The release of Thor: Love and Thunder had many Marvel fans wondering who would appear in Chris Hemsworth's fourth theatrical adventure as the God of Thunder. Tom Hiddleston's Loki wasn't one of the characters who ended up making an appearance, and now fans know why.
Thor: Love and Thunder saw actress Natalie Portman returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to reprise her role as Jane Foster and wield a new one as the Mighty Thor. However, fans wondered by Loki wasn't included in Love and Thunder after having played a key role in the three previous Thor films.
The Thor: Love and Thunder post-credits scenes could have squeezed in a cameo from the God of Mischief. Even though there was room for this cameo, one of the Thor: Love and Thunder writers is revealing why it didn’t happen. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Thor: Love and Thunder writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson discussed the idea of Loki appearing in the film. When asked if she ever considered the idea of Loki appearing in Valhalla, she revealed that the idea didn’t arise. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “Never on the table from what I understand. He’s in Loki-land. He’s doing his own thing. They are on two separate journeys.”
At the end of Thor: Love and Thunder, Foster loses her battle with cancer and sacrifices her life to protect the Gods from Gorr the God Butcher (played by Christian Bale), who sets out to murder them all. Her death leads to the post-credit scene, where Foster appears in the mystical land of Valhalla, the heaven for the Gods. Upon her arrival in Valhalla, she is met by a familiar face, Heimdall (played by Idris Elba), as he thanks her for protecting the son he left behind and showed her the beauty of the afterlife.
The reveal that bringing Loki into Valhalla was never a conversation in the writer's room comes as a surprise since both Loki and Heimdall died in Avengers: Infinity War at the hands of Thanos (played by Josh Brolin), so the God of Mischief could have easily made a cameo. Although there was some disappointment that Loki wasn’t shown in heaven for Gods after his gruesome death, there still is a chance that the God of Mischief is relaxing in the afterlife.
Nonetheless, with more Avengers films on the way and Thor confirmed to return at the end of Love and Thunder, the chances of Loki returning to the big screen as a variant or in the afterlife are rising as Marvel Studios continues to explore the stories of the Gods even deeper.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter