I wrote many preview pieces about every known aspect of Avengers: Endgame prior to its release, but the appearance of the new Bro Thor in the film came as a surprise to me, and a hilarious one at that. Marvel Studios and the Russo brothers did a nice job of keeping his new look under wraps and Chris Hemsworth was clearly having a great time as this new Lebowski-esque Thor. The fact that he remained fat right the way through the final battle was a smart decision, too. We already know that the hero will return in Thor: Love and Thunder, but will he keep his hit new physique?
Well, Taika Waititi still hasn’t decided yet. He’s currently hard at work on the script and has been having meetings about the film’s direction with Marvel Studios, but it seems there’s one key factor that could settle things.
Here’s what he said in a recent interview with Yahoo:
“This is an ongoing debate that we’re still having at Marvel. Because we’re trying to figure out how long — how many months or years — this is after Endgame, at what point does this take place?
Presumably, if the story picks up right from the ending of Endgame, we’ll get Fat Thor for at least some of the movie (there’s still the dangling plot thread of the Asgardians of the Galaxy to resolve, after all). But if we move substantially forward in time it becomes more plausible for Thor to have hit the gym and lost those pounds.
Personally, I suspect the latter’s more likely. By the time Thor: Love and Thunder hits cinemas we’ll be firmly into the next phase of the MCU, with The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (among others) having pushed things forward. Will audiences really want to go right back to the conclusion of Endgame by then? My bet is that we’ll get a short introductory sequence showing us what Thor got up to immediately after the aforementioned sequel, before skipping forward in time to whatever the new status quo is. That being said, even a little more of Bro Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder would satisfy me.
