The Marvel Cinematic Universe is clearly in the midst of a franchise-wide recycling process, with the vast majority of Phase One’s marquee heroes being replaced by successors that boast a similar set of powers and abilities.
We’ve got Riri Williams coming to Disney Plus in Ironheart, Sam Wilson ready to step up as Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Clint Barton taking a protege under his wing in Hawkeye, Yelena Belova already set to return on the small screen as she inherits the mantle of Black Widow, Jennifer Walters stepping into the spotlight in She-Hulk, and Jane Foster about to wield Mjolnir in Thor: Love and Thunder.
However, if recent reports are to be believed, then nobody’s going out without a fight. Chris Evans recently entered talks to return as Steve Rogers, but there’s been no shortage of speculation linking Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson with comebacks despite the clear and obvious hurdle of them being dead in the main timeline.
The one constant throughout it all, though, has been Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder, the Phase One stalwart set to headline his fourth solo adventure next year. The actor has made it clear that he’s got no intentions of retiring from the MCU anytime soon, and we’ve heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Jaimie Alexander would be back as Sif long before it was confirmed, and that War Machine was getting his own Disney Plus show – that the big Australian will definitely return after Thor: Love and Thunder.
While the current plan is for Portman’s Thor to be the main superpowered Asgardian resident going forward, Hemsworth will seamlessly slip into the role of the MCU’s elder statesman and make a couple of cameo appearances in a variety of projects. Which ones exactly remains unclear at this stage, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be a safe bet, while we could also potentially see him show up in the multiverse at some stage, too, as an alternate version of the hero.
