Who Is Falligar The Behemoth In Thor: Love And Thunder?
The first trailer for "Thor: Love and Thunder," the fourth entry in Thor's line of solo films, finally dropped on Monday, April 18. Already, people are looking at the small details to see what they can figure out about the movie before it finally hits theaters in July. So far, the teaser trailer has revealed the appearance of Zeus (Russell Crowe) and the Olympians, the arrival of Jane Foster's Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), and the triumphant return of Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) six-pack abs. And while these discoveries can hardly be called "small details," there is one (very) big thing that does qualify, since the only way you'd ever recognize it is if you read the comics.
Among the many amazing setpieces throughout the trailer, one that really sticks out is the sight of Korg (Taika Waititi) and Thor standing in front of the corpse of a massive frost-bitten beast. To the fans who are primarily, or even solely, Marvel movie viewers, this would appear to be just another one of the several giant monster corpses that Thor comes across in his intergalactic adventures. However, for those who have read the "Thor: God of Thunder" Marvel Comics series, it is very clearly the corpse of Falligar the Behemoth, god of the Galactic Frontier.
But who exactly is Falligar, and what makes him important to the plot of "Thor: Love and Thunder?"
Falligar is an old friend of Thor's, but really, he's most famous for being dead
Unfortunately, if you've seen Falligar in the "Thor: Love and Thunder" trailer, then you've also basically seen him in the comics. The shot of Falligar in the new teaser trailer for the fourth Thor movie is pretty much an exact recreation of the singular comic panel where the giant creature appears in the comics (minus the presence of Korg). Naturally, Falligar is dead in that panel, too.
However, the comics give him a much deeper backstory than the trailer lets on. In "Thor: God of Thunder," Falligar is revealed to be an old friend of Thor's, and the two often cross paths during their respective journeys across the universe (via Marvel Database). He is also considered quite the formidable opponent. For five centuries, he reigns as the champion of the Tournament of the Immortals and reportedly wrestles black holes for fun. Five years before the events of "God of Thunder," however, Falligar vanishes, and Thor eventually discovers that he has been slain by Gorr the God Butcher.
Gorr is another interesting character who, not-so-coincidentally, is the main villain of "Thor: Love and Thunder," and he is portrayed by Christian Bale. As in the comics, we expect the discovery of Falligar's corpse to be an omen that leads Thor towards an inevitable confrontation with the god-slaying Gorr. Whether Thor's battle with Gorr plays out differently, however, is yet to be seen.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" arrives in theaters on July 8.