Thor: Love and Thunder’s post-credits scene introduces some competition

Thor’s latest adventure sends him on a journey of maturity and self-discovery. He reunites with old lovers, makes some new friends, and makes some new enemies. Of course, things don’t end with the credits; just like most Marvel movies, Thor: Love and Thunder has an extra reveal hidden away in its credits.

Love and Thunder features two credits scenes. The first happens midway through the credits, with the second one happening after they’ve all rolled. The first seems like the most important tease, but the second’s still worth sticking around for.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.]

Thor: Love and Thunder involves the death of quite a few gods, as you might imagine from a movie where the antagonist is called Gorr the God Butcher. However, it’s Thor’s dealings with Zeus that get him in the most hot water by the time the credits roll. In the first post-credits scene, we see Zeus, who survived a lightning bolt to the chest, angrily ordering Hercules to take down Thor. In this brief scene, Hercules is played by Brett Goldstein — who is best known for his role as the foul-mouthed Roy Kent on Ted Lasso.

While this is the first time Hercules has shown up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s a familiar face in Marvel’s Thor stories and the wider universe of Marvel Comics. Introduced in the 1960s as a rival godly battler to Thor, Hercules became a regularly recurring character, rising to the ranks of the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even a few solo series of his own. He’s also — accurate to the social mores of the ancient Greeks — among the ranks of Marvel’s queer characters, and is currently dating the superhero (and ex-boyfriend of Kate Bishop) Marvel Boy.

Image: Al Ewing, Marcio Takara/Marvel Comics

In the post-credits scene, Love and Thunder wraps up Jane Foster’s story by showing her at the gates of Valhalla. She is confused when she arrives there, but is quickly welcomed by Heimdall, who it seems is still relegated to doorman duty even in the afterlife. Now, how exactly Jane made it to Valhalla after not dying in battle but dying after it, even though we’re told that doesn’t count, is anyone’s guess.

Jane also went to Valhalla in the comics, after she threw Mjolnir into the center of the sun in order to defeat one of Asgard’s greatest enemies and, without its godly power, succumbed to the ravages of cancer. But before she could cross its great gates, the All-Father was moved by her sacrifice to combine his own Odin-force with Thor’s lightning to bring Jane back to life. She went back to chemotherapy and her cancer went into remission long enough for her to ride the wind as the Mighty Thor one last time in the War of the Realms and subsequently become the newest Valkyrie.

Now, in the world of the MCU, the machinations of actor schedules and salaries have a far greater hold on whether characters come back from the dead, but suffice it to say: Just because Jane’s in Valhalla now doesn’t mean we’ll never see her again.