The Alternate Thor Who Was Meant To Have A Bigger Role In Loki
Contains spoilers for "Loki" Episode 5
In the Disney+ "Loki" series, a version of the longtime Marvel Cinematic Universe villain-turned-antihero Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from a dimension separate from the franchise's primary timeline is arrested by an organization called the Time Variance Authority, or the TVA. For the crime of traveling to an alternate timeline without the official sanction of the TVA, Loki must either accept being zapped out of existence or use his considerable power to work alongside the TVA and stop a second alternate-timeline Loki from wreaking havoc on time itself.
Loki is, of course, a trickster god, so his allegiance is to himself first and foremost. This quickly causes the relationship between he and the TVA to sour, since his interest in aiding their efforts is driven purely by his own self-preservation. At the end of the series' 4th episode and continuing into its 5th, as a result of his escalating conflict with the TVA, Loki ends up in the Void, a dimension into which "variants" — broadly referring to the types of alternate timeline beings like the series' primary version of Loki — are sent to die.
The inclusion of this transdimensional space ultimately acts as a manner through which a cornucopia of Marvel Easter eggs can appear. Among those is the brief appearance of Throg, a canonical incarnation of Thor as a frog, seen in a jar. Though it amounts to a mere fleeting reference to a bizarre storyline from Marvel Comics' history, it turns out Throg's part in "Loki" was once more substantial.
Loki vs. the Frog of Thunder
News of Throg's original role in "Loki" comes courtesy of Eric Martin, one of the show's writers and producers. The day the episode premiered on Disney+, Martin shared to Twitter a thread of behind-the-scenes insight into "Loki" Episode 5. Among the new information Martin revealed was that Throg was once going to appear in the series' pilot episode, weeks before his reveal in the Void.
According to Martin, Throg would have surfaced in the scene in which Loki is forced to watch a compilation reel of his interdimensional misdeeds, playing out in what the TVA calls its Time Theater. Martin revealed that the "Loki" team shot a scene in which Loki fought a losing battle against Throg. This was intended to be included in the Time Theater footage, but the scene was cut for its lack of relevance to the main story. "It's too bad, because Tom was funny as hell," Martin tweeted.
This isn't the first time Throg has factored into a Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline. In "Thor: Ragnarok," among a longer list of deeds for which he seeks atonement, Loki admits that he regrets transforming his adoptive brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into a frog. Throg, then, may not have appeared on screen prior, but is nevertheless a form once taken by none other than Chris Hemsworth's Thor.
Since a version of Thor that remains a frog has now shown up in "Loki," it appears that Loki has transformed Thor into frog form in multiple timelines, one of which could have once appeared in "Loki" Episode 1 were it not cut for time.