The double header of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame gave fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe some crossovers between characters that they never thought they’d see and never knew they wanted, with the undoubted highlight being the interactions between Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Following the God of Thunder’s reinvention in Ragnarok, Chris Hemsworth utilized his comic timing to brilliant effect as he played off Star-Lord and his band of intergalactic misfits.
The unexpected pairing proved to be so popular that they ended up jetting off into outer space together at the conclusion of Endgame, with the Guardians also set to show up in the Odinson’s next solo outing Love and Thunder. Despite forging such a close bond, though, Thor would mistakenly and constantly refer to Rocket and Groot as Rabbit and Tree, respectively, and now a new fan theory has explained why.
It was established in the Guardians franchise that with the exception of Star-Lord, who calls Rocket a trash panda, none of the team even know what a raccoon is. Meanwhile, as a key figure in Norse mythology, Thor had spent centuries visiting Earth but had somehow never become aware of the existence of the woodland creatures.
As per the theory, Thor’s obliviousness is rooted in historical context. He’d clearly visited the Scandinavian regions having been recorded in their mythology since the 7th Century, but raccoons weren’t introduced in Europe until the 1930s, meaning there’s every chance he’d have never seen or encountered one before. As a result, upon meeting Rocket, he decided to call him Rabbit because that’s what he looked like to Thor, and he simply didn’t possess another frame of reference for his newfound friend and ally in Avengers: Infinity War.
