich to give to the poor
It was the Ravagers who kidnapped Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) from Earth as a boy. In Marvel's "What If...?" animated series, we also saw an alternate reality where they had kidnapped T'Challa from "Black Panther" instead, so that he became Star-Lord in that reality and went on to lead the Ravagers and steer them down a slightly more noble, Robin Hood-like path, where they were robbing from the rich to give to the poor. There was even a Star-Lord T'Challa spin-off in the planning stages before Chadwick Boseman's untimely passing in 2020.
Having Thor become a Ravager might be one way to bring a storyline like the abandoned ones for Star-Lord T'Challa into live-action. Or it might just be a way for Thor to work out some of his lingering issues after losing his home of Asgard and most of his people in "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Avengers: Infinity War," before becoming a burlier, Big Lebowksi-like figure (and Fortnite player) in "Endgame."
When "Love and Thunder" wrapped production last year, Chris Hemsworth had shared a photo on Instagram of him and director Taika Waititi, with Waititi in costume as his mo-cap character, Korg. Hemsworth was wearing the same shirt that his "Ravager Thor" action figure is wearing, which further backs up that this is where his character is going.
The other figures in the Marvel Legends wave for "Love and Thunder" are Thor, the Mighty Thor, King Valkyrie, Star-Lord, Groot, and Gorr. Tessa Thompson is reprising her role as Valkyrie in "Love and Thunder" and Christian Bale is playing the new villain, Gorr the God Butcher, while one or more of those Thors is going to be Natalie Portman's Jane Foster.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" swings into theaters on July 8, 2022.