Let's Talk About That Character In The Thor: Love And Thunder Credit Scene
Spoilers for "Thor: Love and Thunder" follow.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is out in theaters, and like so many Marvel movies, it has both a mid-credits and an after-credits scene. During the film, Thor and his pals come to the god Zeus (Russell Crowe in a brilliant casting move) to ask for help. But Zeus turns them down; he would rather ignore the threats of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Zeus only cares about how good he looks, and the attention he gets from the other gods. He wants no part of the coming battle, and Thor and his friends make a big mess of his entrance. They fight his warriors and basically humiliate them, with Valkyrie stealing his lightning bolt, in front of all his cronies, including a couple of Celestials.
So when the mid-credits scene arrives, Zeus is still upset, complaining about being humiliated in what appears to be a monologue, wanting to know how he became the joke. It's then revealed at the end that he's actually talking to his son Hercules, played by Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein — and he asks Hercules to take Thor down.
From the pages of Marvel Comics
In mythology, Hercules is the half-human son of Zeus. (He's really called Heracles in the Greek myths and Hercules in the Roman myths, but that's neither here nor there for this story.) Though he first appeared in the pre-Marvel Timely Comics in 1945, his Marvel premiere was in 1965, in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's "Journey Into Mystery Annual" #1. He and Thor aren't exactly buddies in the beginning, battling over who is stronger. They do seem to be about equal, and they end up as bros. Hercules has been a part of the Avengers, and roommates with the Eternal Gilgamesh at one point. He and Wolverine are party friends, and he has the arrogance of Thor in his first film. Good-natured, but still.
Hercules is friends with Dane Whitman, who was played by Kit Harington in "Eternals," so that could certainly be a pairing. He's also been paired up with the Hulks, including She-Hulk. He often uses the title Prince of Power, though others have held the mantle in the comics. Hercules is very into fame and was once tricked by the goddess Hera into doing a modern version of his mythical labors for a reality TV series.
What would Hercules mean for the future of the MCU
So what could this mean for the MCU's future? Obviously, it sounds like we're going to get a battle, and maybe even a team-up, between Thor and Hercules. We'll also have another acknowledged bisexual character in the MCU, which is super cool. We may see him with She-Hulk as they have a comics history, and maybe we'll even get a relationship with Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr) as we do in the comics. He's not in the MCU yet, but he certainly could be.
Herc and Thor do have similar powers, so if Chris Hemsworth ever decides to leave the MCU (do not do that, best Chris), Hercules could take his place. He's even been a part of the Secret Invasion storyline in the comics, so we could see him in the upcoming TV series. Once a new version of Wolverine shows up, as he inevitably must, we could even have some fun flashbacks to their partying over the years.
Whether or not bringing in all the gods we've seen, and another from the Greek pantheon means we'll get the MCU version of Ares the god of war remains to be seen, but in the comics, quite a number of Greek gods, monsters, and heroes do show up. It opens a pretty big god-shaped door.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is in theaters now.