I’m not sure if I’m ready for a Loki-less Thor…or will it be?

The second film of the 2023 Marvel year is only a day away (or tonight if you have an early showing) and so you all know what that means; our predictions episode is live and ready for y’all to take a listen! You can listen on your platform of choice by hitting the button below or you can listen live by clicking play on the link provided. I have to say, while I love covering shows, there’s just something so exciting about going to the movies and walking out making lists of things I want to share with all of you. Pretty much, I’m extremely stoked for this, especially because Thor: Ragnorak was such an amazing film and really encapsulates a different time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m ready for that lighthearted fun to return in Love and Thunder so let’s get into all of what we think is going to take place.

So I need to get something straight, I don’t yet have any real feelings on Jane’s return but it is extremely important that we talk about it. For one, Jane is returning to the Thor franchise post Ragnorak, Infinity War, and Endgame, meaning she won’t be caught up on literally any of that. Thor has lost mainly everything and Ragnorak established a new group of Thor buddies, so it will be interesting to see how this goes. But what I really want to focus on is, well, why is she coming back? If you’re familiar with the comics, Jane being Mighty Thor is 100% accurate and not something just made up for the MCU. In the comics, she is actually sick with cancer and becoming Mighty Thor allows her to be, let’s say “okay”, for a little while. I think this is definitely going to be the track they take with her, since we haven’t seen her not as Mighty Thor once in the trailers. But how did she become Mighty Thor? How did she get Mjolnir and put him (semi) back together? By technicality, the person who lifts it would have the powers of Thor (remember our buddy Cap), so I get how, but how did she find it and what made her worthy? These are super important things I’ll need answered ASAP when the movie begins.

I’m also not convinced she’s a “replacement” of any kind or that we will have the passing of the mantle. This movie clearly doesn’t end that way, as Chris Hemsworth has been vocal about his want to stay playing Thor as long as he can. The film then can’t set up for him leaving and, to be fair, Natalie Portman has left the franchise before. I would not be shocked if her sick self is revealed at the end of the film and she sorta withers away. Too dark? Sorry everyone but that’s the theory I’m going with, as I really don’t see her being a continuous force in the Thor films moving forward. I think she is a cool character to explore for now, but we don’t really need her to continue in the Thor films permanently if Chris isn’t stepping down. She also hasn’t really interacted with any other Avengers, so I’m not sure how she would be tied to the bigger MCU, while Thor will be the last of the Big Three and could be the main leader moving forward. More on that a little later in the blog post.

If Jane is returning and we got Darcy in WandaVision, I have to wonder if our man Eric Selvig will be making his entrance back into the MCU as well. For those of you following Ms. Marvel, I spoke about this after one of the episodes name-dropped him. It’s been quite a while since we have heard anything about him, so I hope that we are bringing some of the old crew back together. He is obviously an extremely gifted scientist who played important roles in Phases 1-3, so I’m hoping he might make at least a small return in Love and Thunder.

Obviously, if you watched the trailers you know that our buddies, The Guardians of the Galaxy, are going to have some screen time in this film. I really don’t think they’re going to be around in this film for long though, as I firmly believe that Marvel is duping us with trailers once again. They put a lot of scenes of the Guardians in the trailers and I think those are likely the most we see of them. If you notice, all of those scenes are right around the same locations, so I really believe the Guardians will probably be around for the first 20 minutes and then go on their own way to set the scene for the third Guardians movie.

Let’s get into the big dispute coming these trailers and that is: Who is edited out of those scenes? I’m not entirely sure I need to go into what those scenes are, as they have been making their way around the internet since the first trailer drop. But I might be here about to burst some people’s bubbles because I don’t think it’s our lovely anti-hero Loki. I strongly believe that the person edited actually might be Lady Sif, making her reappearance since Dark World. We need to be real here, if Loki is in this, it’ll be a bigger reveal than that and I don’t see Jane being Thor’s endgame. Don’t forget, we got a little bit of a hint of romance in Dark World that essentially hinted at the fact that Sif may have ended up Thor’s wife had Jane not come in the picture. I think she would be enough of a big deal to keep her out, while also allowing for maybe a Loki to have a big reveal later on.

Since we are already bringing it up, we gotta address if we are going to get a Loki anywhere in this film. I’m so sorry, but I’m saying a Loki for a reason. I have a terrible feeling we won’t see T-Hiddleston appear but instead a blonde girlboss. Trust me, I get it, but when we look at this logistically it makes a lot of sense that it will by Sylvie, as we know her last location was at the end of time. She has the ability to go wherever she wants and it would be fitting for a Loki (who may not have had a Thor) to stumble into a universe that doesn’t have a Loki. Then, there’s the fact that our Loki is MIA in some random timeline, which will be addressed in Loki season 2. And lastly, what’s the best way for Thor to prove to Sylvie who he is? Well how about a massive back tattoo honoring his dead brother? Just some thoughts and theories, just doing my job.

I want to get back into one of the bigger people to appear in the film and that of course is Gorr the God Slayer, played by the amazing Christian Bale. A wise man once said you either die Batman or you live long enough to become an MCU villian, and that is just what he is doing. Now, we all know how creepy he is but what I really want to point out is a little bit more of his background, some of which we unfortunately won’t get in the movie. For one, Gorr’s whole problem with the Gods essentially boils down to the fact that he went to the God’s to help him and his family and they failed him. It is not clear just yet which Gods were the ones he went to, but either way this hurt him enough to want to kill off all the Gods. What we won’t get in the movie but is interesting to know is that Gorr’s sword actually is related to the symbiotes aka Venom. Like I said, we won’t get this story because Sony owns the rights to all that, which is super frustrating because that could’ve been an interesting connection to the new Spider-Man ending.

A possible major ramification for the greater MCU is the fact that we have spotted in real-time the head of the Watcher. This may or may not make confirmations for What If? a whole other story, but in all honestly, The Watcher isn’t the one I want to talk about. As I promised in the podcast, all five statues have names and I’m here to give them to you. The other four statues are Lady Death, the Living Tribunal, Infinity, and Eon. We’re going to start with Lady Death, who pretty much rules over, well death. The most interesting thing about her other than her self-explanatory name is that in the comics Thanos is pretty much in love with her and does all he does to impress her. Cute, right? The Living Tribunal is important for the sake that this would be actually his third (or forth?) appearance in the MCU. The first was in Loki as a severed statue head and the second was in one of the universes Dr. Strange and America fell through. The dude (thing?) is pretty powerful and is pretty much the Multiverses’ judge, jury, and executioner. He makes sure everything stays the way it’s supposed to, which is an interesting thing when we have been getting quite a bit of the Multiverse. Infinity is sort of known for being powerful, as she can pull a Wanda and manipulate and control reality, along with control time and space. Lastly, Eon is pretty much the oldest member of the family, literally. He has been around since time began and is massive in size. All together, these 5 pretty much make up a cosmic super group, so I’m pretty interested in what this is going to impact moving forward.

Lastly, I want to address whether or not Thor is going to usher in the next ten years. I am a firm believer that he will, as I said before, because he is the last of the Big Three and wants to be around. His trilogy, whether it was all good or not, is what really began and continued the Infinity Saga and so I think it is extremely fitting for this film and for his character to be the one to do it again. It all aligns in my opinion, so keep an eye out for some interesting repercussions from this film, even if they aren’t known for years down the line.

Honestly, I am beyond excited to see this film and to see some old friends again. I will be watching it tonight, so I can promise you all I won’t be doing any spoilers, but keep an eye out for my initial (again, spoiler-free) reactions, along with Taylor’s, on Twitter. Our full reactions episode will hit the scene on Sunday, so make sure you have your plans to see the film and be ready to listen to all our thoughts about what we saw. Next week, believe it or not, we wrap up Ms. Marvel as well, making this week and next some exciting weeks. Keep up with all of the amazing Marvel content in order to listen to and enjoy ours, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Thor: Love and Thunder”, Marvel