The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been growing at an unwieldy rate for years now. With new characters, new super squads, and entirely new universes being folded into the franchise in Phase Six, people and plot points have fallen through the cracks. This is especially true for characters teased in post-credits scenes, which no longer guarantees a major role going forward — just ask Kit Harrington.
A just-released deleted scene from Loki Season 2 has, however, finally made good on one of these appearances. It doesn’t exactly promise an upcoming appearance, but it at least reminds Marvel fans that seemingly forgotten character reveals haven’t been completely abandoned.
Ahead of the release of Loki Season 2 on Blu-Ray, Variety dropped a deleted scene showing Loki and Mobius relaxing while Loki regales the TVA agent with a list of people who have called him a “big problem.” Alongside familiar characters like Nick Fury, Jane Foster, Maria Hill, and Heimdall, there are also new names like Amora, aka Enchantress, and Absorbing Man. But the last name he mentions is especially interesting. “Hercules — another big guy,” Loki says. “I was a big problem for him.”
Hercules, Marvel’s version of the mythical Greek hero, has actually appeared once in the MCU. Thor: Love and Thunder introduced Omnipotence City, the home of countless deities. In a mid-credits scene, its leader, Zeus, bemoans that gods aren’t feared anymore because everyone prays for superheroes to appear instead. He swears to defeat Thor Odinson and asks his son Hercules to help. Hercules appears as Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein, decked out in Greek battlewear and ready for a tussle with Thor.
Like Eros, Skaar, and the Black Knight, Hercules was a character introduced in a post-credits scene who seemed to be relegated to the great Marvel dustbin, as the scene presumably seeded a project that never grew into anything substantial. But now that he’s been mentioned again, even in a deleted scene, the demigod has a new lease on life.
Could Goldstein be more than just a stunt-casting cameo after all? There’s no word of a fifth Thor movie in Marvel’s crowded upcoming slate, so it may be a while, but this proves that Hercules is still a mover and shaker in the MCU, even if he’s remaining offscreen. Maybe this was just an Easter egg, but hopefully, this is the start of the MCU making good on its backlog; the world deserves more of Harry Styles and Hulk’s moody son.
