SPOILERS are ahead for Thor: Love and Thunder, now playing exclusively in theaters.
Prior to Thor: Love and Thunder, the last time we saw Chris Hemsworth’s MCU hero, he'd left Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy to join them on their adventures. So when the latest Marvel movie opened with Peter Quill and the gang going on a mission with the God of Thunder, it made perfect sense. Our only question is why didn’t we see more of the lovable superhero team?
Of course, there’s the fact that Thor: Love and Thunder is a Thor movie, and there were plenty of plotlines to get to, whether that be the return of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, Russell Crowe hilariously playing Zeus or Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher wreaking havoc. But aside from that, writer/director Taika Waititi has shed some light about if there was ever going to be more of the Guardians in the movie than what made it to theaters. In his words:
The plan was always to have them in the beginning and then move on. Because they have their own movie. There was talk about having them come back at the end. … The thing is, that happens in every movie. No more. No more of the cavalry coming at the end. So we shelved that idea. We just wanted Jane to come in at the end.
While speaking to Insider, Taika Waititi revealed that there was initially a conversation to have the Guardians show back up in the end, during Thor’s final battle with Gorr the God Butcher, but the filmmaker decided against it. Instead, Natalie Portman’s Mighty Thor left her hospital bed to help out her ex-boyfriend and have one more superhero moment before dying in his arms. Also, the kids of New Asgard scored a superpowered moment of their own.
So there is a world where the Guardians of the Galaxy would have come to Thor’s rescue and helped him out with Gorr the God Butcher. However, as Taika Waititi said, it felt like something Marvelgoing audiences had already seen a few times before. So it instead became a final team up between Thor and the Mighty Thor.
Plus, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still on the docket for next summer. James Gunn’s third Marvel movie about the misfit heroes finished filming a couple months ago and is set to be released on May 5, 2023. The next Guardians movie, which may as well be a sendoff for its characters, features a major cast of actors, including newcomers like Will Poulter, Daniela Melchior and Maria Bakalova. Following Thor: Love and Thunder, you can also check out what other upcoming Marvel movies are on the way.
