For the record, this is mostly how Gorr’s story begins in the comics as well, but Thor: Love and Thunder has little to do with how that yarn ends. On the page, Gorr becomes another megalomaniacal monster—the “God of Hypocrisy” he is finally dubbed—ignoring psychic constructs of his dead son and wife as he attempts to murder all deities in the multiverse. Eventually, Thor is able to triumphantly behead him, ending Gorr’s reign of terror. In the new movie though? It is not an act of extreme violence that defeats Gorr; it’s Love herself.

Upon reaching Eternity, aka the center of the universe, Gorr is allotted one wish from the cosmos. The whole film he’s intended to wish for the death of all gods. Yet, upon seeing Thor preferring to comfort a dying Jane instead of doing further battle with him, the God Butcher is reminded that love is more powerful than his hate of gods. For was it not the love of a child that set him down this dark path? Thor and Jane gently remind him he could wish for his ultimate revenge, sure, but if the universe could grant him anything he wished, wouldn’t he rather have his daughter back from the dead?

And that is exactly what Gorr does with his final breath—bringing back the child he lost. It is a sentimental but refreshingly tender resolution for a superhero movie’s villain, especially one as vile-seeming as the God Butcher. And through the return of his child, a child the Marvel Universe will soon come to know as simply “Love,” Gorr doesn’t just redeem his character’s journey; he also concludes Thor’s.

Ever since the beginning of Thor: Ragnarok, where Hemsworth’s Odinson was introduced to be a bit aimless since abdicating his claim to the throne in Thor: The Dark World, Thor has seemed adrift. We learned in that movie Jane dumped him off-screen, which Love and Thunder greatly expanded on. Yet there was more than just the loss of romantic love gnawing at Thor. There was a loss of purpose. Born and raised by a stern father with many skeletons in his closet, Thor was always intended to be Odin’s true son… an heir to follow in the All Father’s footsteps.

But recall there was always a distance between Thor and Anthony Hopkins’ Odin. Despite living together for hundreds of years, their communication was so poor that Odin banished Thor when the son revealed proud, boastful tendencies in 2011’s Thor. The irony is that Odin’s own proud and bloodthirsty youth was far worse once we learn his history in Thor: Ragnarok, a movie in which Odin also reveals on his proverbial deathbed that Thor and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) have an older sister the All Father never told them about. This omission costs the lives of hundreds of Asgardians.

Thor and Odin’s relationship was forever one of frustration, secrets, and unspoken estrangement. So after the loss of such a father, as well as his lover, Thor fell into a funk. He attempted to reluctantly take his father’s mantle at the end of Ragnarok, but the crown never really fit. “That’s not me,” he might say while quoting another fantasy character. Hence at the end of Avengers: Endgame he again relinquishes his father’s throne and legacy to one who is more worthy: Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).

Danofgeek