An X-Men Easter egg may have been found in concept art for Thor: Love and Thunder. The fourth film in the Thor franchise introduced Jane Foster as The Mighty Thor, along with officially welcoming Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hercules in a post-credits scene. In order to defeat the evil Gorr the God Butcher, our collection of heroes traveled to Omnipotent City to seek the help of Zeus and his lightning bolt. Gods from all across the MCU were hiding out in Omnipotent City from Gorr, and the latest concept art gives a look at some of the deities in attendance, including one with ties to the X-Men.
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Artist Sung Choi shared Thor: Love and Thunder concept art of the many thrones found in Omnipotent City. Among the many gods in attendance was a red figure sitting in front of a golden throne. The shape and color of the god drew comparisons to Cyttorak, the mystical entity that provides Juggernaut with his impressive powers. It even looks like Cyttorak is sitting close to a figure that could be the devourer Galactus.
“Early exploration of thrones in Omnipotent City – Thor : Love and Thunder. I really enjoyed working with Nigel and such talented artists onsite,” Choi captioned his photos. Juggernaut, aka Cain Marko, is also the half-brother of X-Men founder Professor Charles Xavier. Marvel Studios is waiting patiently to introduce the X-Men to the MCU, though they’ve at least been hinted at. For example, Patrick Stewart reprised his Professor X role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the Ms. Marvel finale namedropped “mutation” while playing the classic theme to X-Men: The Animated Series.
Brett Goldstein admitted he was just as shocked by his Hercules casting as the audience, considering he only had two weeks to prepare for the role. As the actor recently recalled, his management team contacted him out of the blue one night asking if he would hop on a Zoom chat with Marvel moments later. Before the night was over, Goldstein was offered the role of the Greek god.
“No, I didn’t know what it was for. I was told that some Marvel people would like to have a Zoom with you, and I met with them and it was just so surreal because…it was literally out of the blue one night and I was very busy and it was like, ‘Can you make time for a Zoom?’ ‘Yes, sure,’” the Ted Lasso star said in a recent chat with The Playlist.
He added, “And they go on Zoom and they just told me what you see in the film, which is they sort of opened with, ‘So Russell Crowe is Zeus,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, go on.’ And blah, blah, blah. And then they turn around and they reveal ‘It’s Hercules; it’s you.’ And I went, ‘What?’ Just like, ‘Are you serious? Are you f**king with me? Is this a wind-up?’ So yeah, it was as surprising to me as I think it has been to other people.”
Do you think the Thor: Love and Thunder concept art really has an X-Men Easter egg in it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
