The following article contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.
The fourth installment in the Thor franchise is finally here! The 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder is directed by Taika Waititi and features Thor (Chris Hemsworth) going up against Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). The film also brings back Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) this time wielding Mjolnir and becoming The Mighty Thor.Â
Stakes are high in the new movie as a character literally labeled ‘the God Butcher’ would surely not leave the film without causing a few casualties. So let’s go through everyone who dies and those who come close to meeting their doom in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Who dies in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’?
Again, there will be spoilers if you haven’t yet seen the film.
Gorr’s daughter
Comic book readers definitely saw this one coming, as Gorr’s family dying is closely tied to the character’s comic book origins. In the comic books, Gorr’s entire family dies from famine which causes him to turn his back on the gods. The premise in Thor: Love and Thunder is similar to the comics with Gorr’s daughter (India Rose Hemsworth, the daughter of Chris Hemsworth) dying after she and Gorr wander a desert with no food or water. Her death is not as impactful as when his family died in the comics as Gorr does not automatically curse out the gods. It took his Sun God insulting him and being downright indifferent to his pleas to do that.
A whole bunch of gods
The first god to die in the film was whoever owned the Necrosword. We don’t see the full body of the slain god, but it’s safe to say that it was not Knull, the creator of the sword in the comics who is connected to Venom. The next god to go was the Sun God that Gorr worshipped. While the Sun God picked up Gorr in an attempt to kill him for speaking against him, Gorr picked up the Necrosword and butchered his first god. Before his first encounter with Thor, Gorr traveled the realms and slaughtered many gods, only one of which shows up in the film. A good montage showing Gorr killing all of the gods would have been a cool thing to have in the movie, unfortunately, we just hear about how many gods he killed.
Gorr
Marvel continues its awful tradition of killing off great villains with Gorr dying at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder. This time, surprisingly, it is not any of the heroes who kill Gorr. He is instead corrupted by the Necrosword he wields after battling Thor and The Mighty Thor. Fortunately, before he dies he is convinced by the two Thor’s not to use Eternity to kill the gods but rather to see his daughter one last time. Eternity turns into his daughter, and Gorr draws his last breath.
Jane Foster / The Mighty Thor
The main element of Thor: Love and Thunder is that Jane Foster suffers from Stage 4 cancer. In fact, her cancer was her motivation for becoming The Mighty Thor after she consulted Asgardian texts for a way to heal herself. Unfortunately, wielding Mjolnir and becoming The Mighty Thor only a temporary solution that made her cancer progress quicker.
After collapsing from the effort of fighting Gorr, Thor forced Jane to stay in bed while he used Zeus’s Thunderbolt to defeat Gorr. When Mjolnir sensed that Thor was about to be defeated, Jane and the hammer journeyed to their battle and together they stopped Gorr from killing the gods. This would be Jane’s last battle as her body succumbed to her cancer. Although in a post-credits scene she was welcomed at the gates of Valhalla by Heimdall (Idris Elba) so something tells me we haven’t seen the end of Jane Foster in the MCU.
Who should have died but managed to survive Thor: Love and Thunder?
A number of people were injured in Thor: Love and Thunder and close to meeting their fate. Fortunately, all these characters managed to get some help before they succumbed to their injuries. These characters are as follows:
Sif
Jamie Alexander reprises her role of Sif in Thor: Love and Thunder. Sif had come to the aid of a god who Gorr killed and unfortunately, she lost an arm to him. If it were not for Thor informing her that dying after a battle would not permit her entry into Valhalla, Sif would have bled out. Fortunately, she was taken back to New Asgard where she recovered from her injuries.
Korg
The guy made of rocks Korg (Taika Waititi) became rubble in Thor: Love and Thunder. After Thor enraged Zeus (Russell Crowe) by suggesting that he was a coward for not helping them in their fight against Gorr, Zeus retaliated by throwing his Thunderbolt right through Korg. Even though Korg was relegated to a pile of rocks, his face managed to remain intact and he survived.
Zeus
Another newcomer to the Thor franchise is the Greek god of lightning, Zeus (Russell Crowe). Thor and his friends journey to the Omnipotent City to plead with the gods to unite them all against Gorr. More concerned with maintaining order in the divine city, Zeus detains Thor and his friends instead of helping them. Enraged after being made out to be cowardly, Zeus throws Thunderbolt right through Korg. To avenge his friend, Thor catches Thunderbolt when thrown at him and throws it right at Zeus, seemingly killing him.
Fortunately, the post-credits scene confirms that Zeus does not die. It does seem like the attack painted a target on Thor’s head as Zeus orders his son Hercules (Brett Goldstein) to find Thor and fight him.
Valkyrie
After the team acquires Zeus’ Thunderbolt, they take the fight to Gorr. Unfortunately, Gorr proves to be too much for them and he manages to steal Stormbreaker, but not before stabbing Valkyrie. They all manage to escape via the Bifrost before Valkyrie perishes. She would go on the heal from her wounds on New Asgard.
Even for a Marvel movie, Thor: Love and Thunder seems to have had a low death count, especially when that movie has Gorr the God Butcher in it. Even though Thor will return, it’s unclear when we’ll see any of these characters again. Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later when Marvel reveals their slate for Phase Five of the MCU.
Thor: Love and Thunder is in theaters now.
