Love & Thunder Completely Ignored Part Of Thor's Infinity War Story

Thor: Love and Thunder explores more of the Asgardian’s battle with his past and his future, but it forgot a major element from his established arc. Thor’s journey, and while it addressed some big parts of his character, it neglected a major part of his earlier story. As a member of the original Avengers lineup and having debuted in only the fourth MCU movie, Thor has a long complex timeline. While his story is internally consistent, Thor: Love and Thunder appears to have forgotten a significant part of his narrative.


Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has struggled with feeling worthy, both in himself and in the eyes of his Odin’s spell on Mjolnir, since the original Thor. Many of his previous stories have revolved around the idea of him feeling like he has failed in some way and working to regain his faith in himself as he learns to be a better hero. In Thor: Ragnarok he believes he has failed Asgard, but comes to lead them. Then in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame Thor believes he has failed by not stopping Thanos, but he comes to realize he needs to explore who he is more and define himself, passing leadership to Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) while he travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy.


Thor Is Now Very Close To Being As Powerful As MCU's Odin was one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, and Thor: Love and Thunder suggests that Thor might now be close to matching him. Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s very easy to say that Thor is close to being as powerful as Odin, if not even more powerful. While Odin wasn’t very active in the MCU, he was still regarded as one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, if only because he had long since had that status in the comics. One specific power contributed a lot to that, and Thor’s possible connection to that power is what might end up putting him above Odin.


One of the most powerful abilities of Odin is the power to harness the Odinforce, a mystical force of energy exclusive to whoever is the king of Asgard. The exact abilities and limitations of the Odinforce haven’t been clarified, but one notable moment from the comic book story Blood and Thunder had Odin fending off Thanos and the Silver Surfer at the same time, so it’s clear that the Odinforce makes Odin one of the most powerful characters in the comics. While the Odinforce hasn’t been explicitly addressed in the MCU, the Odinsleep is a side-effect of it, so Odin still having the Odinsleep on occasion suggests that the Odinforce exists in the MCU. This, in turn, would suggest how powerful MCU Odin is, as it appears his powers in the movie universe are on par with his comic self.


The Odinforce is one of the most powerful abilities in the Marvel universe, and it’s why Thor might now be at Odin’s level in the MCU. In Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor has shown off the ability to enchant and empower people and objects - first when he accidentally enchanted Mjolnir to protect Jane, and later when he shared his power with the Asgardian children in the final fight against Gorr the God Butcher. The reason that’s important is that being able to enchant people and objects is one of the abilities of the Odinforce, so Thor being able to do it suggests that he’s inherited the Odinforce and can potentially be as powerful as Odin, if not more powerful.


Storytelling in the MCU often uses symbolism to represent past traumas and struggles, such as the scars that are sometimes visible on the hands of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). For Thor in Thor: Ragnarok, an important part of this symbolism is the loss of his eye to Hela, which sees him wearing an eyepatch for the rest of the movie and into Avengers: Infinity War. When he is traveling with Rocket and Groot, Rocket gives Thor a cybernetic eye that he stole. The eye is a different color to Thor’s original eye color, being brown rather than blue, but presents a part of his character journey as Thor begins to bond with the Guardians and continues his effort to defeat Thanos. While that eye remains visible in it’s brown/gold hue throughout Avengers: Endgame, the detail is forgotten in Thor: Love and Thunder with Thor once again having two blue eyes.

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