Rumor has it that Thor: Love and Thunder will introduce another legendary strongman into the MCU. We’ve already got to know the eponymous Asgardian warrior over the past 8 years, and apparently his fourth movie may bring us his Greek counterpart Hercules, as well.
That’s according to the Lords of the Long Box YouTube channel, which claims that Herc will appear in Taika Waititi’s follow-up to Thor: Ragnarok. Take this with a pinch of salt if you want, but the mythical hero has previously been linked to Phase 4 of the MCU before, though it was said that he was going to be in The Eternals back in March.
Herc could fit better into Love and Thunder, though, serving as a foil to Thor. In fact, the character originally appeared as a rival to the God of Thunder in his debut, Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965). Over the years, he’s become a member of the Avengers as well as being portrayed as either a serious, formidable hero or a comedic drunken lout. Waititi’s style may suit the latter better, but that might fall too close to Thor’s depiction in Avengers: Endgame.Â
In any case, it’s also worth mentioning that rumors about his Eternals appearance suggested he’d be depicted as gay. While it doesn’t seem like we should expect to see Hercules in that particular movie, he has been hinted to be bisexual in the comics, so it’s possible that Love and Thunder could explore this instead. After all, it’ll already be bringing us the MCU’s first LGBT hero in the form of Valkyrie, as Tessa Thompson has confirmed her character will be looking for a queen now that she’s king of Asgard.
Thor: Love and Thunder will also see Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster become the mighty one, as she’ll be worthy of wielding Mjolnir at last. So maybe Herc could actually be more of a rival to her? Either way, the movie’s set to shoot in Australia early next year, so expect some more concrete news to come out around that time.
