Small Details You Missed In The New Thor: Love And Thunder Trailer
Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) has stealthily turned into one of the funniest and most charming characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to a tactically deployed Taika Waititi, whose "Thor: Ragnarok" showed how the inherent absurdity of a Norwegian deity superhero can be used to great comedic effect. It doesn't exactly hurt that Hemsworth clearly has a blast exploring Thor's more comedic side.
As such, it's reasonable to assume that everyone who enjoyed Waititi and Hemsworth's last Marvel-ous collaboration has already marked July 8 in their calendar in giant red letters. This is when "Thor: Love and Thunder" premieres, and from what the promotional material has showed us so far, it's going to take everything that was great about "Ragnarok" and crank it up to 11. With fellow MCU favorites like Korg (Waititi), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and the Guardians of the Galaxy at his side, Thor discovers that his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) now appears mightily Thor-like herself, complete with his long-lost (and magically repaired) Mjolnir. What's more, everyone involved are up against the challenge of a lifetime, when Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) arrives to put some meaning behind his moniker.
It's all very awesome, and as the newest trailer of "Love and Thunder" teases, things are only going to get better and better. Let's take a look at the small details you might have missed in the latest "Thor: Love and Thunder" trailer, as you rocked out to Guns N' Roses.
The tree on Thor's shirt is a sacred Norse symbol
It's hard not to notice the snazzy shirt that Thor sports during several pivotal scenes in the trailer. Die-hard fans won't be shocked to learn that this sartorial choice may just contain a deeper meaning, which connects it to the rest of the movie's plot — and Thor's mythological roots.
The symbol — that of an artfully drawn tree with a black trunk and black branches, with white circles running down the trunk, placed against a large red circle — is most likely a visual representation of the mighty Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Per Norse-Mythology.org, the Yggdrasil is a sacred and important part of the spiritual landscape of the Viking world. In fact, Yggdrasil supports the entire universe, as its deep roots extend all the way to Valhalla, while its strong, gnarled branches stretch above the clouds. Yggrasil's health is vital to keeping the living world in harmony, and the cosmos depends upon its thriving. When the Yggdrasil trembles or withers, bad things are headed Asgard's way.
...of course, in the MCU, the original Asgard is now just a memory, but as Odin said, "Asgard is not a place, it's a people." And if Yggdrasil does somehow fit into the plot of "Thor: Love and Thunder," well, the Thunder God may just be the right person to preserve it. Eagle-eyed fans will remember that in the previously released "Thor: Love and Thunder" trailer, Thor takes the time to meditate under what, indeed, appears to be Yggdrasil. The fact that Thor heads to such a sacred spot to attain some sense of peace and guidance was interesting enough, but that he appears to come out of this experience brandishing a Yggdrasil T-shirt may indicate that enlightenment is just what he finds there.
Celestials on the starboard bow
The last time we saw a Celestial intervening in the MCU, it gave Sersi (Gemma Chan) a stern telling off before snatching her and a selection of other Eternals away from the planet they'd just saved. Now, it's been confirmed in the final trailer for "Thor: Love and Thunder" that those cosmic colossuses are going to make an appearance here, as well.
The only question is, just how big a part do they play in Thor's battle against the God Butcher? In a frantic escape from Olympus, we see The Revengers going full steam ahead and at risk of colliding with two unnamed Celestial beings — albeit ones that don't match up with the ones we've seen in the past. We're no specialist in godlike beings, but even though these Celestials drawf the Goat Boat, they still seem too small, particularly compared to the newborn Celestial that (nearly) hatched in "Eternals." With that in mind, the Celestials might be peeking their head not through a window, but a portal of some sort. Either that, or they're decidedly smaller than Celestials we've seen in the past, and they're in for some heartbreaking news when Thor tells them they don't meet the height requirement to ride the Bifrost.
Size aside, might these mighty beings be a key factor in defeating Gorr? Or, given their antagonistic ways in the past, are they just going to be another large problem for Odinson and his accomplices to face?
Does that boat summon the Bifrost?
Traveling the universe can be a taxing ordeal for those without an effective means of traversing those incredible distances. In the past, the Asgardians have utilized a mysterious energy known as the Bifrost that allows them to almost instantly teleport to locations. This process usually scorches symbols and runes at the location's ground. This is the reason why people on Earth have a mythology involving Thor, Odin, and Loki — because Asgardians have visited Earth at varying points in time, and their visitations left marks, which gave rise to legend. In Norse Mythology, rainbows were believed to be the physical embodiment of the Bifrost bridge (per Encyclopedia Britannica) and the Bifrost maintains a similar coloration in the MCU.
Unfortunately, the primary means of harnessing the power of the Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard, was destroyed during the events of "Thor: Ragnarok." Luckily, though, it seems though that Thor and his companions may have found a cool new way to invoke the Bifrost, judging by this new trailer — and not just with Stormbreaker. The Viking style longship appears to be generating its very own Bifrost while it soars through the air, which may mean that the "Asgardians of the Galaxy" will still be able to hop around the universe with ease by using a combination of the aforementioned boat and giant screaming goats. Whether the boat's abilities are somehow connected to Stormbreaker remains to be seen.
Thor-Claude Van Damme
Thor has many impressive abilities. He's wielded both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker and can summon lightning at a whim. And based on the latest trailer for "Love and Thunder," he's also quite flexible.
At the 48-second mark, we see two chariots fly at Thor at super speed. The God of Thunder manages to stop both vessels in their tracks simultaneously by pulling off a move once thought to only be possible from Jean-Claude van Damme — that is, Thor commits an impressive split with one foot on each chariot, stopping both with nary a sweat broken.
The move is incredibly reminiscent of the splits van Damme would perform frequently in his movies as well as a Volvo commercial from 2013 when he performed the act while on two trucks. We likely won't ever know for certain if the Thor moment drew directly from van Damme's resume, but seeing how the marketing for the movie has incorporated the 1980s classic "Sweet Child O' Mine" – and drawn from that decade in just about every other way possible — it seems incredibly likely that it's meant to be a reference.
The whole team revealed
We've seen them all in previous trailers, but up to now, it's been unclear whether there'll be a full team-up or just a bunch of individual scenes, scattered across the vastness of space. While this could still go either way, at least the new trailer confirms that Thor, if no one else, considers himself the driving force of a very particular team — the best one ever, as it happens.
In a voiceover that takes up much of the trailer, Thor introduces the latest version of his Revengers — or, as they may very well be called this time, the Asgardians of the Galaxy. The team consists of Korg, Valkyrie, Jane Foster, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians in "Thor: Love and Thunder," in case you were wondering, will consist of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). There's also Kraglin (Sean Gunn), who, let's face it, is either a full-blown Guardian by now, or should by all reason be up for a promotion any time now.
When you combine all that power and skill, and you take into account the many absurdly powerful villains the various people in this squad have defeated in their own movies, it's hard to imagine a villain who'd give them any difficulty. It's also kind of unnerving to think just how dangerous Gorr must be if Thor has to put together this all-star squad just to stand a chance.