Thor: Love and Thunder’s Tribute to Iron Man and Black Widow

Warning: mild Thor: Love and Thunder spoilers ahead. Thor is still feeling the love for two of Earth’s mightiest heroes. In Norse mythology, warriors who die a glorious death in battle live forever in the halls of Valhalla, the Asgardian afterlife. Others are immortalized in ink on the body of Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth), his tattoos exposed by Zeus (Russell Crowe) during a revealing trip to Omnipotence City in Thor: Love and Thunder. When Thor bares all before the gods, a closer look at Thor’s tattoos reveals tributes to Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), his teammates who sacrificed themselves to save the universe from Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame.  

Along with the tribute to his adopted brother and god of mischief Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s back tattoos include a scroll listing lost loved ones: “Mother” for Frigga (Rene Russo), a victim of Thor: The Dark World; “Father” for Odin (Anthony Hopkins), who went to Valhalla in Thor: Ragnarok; Heimdall (Idris Elba) and Loki, killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War; and “Tony” and “Natasha” in honor of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff and their Avengers: Endgame deaths. 

“We all knew we wanted to do it from very early on,” director Taika Waititi told ComicBook about showing the “full Hemsworth” with a partial nudity rating in Thor: Love and Thunder. “That was in the first draft of the script, actually, and Chris was on board as well. You know, I think you have a body like Chris, you know, even he understands.”

Waititi continued, “It would be just, it would be a waste to not show it off. It would be a crime against humanity. So, you know, you have to provide for the masses.” 

In a post-Endgame Marvel Cinematic Universe — and fresh off major losses in the Infinity Saga, including the destruction of his homeworld Asgard in Ragnarok — Thor is undergoing a “midlife crisis” when the space viking returns in Love and Thunder. 

“Ragnarok felt a bit like a party,” Waititi told EW of his first Marvel Studios movie. “It was quite festive. This one is still fun, and it’s got moments of being over the top, but thematically, it’s about something a bit deeper than the last film. It’s not a serious film, and it’s not a drama, but we do deal with ideas that I think a lot of humans deal with — universal themes about love and loss and our place in the world. Everyone sort of asks this question in the film: What is your purpose? What is the reason that you’re a hero, and what do you do when you have these powers?”

Waititi added of his follow-up, “It’s sort of like a midlife crisis film, really. That’s the question we ask everyone: Are we doing the right thing, and are we doing all we can in the world? I think right now, while the world is still healing from this pandemic, it’s a good question to ask. It’s like, well, are we doing enough to look after each other and to look after ourselves?”

Starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Taika Waititi as Korg, Russell Crowe as Zeus, Jaimie Alexander as Sif, and Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.