Warning: Very minor spoiler for Thor: Love and Thunder to follow.
The MCU is famous for its emphasis (some would say over-reliance) on humor, but it’s not typically known for its edgy or near-the-knuckle comedy stylings. Outside of the Guardians of the Galaxy, anyway. But there’s one sight gag hidden in the newly released Thor: Love and Thunder that’s really causing fans to clutch at their pearls, as some think it might be the darkest joke in the whole franchise.
Twitter user Lance St. Laurent was the one to get people talking about this brief moment in the latest Chris Hemsworth Marvel flick. Many folks may well have missed the gag in question during their first viewing or else not thought much of it, but St. Laurent pointed out how, within the context of the MCU, it’s actually incredibly harrowing.
“A super weird gag in THOR 4 is that you see Valkyrie at the opening of an ice cream shop called “Infinity Cone,s” complete with a giant gauntlet on top of the shop,” the tweet reads. “Cute in isolation, but in the world of Marvel, seems sort of akin to opening a Holocaust themed candy store.”
This moment occurs during a montage revealing how bored and unfulfilled Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) is in her new role as king of New Asgard, with her duties including hawking cheap Asgard-branded wares and, in one scene, opening a gimmicky ice cream parlor. If you don’t think about it too much, “Infinity Cones” is a fun Simpsons-level sign pun, but it’s true, why would an ice cream store want to remind everyone of a devastating global event that’s only a couple of years old by the LaT‘s place in the Marvel timeline?
To be honest, though, we probably shouldn’t be too surprised that Waititi, of all people, decided to slip in this shockingly bleak joke. This is the guy who made — and won an Oscar for — Jojo Rabbit, aka the one with imaginary Hitler, after all.
