The first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder offers Marvel Cinematic Universe fans a look at Olympus. The home of the Greek gods shows up several times in the trailer, and Zeus himself appears too. The character, who’s expected to be played by Russell Crowe, can very briefly be seen catching a golden lightning bolt.
His appearance confirms a rumor that’s been floating around about Thor: Love and Thunder ever since Crowe made waves in 2021 when he said he was playing Zeus. However, the teaser not only confirms Zeus’ role, but may also add further weight to one popular MCU fan theory.
First Olympus, Next Heliopolis — Thor: Love and Thunder isn’t the only 2022 Marvel title that’s bringing new gods into the MCU. Moon Knight is doing the same thing right now with Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham) and his fellow Egyptian gods.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TIME-TRAVEL MOVIE? Click here to help us rank all the ones on Netflix.
At first that might not seem noteworthy. However, Love and Thunder is also set to prominently feature Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a comic book villain whose personal mission is to murder every god in the Marvel universe. As a result, it seems likely that Gorr will attempt to eliminate not only Thor and his fellow Norse gods in Love and Thunder, but also Zeus and the rest of the Greek deities.
With that in mind, some Marvel fans believe that either Gorr will show up in Moon Knight, or the Egyptian gods introduced in the series will appear in Love and Thunder.
Gorr’s Mission — Before Moon Knight, the only deities that fans knew existed in the MCU were the Norse gods, like Thor and Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Now Moon Knight has introduced the Egyptian gods, and Thor: Love and Thunder is set to further expand the MCU’s lineup of gods thanks to its inclusion of Zeus and Olympus.
With Love and Thunder also set to feature Gorr the God Butcher, the sudden introduction of so many cosmic deities to the MCU feels like an intentional move on Marvel’s part. After all, what’s the point of introducing a literal God Butcher if you’re not going to give him a wide assortment of deities to slaughter?
Some Marvel fans therefore believe Gorr may show up in Moon Knight Season 1 just to murder one of the show’s various Egyptian gods. If that doesn’t happen, it certainly seems like there’s a real chance Khonshu or one of his fellow Egyptian deities could appear in Thor: Love and Thunder as victims of Gorr’s inevitable deicidal rampage.
The Inverse Analysis — Had the Thor: Love and Thunder teaser not confirmed Zeus and Olympus’ roles in the film, the chances of it crossing over with Moon Knight might have still seemed slim. However, now that fans know Thor: Love and Thunder will feature at least one Greek god, it seems possible that the film will connect in some way to Moon Knight.
Whether that connection is revealed in Moon Knight or in Thor: Love and Thunder remains to be seen. Either way, Gorr’s forthcoming screen debut signals nothing but bad things to come for Thor, Zeus, Khonshu, and basically every other god in the MCU.
Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8, 2022.
