Goats Spotted on Thor: Love and Thunder Set, and What It Could Mean

Thor: Love and Thunder is now filming in Australia, and set photos revealed a new look for the god of thunder. Another image also shows that there are goats on set. That may seem like an odd but innocuous development, but Marvel Comics fans know that this could be the sign of something exciting to come. Like the Norse god that inspired him, Marvel’s Thor has two goats in the comics: Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder. And, as with that mythological deity, Thor has a mighty chariot led by the goats. If that is Toothgnasher and/or Toothgrinder in the photo below, we may see Chris Hemsworth riding in that glorious chariot in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Thor’s goats are divine beings in their own right. They’re powerful enough that, in the comics, Thor left Toothgnasher alone to defend a Mjolnir from another reality that could turn someone into the destructive War Thor. The monstrous creature called Mangog decapitated Toothgnasher, but Loki resurrected the goat as a gift to Thor after the thunder god’s installation as Asgard’s new All-Father.

Toothgnasher’s guard duty is an event from the same run of Marvel’s Thor comics that inspired Thor: Love and Thunder. The story sees Jane Foster, played by returning star Natalie Portman, lifting Mjolnir to become the new Thor even as she’s battling illness.

“I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited,” Portman told Yahoo in October. “I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of The Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”

While that series may be the inspiration for Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel Studios always takes liberties with its adaptations. Director Taika Waititi has practically guaranteed it’ll be the same with Thor: Love and Thunder.

“That comics run was a big inspiration, and was an influence on the first few drafts,” Waititi told Variety. “But at Marvel, we always change everything. I could say one thing right now, and in two years, it will be the complete opposite — or that thing won’t exist. We continue writing even in post-production.”

As to how he convinced Portman to return after sitting out Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi said, “I just said to her, ‘Are you interested in coming back to this thing, but doing something really different?’ Because another thing, no one wants to keep repeating themselves and no one wants to play the same characters all the time. And I think for her, just coming back reprising that character but in this whole fresh new way, is really what I think would interest anyone. Especially, in most of these films, if you’re not a superhero… do you really want to keep doing that? I mean, I wouldn’t. I would want to come back and change things up.”

Thor: Love and Thunder opens on May 6, 2022.