All the Thor: Love And Thunder Easter eggs and references explained
Everything you need to know about the latest Thor sequel, including backstories on Gorr, Zeus, Stormbreaker, and those screaming goats
Film Features Thor
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Thor: Love And Thunder.
Asgard’s mightiest son officially returned to action this week with the arrival of Thor: Love And Thunder, giving the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe a chance to veer away, at least for now, from the multiversal concerns of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and Loki, and instead zero in on director Taika Waititi’s quirky corner of the cosmos.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is one of the longest-running characters still headlining his own films in the MCU, as well as a founding member of the Avengers and a stalwart of Marvel Comics since 1962. That means there are plenty of inter-filmic connections, comic book lore and Easter eggs to detect, dissect and puzzle over.
Toward that end, The A.V. Club has assembled a breakdown of references great and small to make navigating the godly realms as easy, for casual fans and MCU die-hards alike, as if you had your own rainbow-hued bifrost bridge.
Hammering out the basics
A New Sound: Waititi—who reinvented the hero in Thor: Ragnarok by taking a faster-paced, more irreverent approach—signals right out of the gate that we’re decidedly in his MCU neighborhood. The director uses heavy metal guitar riffs in the opening instead of Marvel’s usually orchestral fanfare, a precursor to the heavy presence of hard-rocking needle-drops by Guns N’ Roses and others throughout the film.
More On Gorr: In the prologue, Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) is introduced as the film’s primary Big Bad—his first appearance in the MCU after debuting in the pages of Thor’s comic book during the long and influential run of writer Jason Aaron, in tandem with artist Esad Ribic, nearly a decade ago. Gorr’s origins here, as a devout alien forsaken by his cruel, indifferent gods, largely parallel the comics, although his ill-fated daughter is given a more prominent role on screen. Also different in the comics: Gorr, in his mission to eliminate the godly pantheons across the cosmos, had a violent clash with the young Thor in medieval Iceland. Although that doesn’t happen here we do get brief glimpses of the youthful Thunder God (played by Hemsworth’s son Tristan) – including one in full, original Jack Kirby-designed regalia—during Korg’s recap of Thor’s history.
Necrosword Unsheathed: Gorr’s weapon, the Necrosword, is also a nod to the comics, where it’s more properly known as All-Black the Necrosword, and has ties to the same symbiote world that birthed Spider-Man’s alien nemesis Venom—a detail which is, for now at least, a moot point in the MCU, given the multiversal separation of the cinematic universe Tom Hardy’s Venom inhabits.
Korg’s Recap: The narration by Korg—the good-natured rocky sidekick Thor picked up in Ragnarok, based on stony aliens he battled early in his comic book run—neatly gets the audience up to speed on Thor’s journey, from infancy through the events of his most recent Avengers adventures, which unsurprisingly took a heavy toll on his mind, body and spirit. Korg’s recap also fills in exactly what led to the demise Thor’s romance with astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), his paramour from the first two Thor films.
Fun Fact: Another of Thor’s old flames, the wolf woman, was played by Chris Hemsworth’s wife, actress Elsa Pataky.
Thor and Star Lord: Korg also reminds us that when last seen at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor had forged a bond with the Guardians of the Galaxy—and a rivalry with team leader Star Lord (Chris Pratt)—and together they set off into space in search of adventure. They’ve clearly found it by the beginning of Love And Thunder, and by the time they part ways Thor and Star Lord appear to have formed a genuine, if still competitive, friendship, while they commiserate over personal losses after Endgame.
Jane Foster gets a Mighty new look
As we re-encounter Jane Foster on Earth (she was last seen in Thor: The Dark World, with a time-traveling flashback glimpse in Endgame and alt-universe appearance in What If…), she’s in an even more foreboding place than Thor, coping with a terminal cancer prognosis. At her side is her friend Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), Jane’s loyal and irreverent sidekick in the first two Thor films. Darcy previously resurfaced in WandaVision when she was tasked by S.W.O.R.D. to help unravel the mystery of what Wanda Maximoff had done to Westport, ultimately turning against S.W.O.R.D.’s corrupt leadership in a bid to help Wanda return to reality. Also briefly glimpsed speaking with Jane via video connection was her eccentric friend and colleague Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), another veteran of both Thor and Avengers films and recently name-checked in a recent episode of Ms. Marvel.
Like Gorr, Jane’s cancer plot line derives from Aaron’s lengthy stint writing the Thor comic book: the character has been an on- and off- love interest for the Thunder God since his introduction 60 years ago (qualifying her as a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby creation). And picking up on a speculative story concept first introduced in a 1978 issue of What If?, Aaron reintroduced her with the breast cancer diagnosis in 2013. At the time, Thor considered himself unworthy to wield his magical hammer Mjolnir (similar to the MCU’s Thor in the first film), and a mystery woman eventually revealed to be Jane took up the hammer, the name and the power of the God of Thunder, soon earning a place amongst the Avengers.
The downside in Aaron’s story was that harnessing the godly power of Mjolnir allows Jane to avoid and ignore the serious ravages her cancer is taking on her mortal body when not in Thor form, as occurs in the film. Even worse, her mystical power actually makes her cancer worse.
It’s worth noting that in Love And Thunder, it’s Thor’s urging of Mjolnir to protect Jane that enables her to reassemble the MCU’s Mjolnir (shattered in Ragnarok by Thor’s half-sister, the death goddess Hela) and harness her worthiness. Previously, the only other individual the hammer found worthy enough to wield it was Steve Rogers, the first Captain America.
The New Asgardians
Valkyrie’s New Role: After Asgard was decimated during Ragnarok and many of its survivors were slaughtered by Thanos in Infinity War, the remaining Asgardians found a home on Earth at a seaside village in Norway, home of the Norse mythology built around them centuries earlier, and now thriving years after Thanos’ snap. The Valkyrie Brunnhilde (Tessa Thompson)—the former Asgardian shield maiden-turned-fatalistic galactic mercenary-turned-Thor ally—serves as their regent. In the comics, Valkyrie was a brief Thor love interest who emerged as her a superhero in her own right and a prominent member of The Defenders, and she rode a winged steed named Aragorn. The MCU’s Valkyrie appeared astride Aragorn during the Battle of Earth in Endgame, and he remains her preferred mode of transportation in Love And Thunder.
Fun Fact: in the comics Aragorn was originally ridden by Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, before being entrusted to Valkyrie. With Kit Harrington having joined the MCU as a pre-superheroic Whitman in Eternals, the characters’ stewardship of Aragorn may eventually be reversed on the big screen.
The Play’s The Thing: The Asgardian players introduced in Ragnarok—including cameo-ing Matt Damon as Actor Loki, Sam Neill as Actor Odin and Chris Hemsworth’s brother Luke as Actor Thor, joined here by Melissa McCarthy as Actor Hela—swiftly recap key moments in the prior film, amusingly reminding us that Hela destroyed Mjolnir. Another fun fact: The play’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-him stage manager is played by McCarthy husband and frequent co-writer and director Ben Falcone.
Meeting Miek: Also living among the New Asgardians is Miek, who like Korg and Thor was one of the prisoners forced into the gladiatorial Contest of Champions on the planet Sakaar in Ragnarok, and who later joined the Asgardians in Endgame’s Battle of Earth. It’s revealed here the Miek is female, or is now identifying as female, and serving as a chief aide to Valkyrie.
God wars
Sif Returns: As Thor rushes headlong into battle with Gorr, he is unexpectedly reunited with the Asgardian warrior Sif (Jaimie Alexander), his longtime friend and battle companion who harbors romantic feelings for him. Sif had not been seen in Thor’s orbit since The Dark World (due to Alexander’s commitments on the series Blindspot) but had shown up in two (now canonically questionable) episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as alt-universe appearances in What If…? Her injury at the hands of Gorr—resulting in a lost arm—echoes the fates of many an MCU character, including The Winter Soldier and Ulysses Klaue, which in turn is an acknowledged behind-the-scenes nod to the limb-lopping of the original Star Wars trilogy.
An Axe To Grind: Embarking on his quest to battle with Gorr, Thor adopts the latest in a string of costume variations in the MCU, and this somewhat grand, brightly colored and shiny-armored version harkens back to a dynamic comic book design first introduced in 1987 by legendary Thor writer and artist Walter Simonson. Thor’s axe Stormbreaker, introduced in Infinity War after the destruction of Mjolnir, also comes from Simonson, introduced in the comics as an alternate magical hammer given to the alien Beta Bill, who had proven himself worthy of the power of Thor after defeating the Thunder God in battle and assuming his hammer and his powers.
Got Their Goats: The pair of screaming goats gifted to Thor by the alien culture he and the Guardians “rescued” are direct references to Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher, two Asgardian goats who pulled Thor’s chariot that the often whimsically minded Simonson introduced into the comics during his defining run in the ’80s. Yet another fun fact: they’re based on Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, two mystical goats who perform similar services for Thor in Norse mythology.
What’s In A Name: When the two Thors, Valkyrie, and Korg set off to seek Omnipotent City with goats in tow, they’re aboard the Asgardian Viking ship Aesir, which is the Norse word for “pantheon.”
Heimdall’s Offspring: Among the Asgardian children abducted by Gorr is Astrid—although, in a winking nod to the film’s abundance of GnR music, he prefers to be called Axl—the son of Heimdall (Idris Elba), the former guardian of Asgard’s space-spanning bifrost bridge who, before being executed by Thanos in Infinity War, absorbed the bifrost’s transportational abilities himself. As the film reveals, Axl, too, is empowered with the bifrost.
Omnipotence City: Home to the parliament of gods, the city has its origins in Jason Aaron’s original comic book storyline featuring Gorr. Its central leader is the hirsute Greek god monarch Zeus (Russell Crowe), whose Marvel Comics roots go even deeper: the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby interpretation of the deity bowed in 1965, heading the Olympian pantheon that often come into conflict with Odin and the Asgardian gods. Zeus’ vast powers include control of lightning and thunder, though he doesn’t require any special weaponry to focus his abilities, unlike his MCU counterpart. This more petulant version is reminiscent of the Zeus featured in writer-artist Bob Layton’s seemingly non-canonical but very funny Hercules mini-series of the 1980s.
Enter Eternity: Another cosmic-level comic book creation, Eternity, glimpsed fleetingly at the film’s start, emerges as a key figure in Gorr’s quest to destroy the gods. Eternity was created by Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in 1965, gradually unveiled as an abstract but powerful cosmic entity who often trades fate-of-the-universe-saving favors with Doctor Strange. He’s so powerful, in fact, that he serves as something of a guardian of the multiverse—Ah-ha! You just knew the multiverse would figure in here somewhere, didn’t you? Eternity has long played a role in Marvel Comics’ most mind-bending storylines, and his MCU incarnation resides in a realm that appears to feature oblique visual references to similarly cosmic characters, some previously seen in the MCU like the Celestials, and others making what appears to be their debut, like the Living Tribunal.
Saying Goodbye? As Love And Thunder reaches its climax, Jane, the double-edge nature of her Thor powers and her cancer revealed, finally faces her fate, dying with Thor by her side—unlike the comics, where Thor reclaimed his worthiness, along with the mantle of Thor, while Jane focused on resuming her chemotherapy. But there is one last shoe to drop…
Where the rainbow bridge takes us from here
Before we get to that, there’s a matter of the first post-credits scene, in which Zeus, seething with wounded pride, vents his spleen and tasks one of his Olympian subjects to deliver vengeance onto Thor. That Olympian is, in fact, Zeus’ half-human son, the demigod Hercules (yeah, it’s the Roman spelling, but it’s become Marvel tradition), who makes his MCU debut here, played by Ted Lasso fan favorite Brett Goldstein. Hercules has a long and storied history in the comic book universe, starting out as a rival to Thor and eventually going on to become a loyal and stalwart member of the Avengers, despite being more than a little overconfident, or over reliant on his brute strength over common sense. Often played for sly laughs, Hercules promises to be a raucous addition to the MCU.
And finally, the final post-credit scene reveals Jane emerging in a serene and beautiful mystic realm, looking fully restored. She’s greeted by the previously deceased Heimdall, who promises that there is a greater and more urgent fate ahead for Jane. The tease suggests that, though she has passed, Jane may follow a path similar to her comic book counterpart and become the new Valkyrie, imbued with the powers of Asgardian shield maidens that bore the dead to Valhalla, which just may be the place she arrived. The MCU remains one massive, sprawling sage where characters can show up where they’re least expected, and where Jane’s new journey will take her is, for the moment, anyone’s guess.
58 Comments
My favorite joke in the whole movie was Korg’s deity sitting on a throne of scissors.
Mine was (I don’t remember it word for word but) “We only got half of our soldiers!”
“We always only got half left!”
Rock, paper, scissors?
It was very quick, but I was still surprised to be the only person laughing at that in my theater.
I saw that too, dunno who else did, but I chuckled heartily at that.
OH!!! I laughed, even though I couldn’t quite figure out why I laughed!! But on some level, I got it.
OH MY GOD I ONLY GOT THIS JOKE NOW.
I think the boat was actually called Aegir, who is a jotunn of the sea.
I’d like to briefly brag here: After Endgame I went out and bought the Jason Aaron/Russell Dauterman original run of Jane Foster Thor spanning from her introduction until “War of the Realms”. I was NOT expecting so many lines and scenes to be adapted directly from those books I read.
I wasn’t a Harry Potter kid and I didn’t read much growing up so this was actually the first time I’ve ever seen something I read adapted to a film. This was friggin awesome! This movie is very special to me. Yay Jane!
Speaking of blink-and-you’ll-miss-him: We also learn in the movie that Thor’s ex-flatmate Darryl (see below) is working in New Asgard; he’s listed as “Darryl the Tour Guide” in the credits.
The way I cheered when he showed up freaked out the dude sitting next to me
Thank god they fired all the old writers so we could finally have content like…this.
I guess I feel better about reading this shit here than on CBR or WatchMojo or whatever, but the reason those places suck in the first place is because of these articles.
Yeah, I’m curious if any AVClub reader needs an article like this. Also, Eternity was created by “Stan Lee and Steve Ditko”- well, Ditko plotted and drew the stories before bringing them into Stan Lee fully completed and then he added dialogue after the fact based on Ditko’s margin notes- whatever Marvel’s owners want, Lee didn’t really “create” Eternity but the world is used to it now, so. Also, I’ve never seen Ted Lasso so trust the casting process but that actor looks remarkably skinny to be Hercules.
yeah Eternity is such a quintessentially Ditko-looking creation. The only thing more Ditko is a closeup of a sweaty guy with his eyes bulging out.Or refusing an interview.
I think it’s tremendous casting for a Waititi version.
EASTER EGG: “If you look carefully at the background of the scene in the place with all the gods, you’ll notice a chubby older bearded character dressed in gold. That is an actor named ‘Russell Crow.’ He has been in several movies.”
Previously, the only other individual the hammer found worthy enough to wield it was Steve Rogers, the first Captain America.Yeah, I think Vision would like to have a word here.
Vision wasn’t a living being. It’s like the old question… can an elevator lift Mjolnir?
Oh damn. That “Avengers Assemble!” moment in Endgame hits a lot weaker now…
The only issue I see is that MCU Thor is basically 616 Herc already. So is MCU Herc the straight man now? Or is it clown v. clown?
I wouldn’t be surprised, given Zeus’ orders, if Herc starts out as a redass before being swayed by the Power of Brodom and such.
MCU Herc better not be straight by any definition of the word or I riot.
Considering Herc is played by lovable grump Brett Goldstein, I’m guessing he’d be the “straight man”
My son said “I hope the next one’s rated R so Brett Goldstein can just curse constantly”
A couple things. – Holy wow I hated the goats. I think I would’ve rather had that llama from last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy game.- Omnipotence City would have been a great opportunity to call back some other, already-seen Marvel gods. Khonshu seems like he hates parties, but Taweret would’ve had a blast. (The one mention of Ra notwithstanding.)- Thor granting the children limited power was very Shazam.- Love, Kate, Billy, Tommy, Kamala, maybe Axel. Your Young Avengers line-up?
Elijah Bradley from Falcon and Winter Soldier, Sprite from Eternals, America Chavez, Cassie Lang also most likely. Could include kid Loki from another universe and may be Gorr’s daughter.I think Kate is too old to be a young Avenger. She would be one of the next gen Avengers along with Yelena, Shang-Chi, etc
I can’t believe they actually did the cancer storyline. Awesome. I enjoyed the movie. I wouldn’t put it in any best of lists but it was fun for sure.
I thought the idea that Jane went to Valhalla because she died battling cancer was a nice touch.
Yes! I realized that thinking about it after the movie, and loved it. And I loved that it wasn’t stated outright, but just there for you to take.
I took it as she died on ‘the battlefield’ helping Thor fight Gorr (which, according to Thor, is how you get into Valhalla), but the way that she died was from cancer.
Anybody know what the deal was with him planting Stormbreaker while meditating and then pulling it up with roots? Is it just some Yggdrasil thing?I really liked the Yggdrasil thing, incidentally.
I thought it was a nod to Stormbreaker’s haft being, y’know, Groot…
Jamie Alexander also had a part in Loki.
Sif’s guest appearances on Agents of SHIELD were so fun that to me they have to be canon, somehow. “The Nine Realms are littered with the bones of the enemies of Asgard who underestimated Sif.”
They pretty easily can fit into canon. That was before AoS sort of branched off with the time jumping stuff.
Yes, but it is effectively a flashback, not like she had a part in the main narrative of Loki.
I really enjoyed the film. I thought there were some hilarious moments in it and I loved how they brought the Jane cancer arc into the storyline.“We will bring the children back and feast. But not feast on the children, we don’t do that anymore. Those were dark, shameful times.”I also thought the jealousy bits with Stormbreaker were really funny too.I thought the Zeus part when on a little bit too long but overall a terrific movie that I will happily see again.
Maybe it was unintentional, but I found myself laughing when he stopped the two cars/ships in the first battle by doing splits a la Van Damme. It’s possible I was looking too much into the scene though, but still good.
No, that was extremely intentional, and hilarious.
This article gets the Sif arm loss thing wrong. It doesn’t just echo MCU characters losing an arm, it specifically references the fact that Thor himself loses his arm during the Jason Aaron comics.
I wish they could have somehow had the gods leave something on earth that somehow got in the hands of the Wrecking Crew. Just a small teaser or something.
No Jesus in Omnipotence City?
He’s the bartender, standing in front of a sink.
I think they say something like, “that’s the god of carpenters over there…”
I like the idea of the other Gods just not getting Jesus at all.“So, people pray to you to make their tables sturdy?”“No, they pray to me for everything. I’m their one and only God”“Why, do they sit in chairs their whole lives? Did you like, make all of them out of wood or something?
the former guardian of Asgard’s space-spanning bifrost bridge who, before being executed by Thanos in Infinity War, absorbed the bifrost’s transportational abilities himself. As the film reveals, Axl, too, is empowered with the bifrost.Eh? No, he didn’t. First off, Heimdall never absorbed the Bifrost’s abilities — his sword was the one that was able to control the Bifrost and he used it to send the Hulk to Earth before being killed by Thanos. Later, Stormbreaker is built with the same power.Heimdall’s power was always that he could see everywhere, hence the golden eyes. That’s the power that his son has and it has nothing to do with the Bifrost. She’s greeted by the previously deceased Heimdall, who promises that there is a greater and more urgent fate ahead for Jane. What? No, he doesn’t. He says “Welcome to Valhalla.” And that’s it.
You are expecting these hacks to pay attention?
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Haven’t seen anyone mention that Jane references Event Horizon and Interstellar. Those movies star the Asgard actors Matt Damon and Sam Neil. Kinda neat.
So much of this is an amalgam of Jason Aaron’s run, they must have paid him millions to use his ideas, right? Right? (I know how work for hire comics contracts work, please don’t write comments explaining them to me)
“a detail which is, for now at least, a moot point in the MCU, given the multiversal separation of the cinematic universe Tom Hardy’s Venom inhabits.”Someone didn’t watch all of No Way Home.
I am extremely confused about Axl, because Astrid is almost always a woman’s name, so I assumed the character was trans. I saw the argument over Axl’s assumed name as being coded in a way that the people who knew Axl were affirming his gender identity to Thor, who was still identifying Axl as their gender assigned at birth. But then again, the presentation of the character was not trans in any way? Am I the only one who got thrown by this?
No, your not. I thought it was a trans reference too, but then it was dropped for the rest of the movie.
It just feels really uncharacteristically mean and joyless that way. It seemed like it was making that same joke while deliberately eliding the trans aspect of it. I didn’t really like it either way, and the payoff at the end where Thor does call him Axl really wasn’t good enough to warrant the gag. But I don’t see any reason why Thor would act like that, even being the himbo that he is, nor do I see any reason why Waititi would write such a transphobic joke.
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…Or is it eggs?
I am assuming that Simon Russell Beale (who appears in like two shots as Dionysus with no lines but gets a big illustrated name place in the closing credits) had a much more significant part that Waititi had to cut. It seems a waste to have him in the movie just for a crowd scene.And I didn’t think it would be possible for Chris Hemsworth to look bigger by taking his clothes off, but somehow, that happened.