Thor: Love and Thunder Post-Credits Scene Introduces a Major MCU Hero

Thor: Love and Thunder is now out in theaters, and like every other Marvel movie it comes packed with a few big surprises – and a few new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One big surprise comes in Thor 4's mid-credits scene, where a major Marvel character finally gets his long-awaited MCU debut! And now that he's here, he's ready to rock Thor's world! 

(WARNING: Major SPOILERS Follow!) 

The Second Act of Thor: Love and Thunder sees Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) take his team of Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Taika Waititi) to Omnipotent City, the playground of the gods. Thor tries to implore Zeus (Russell Crowe) and the other gods to realize the threat of Gorr the God-Butcher (Christian Bale), but Zeus is too arrogant to act, and in the resulting conflict between Zeus's forces and Team Asgard, Thor impales Zeus with his own thunderbolt – and promptly steals the thunderbolt to use against Gorr. 

The mid-credits scene of Thor: Love and Thunder reveals that Zeus is still alive (though injured), and nursing a serious grudge. Thor's rebellion inspired Zeus to reassert the might of Olympus and the gods in the universe – by first making Thor pay with his life. Zeus taps his son Hercules to do the job of taking Thor out – which Hercules happily agrees to. 

Hercules is played by none other than Brett Goldstein, who fans know and love from his role as a curmudgeonly aging soccer player Roy Kent. Goldstein is also a writer on Ted Lasso, which earned him a Primetime Emmy. 

As stated, Hercules has been waiting in the wings of the MCU for some time now. Fans thought he might show up in Eternals, but when Russell Crowe let it slip that he was cast as Zeus, fans immediately thought (knew) that Hercules was showing up. And, as usual, Marvel Studios has cast the role impeccably. 

In the comics, Marvel's Hercules was one of the earliest characters that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby featured in their Avengers comics. He became a regular guest star of The Mighty Thor and Tales to Astonish comics of the 1960s, before becoming an Avenger. Hercules served with The Champions team of the 1970s, and was a guest star of Thor and Avengers comics (as well as a few of his own limited series) through the 1980s and '90s. Hercules got a fun solo series runs in the 2000s and 2010s in addition to be a supporting character, and remains an enduring fan-favorite. 

Now MCU Hercules is about to give the character a whole other level of fame. 

Thor: Love and Thunder is now in theaters.