[This story contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.]
The final moments of Thor: Love and Thunder push the film’s leading man into new territory.
Before the credits roll, the film ends by opening a new chapter in Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) life – from daddy bod to daddy god. In honor of Gor’s dying wish, The Butcher God (Christian Bale), Thor effectively adopts Gor’s daughter, who is brought back to life by Eternity, emerging from a cosmic wish for well-being with god-like powers. After all the losses he’s suffered, the God of Thunder forges a new path with his daughter Love by his side (Love and Thunder, get it?).
Love plays a crucial role in the film, appearing in the first and last scenes, with her death early in the film being what ultimately sets her father Gor on his quest to kill all the gods. Subsequently, it is her new life that allows Thor to discover his own new purpose in life – to be a father. So who is she? Love certainly doesn’t exist in Marvel comics as far as the Earth-616 universe is concerned, meaning she’s an entirely new character introduced specifically for the MCU. And while Thor has fathered children in other timelines in the comics, Gor’s daughter the Butcher God is not one of them.
Love is played by Hemsworth’s real-life daughter, India Rose Hemsworth, with whom the actor shares his wife, Elsa Pataky. Whether or not this means the mini-Hemsworth will now become a permanent fixture in the future of the MCU remains to be seen, but given their genuine father-daughter chemistry, the Love and Thunder couple is certainly ready to take on new adventures together along the way.
Enter the mid-credits scene and the post-credits scene. With Thor’s next steps well laid out, audiences get a further look at what’s to come in the God of Thunder’s journey. With so many comic storylines, new characters, and constantly moving parts to follow in the MCU, let’s break down the key takeaways from these final scenes.
The first scene deals with a long-standing comic rivalry between Thor and Hercules. It opens with Zeus (Russell Crowe), who has apparently survived his Thor-inflicted wound, lamenting that mortals now look to their favorite superheroes rather than the gods to solve their problems.
“When did we become a joke?” Zeus says. “They’ll fear us again when Thor Odinson falls from the sky.” Bent on revenge, the god of lightning tasks his son Hercules with taking on Thor—cut to the big reveal of Hercules himself, played by Ted Lasso, the wearer at Emmy Brett Goldstein.
While some may know Hercules from Greek mythology or even Disney’s 1997 animated interpretation, this Hercules isn’t too far off. Like other iterations of the figure, Marvel’s Hercules is also the son of Zeus, often getting into fights with Thor in the comics over trivial matters, usually as a result of their competitive nature. Herc first appeared as Thor’s rival in the 1965 Marvel comic Journey Into Mystery Annual, and although he has his own comic storylines, the character most often appears in team crossover stories. Within the current timeline of the current comics, Hercules has participated in superhero teams such as the Avengers, the Champions, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy. While the brief appearance doesn’t give audiences much of an idea of what the MCU’s take on Hercules will be, we’ll likely see Goldstein pop up in an upcoming Marvel project one way or another soon enough.
The post-credits scene reveals Jane Foster’s (Natalie Portman) next steps after sharing her final moments with Thor at the gates of Eternity. Her fate in the afterlife? To spend the rest of his days feasting in the banquet halls of Valhalla. She is met by Heimdall (Idris Elba), a beloved Asgardian who was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
As Heimdall welcomes Jane to Valhalla, it raises the question of whether Jane Foster’s time in the MCU is truly over. With Valhalla thrown into the mix, deceased characters like Heimdall, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Frigga (Rene Russo) and – depending on how the multiverse plays into it – potentially Loki (Tom Hiddleston) could emerge from the afterlife of the vikings.
And while this may have just been a heartfelt send-off for Portman and Elba as original members of the Thor saga, MCU history would suggest that dead doesn’t always mean truly dead. In the multiverse, anything is possible.
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