In the Phase 4 that most of us are looking forward to is none other than Thor: Love And Thunder. WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will set the tone and take the story of the MCU forward, but Thor 4 will end the phase with a thunderous blast. Taika Waititi is bringing in a brand new superhero who may not just be a new entry, but actually a carrier of the mantle of Thor. Jane Foster is going to be worthy of the Mjolnir, but there’s probably another hero who might join the pack of Revengers, or at least have a cameo in the film.
Since Jane Foster is going to be the Mighty Thor and Gorr the God Butcher is rumored to be the main villain, it is possible that this may be the final film for Thor. Gorr could end up killing the God that wields the Stormbreaker. And that would allow Jane Foster to take the mantle forward. Now if all this is true, then it’s really the last chance for Taika Waititi to make the dream match-ups like Thor V Hercules or Thor V Beta Ray Bill.
Rumor has it that the God of Strength, Hercules will be making an appearance in Thor: Love And Thunder. It comes from the Lords of the Long Box YouTube channel which suggests that Taika is bringing in Hercules. We should obviously take this as a mere grain of salt and nothing more because Hercules has already been rumored to appear in Phase 4. Before San Diego Comic-Con, rumors heavily suggested that we’d be seeing Hercules in the upcoming Eternals movie, and he’d be the LGBTQ character everyone’s talking about. But that obviously wasn’t true.
What do you think would be one of the main goals to introduce Hercules? It would be to make him take on Thor! When he was rumored for an appearance in Eternals, people were excited because Marvel could have built a road for him to cross paths with Thor. And if that is the ultimate goal, then shouldn’t Marvel introduce him straightaway in a Thor movie? Hercules could fit very well in a Thor story, but another question to counter this is that will there be enough room for Taika to fit him?
Thor: Love And Thunder will include Valkyrie & her new queen, Korg, Miek, Thor, Jane Foster & will probably bring back Loki through the Multiverse set up. The multiverse could even lead us to other versions of Thor such as Beta Ray Bill. Then there are obviously the villains who will also need to be explored. Overall of this, the rumor talks about Hercules. There’s clearly not enough space for Hercules to make a justified appearance in the movie. That’s why we should not really take this rumor seriously.
We’ve actually done a piece saying that the recent adventures of Thor have probably made Hercules unnecessary for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both of them are similar characters with mostly similar personalities and power set. In fact, Hercules may even be better than Thor, but do we really need to have two of the same characters that are all about Brute force, great comic timing & the whole Demigod concept? We’d love to see Hercules down the line, but the MCU might just be too full for him now. So, let’s see what happens.
Till then, here’s the Phase 4 slate – Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.
