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Thor Love and Thunder Teaser Easter Eggs

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Happy Easter Monday! Marvel Studios blessed us with the offering of the first Thor Love and Thunder teaser this morning. ICYMI stop everything and watch it right now:

Above anything - and to find many of your own Easter Eggs! - we have a volume of Recommended Reading for you: Thor volume 1: Goddess of Thunder.

**a quick CAVEAT (and this wouldn’t be Geek History Lesson without one!), we’re going to differentiate between the two Thors the same way Marvel Comics has been doing - “Thor Odinson” refers to the character played by Christ Hemsworth and “Mighty Thor” refers to the character played by Natalie Portman.

If you aren’t familiar with “Mighty Thor” we suggest this video where Professor Jason explains who she is and the important ending of her comic book series where her true identity was first revealed:

Then watch Professor Ashley’s Teaser Reaction video:

Since it was Easter this past weekend it only felt fitting for your Mind University professors to hops on here and share the Easter Eggs we noticed in the teaser trailer:

THOR IS GROWING UP

When the teaser for began Profesor Ashley’s mistakenly thought the young Thor Odinson running through the forest was our first glimpse at Jane Foster. It wasn’t, Students. The image is that of a young Odinson. Beginning the trailer with this quick sequence of Thor Odinson and rehashing his growth heralds the evolution coming for both himself - and the title of Thor - in Thor Love and Thunder. Does this + alligator Loki mean we could finally be seeing Throg and Beta Ray Bill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Only time will tell!

STORMBREAKER LAID TO REST

Stormbreaker (or “Thunderstrike” as many folks accidentally refer to it), appears to be set in a grave of its own by Thor Odinson pretty early on in the trailer. This could be a symbolic laying to rest of either the weapon or the mantle of “Thor” itself. We think this very much lines up with the following scenes when we see Thor Odinson seemingly joining The Guardians of a Galaxy, who in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are more “misfits” than traditional “superheroes”. This could herald a whole new class of lead characters versus the paint-by-numbers origin stories we’re more used to seeing from Marvel Studios Phase 1 or Phase 2 movies.

CROSSFIT THOR

The Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline is confusing. To state the very least. By having this seemingly-Batman v Superman-inspired crossfit training scene Thor Love and Thunder is very firmly set post Avengers: Endgame. There’s a discussion to be had asking “why couldn’t Thor remain overweight”? “Why can’t be we have heavy superheroes”? Either way Thor Odison is back to his frighteningly buff self for most of this teaser - and likely for the rest of Thor Love and Thunder. This isn’t even an Easter Egg per se, we simply think it’s establishing one of the first and most obvious tonal shift in the movie and likely heralds a Rocky-esque montage with a needle drop to rival the Sweet Child O’ Mine drop in this teaser.

GOTG

Further to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Audiences have loved Thor Odinson’s inclusion with the Guardians and in this teaser director Taika Waititi really leans into it. There are some shades of Our Flag Means Death in the scene between Star-Lord and Thor Odinson which is certain to send shippers to the hills. WhenThe Guardians of the Galaxy were reintroduced into the main Marvel Comics Book Continuity there were a whole slough of Avengers cameos (Iron Man and Thor Odinson being two of the most comical and important to the Guardians’ evolution). Plus, with MCU’s version of Asgard-cum-New-Asgard becoming increasingly more cosmic and less magical than during Phase 1 it makes sense to have our most prominent cosmic characters featured in supporting roles throughout Thor Love and Thunder.

KORG RETURNS

Taika Waititi’s Korg - who first appeared in Thor: Ragnarok - is back in action in this trailer! Fan theories have already lit up social media speculating what the two friends are getting up together with a lot of votes being for them to return to Sakarr. We’re not as convinced of that as we are that Korg will simply be a mainstay of Thor’s crew. Perhaps replacing one of the Warriors Three who died in previous movies? Or possibly joining the ranks of the Guardians of the Galaxy in a permanent capacity? Korg’s humour is very much more on brand with what Guardians of the Galaxy movies get up to than almost any of the other sub-franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

MYTHOLOGY INTEGRATIONS

Two of Professor Ashley’s favourite Easter Eggs from the entire trailer are ripped right from mythologies. We get to see glimpses of Olympus, and Zeus (played by Russell Crowe a.k.a. Jor-El from Man of Steel), and many being more familiar from DC and Warner Brothers’ Wonder Woman mythology than Thor trilogy. We do get a bit of a deeper dive into the Norse mythology we are used to - THOR ODINSON’S TWO GOATS! All of the Norse Gods have specific animals which pull their carts and/or chariots. Freya/Frigga has two cats (SO COOL! #InternBrego is obsessed!), and Thor traditionally has two goats. Further to Norse mythology, Thor Odinson’s brother Loki is conspicuously absent from the Thor Lord and Thunder teaser following the events of Marvel Studios’ and Disney+’s Loki series. 

GORR THE GOD BUTCHER

Christian Bale (Batman, himself!), was cast in the role of Gorr the God Butcher. The Thor Love and Thunder trailer doesn’t reveal too, too much about how prominently Gorr is going to feature in the movie, but Thor Odinson and Korg do stumble across Falligar who won the Tournament of the Immortals and was later killed by Gorr. Check out Thor: God of Thunder volume 1: The God Butcher for some insight into who Gorr is and just what he may be getting up to in Thor Love and Thunder.

NEW ASGARD

It used to float above Oklahoma (this is not a joke, it really happened and is an important plot point in the Kieron Gillen Journey Into Mystery run which introduced Kid Loki), and in the Thor Love and Thunder trailer it appears the Valkyrie-led New Asgard is a tourist attraction on the planet Earth. It does appear in this brief revelation that the title of “King of Asgard” which Thor Odison bestowed on Valkyrie at the end of Thor Love and Thunder is weighing heavily on the head which bears it. Valkyrie appears in other moments throughout the teaser including one of the glimpses we get of Olympus.

MJOLNIR & MIGHTY

Mjolnir was destroyed?

Kinda … but she’s back now, baby!

Finally ~*~finally~*~ FINALLY in the final seconds of the Thor Love and Thunder teaser we get our first glimpses of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster as The Mighty Thor. You can’t cry spoiler on this if you didn’t know, Students, Taika Waititi and Marvel made this very announcement at the last San Diego Comic-Con when he knelt and offered her Mjolnir at Hall H. The helmet IRL does an excellent job at obscuring Jane Foster’s identity, however our bet is that following an initial conflict, than team up with Thor Odinson, Foster’s true identity will be revealed before the end of Thor Love and Thunder.

If you are looking for some additional Asgardian entertainment to hold you over before Thor Love and Thunder releases in July of this year may we recommend the following episodes of Geek History Lesson:

HISTORY OF THOR

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