Hello my Nordic gods, this weekend I went to see Thor : Love and Thunder with 2D glasses to clearly see all the little details hidden in the film and I spotted a few of them. While people were too busy watching Chris Hemsworth in the scene where he is naked (I admit I looked a little too) I managed to capture little secrets everywhere that I suggest you see everything after. So grab your hammer, put on your finest red cape costume, and watch out for lightning.
1. Thor’s goats that are really part of his story
If in the film the goats that pull Thor’s boat utter horrible cries that make the whole room laugh, they are not at all there by chance. In the Poetic Edda (a sort of bible of Viking legends) Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr are two goats that Thor finds during a journey. They have the particularity of being able to resuscitate as long as their bones are not broken, suddenly Thor eats them several times during his adventures and they regenerate like Wolverine in more hairy (it is possible). Like what, we don’t just see bullshit about mythology in the cinema.
2. Thor’s cap during training
At the very beginning of the film we see this brave Thor training to lose weight and wearing a nice cap with the writing “The strongest avengers”. Except that it’s not a real cap, it’s handwritten by the character himself and below we can see the names “Iron Man”, “Ant-Man” or even “Hulk” that he has covered like a kid.
3. The town of Tonsberg, a real Viking museum village
In the film we see that the Asgardians live in the village of Tonsberg, a sort of “Little Asgard” which serves as a museum. But in reality Tonsberg is one of the oldest towns in Norway whose town center and harbor are open-air museums about the Viking era.
4. Cast kids everywhere
Working with the family is cool (no), that’s probably why most of the stars of the film brought their kids to the set: one of Chris Hemsworth’s sons plays Thor as a child in the scene where he short, the children of Taika Waititi, Christian Bale and Nathalie Portman play Asgardians and another girl from Hemsworth simply plays Gorr’s daughter who has a slightly larger role.
5. The tattoo for the brother
You are not unaware that the Loki of the movies is deceased (there is also the Loki of the series but that is clearly another story) and when we see the famous scene of Thor naked, you were probably too busy looking at the actor’s muscular ball while it was on his back that he had to concentrate. We see a tattoo that represents Loki’s helmet as well as the words “RIP Loki”. Touching.
6. Le tee-shirt Yggdrasil
Thor being a viking it is rather logical that we find a lot of references to mythology in the film. When he wears his beautiful tank top, we can therefore see the world tree (Yggdrasil) which supports the nine kingdoms in Norse mythology. Obviously you were looking at his arms so you missed everything again.
7. The last time Thor and Jane saw each other
When Jane and Thor meet for the first time in years, they talk but can’t agree on the date of their last meeting. Several years separate the two estimates and people laugh because Thor counted the days and hours, but in reality this difference in duration comes from the fact that Jane disappeared during the “blip” which disintegrated half of humanity and explains (a little awkwardly) his absence from the third film.
8. The Titan’s Retreat
For those with a keen eye and a fresh memory, the introductory scene where we see Thor planting his ax in the ground and watching the sunset is a big nod to the scene of Avengers Infinity War where we see Thanos who finishes gardening quietly in his small garden by planting his shovel before watching the sunset with a melancholy and nevertheless peaceful air, a symbol of a job well done and good intestinal transit.
9. Uatu’s Presence
If you watched the series What if ? on Disney + you necessarily know Uatu, it is the narrator who tells the stories in an alternative version of the Marvel universe. Well a statue of this little guy can be seen when Gorr finally arrives in the Eternity Palace. We also see the members of the Living Tribunal, the beings who rule the multiverse and eat five fruits and vegetables a day, the secret of their longevity.
10. Gods Everywhere
During the scene at Omnipotent City you can see a shitload of gods and deities. If some are jokes like the god of baos which is a nod to a Disney short film, we can also see some which refer to Black Panther (the panther god), to Moon Knight (the god Ra) and generally full of different religions. But it’s also an opportunity to introduce Hercules into the MCU, which has a particularly important role in the comics, and potentially to make a connection with the very good series. Moon Knight.
11. The Necrosword, more than just a sword
In the film Gorr finds a super strong sword which allows among other things to kill Gods and which speaks to him. There like that it’s already nice as an object, but in the comics the sword has a very particular origin. This is the very first symbiote born from the God Knull. It doesn’t necessarily speak to you, I know, but to put it simply, another symbiote of the same kind exists and it is none other than Venom, and you know him.
12. Thor’s Awkward Handshake
When Thor says goodbye to Peter Quill aka StarLord at the very beginning of the film, he gives him a particularly long handshake that seems totally improvised. Then he ends with the “Asgard Special” by making the snake with his hand which stabs the hand of the other. Does it remind you of anything? This is the anecdote that Thor tells in “Ragnarok” when he explains how Loki turned into a snake to trap and stab him. Yeah, Loki is missing a lot a lot in the movie.
