In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the false gods aren’t imaginary, but they might as well be. Thor: Love and Thunder takes us too deep into the pantheon of MCU fictional gods. We learn that, as a rule, they care nothing at all for their disciples.
Eve and I follow the MCU’s unconventional path this month and take in the latest offering in phase 4—Thor: Love and Thunder. The movie is directed by Taika Waititi and stars Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Thor: Love and Thunder follows the titular character as he searches for his calling in this post-Ragnorok, post-snap universe. After parting ways from the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor teams up with a Mjölnir-wielding Mighty Thor, a.k.a. Astrophysicist Doctor Jane Foster, and along with “King” Valkyrie, the three set off to defeat Gorr the God Butcher before he succeeds in his quest to kill all gods.
The musical score is composed by a collaboration between frequently cited composer Michael Giachino and highly talented but relative newcomer Nami Melumad. Unfortunately, the music suffered from a two-pronged failure. First, the movie had a lot of pop music throughout (mostly Gun’s and Roses, a Waititi favorite), so much so that it significantly overshadowed the score. Second, Giachino seems to have leaned heavily on his Spider-man themes. They are good but no longer original.
Initial Impressions
While Eve and I differ slightly on which movie is worse: Thor: Love and Thunder or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we both agree they are examples of how much the Disney/Marvel collaboration (and, to a fair extent, the comic source material) has embraced the progressive politics of sexual liberation and the LGBTQ+ movement.
The movie spends a fair chunk on expositional dumps that seek to explain what happened to Thor before the beginning of this movie—some through the annoying narrative frame of Corg telling a children’s story and some through flashbacks and cameo-driven and thick comedic play-acting. In the end, it wasted 30 minutes that the movie would have better served by five minutes of well-written dialog.
Each movie in the MCU’s phase four story line seems to move further from shared American values into progressive partisan values that alienate more conservative viewers. Thor: Love and Thunder may be our “bridge too far.” It takes us further and further from biblical truths and Aquianas’ natural law and deeper into normalized debauchery.
Eve and I both agree that the best part of Thor: Love and Thunder, and the most sympathetic character, is Christian Bales’ Gorr the God Butcher. The movie introduces us to his tragic backstory before even the title sequence. While his journey through the film suffers from rather large plot holes, he still has the best-developed motivation and is the most identifiable character.
“Earning” an Eternal Reward
The opening scene introduces us to Gorr, a devout disciple of an unnamed god, as he struggles to protect his young daughter through an endless wasteland. After she succumbs to the elements, a mysterious voice leads Gorr to his god, where he requests to join his daughter in the “eternal reward.” This request sends the assembled mythological creatures into uncontrollable laughter. “Eternal reward, he says! There is no eternal reward! Suffering for your gods is your purpose!”
As viewers, our hearts break for Gorr as he witnesses his deity’s utter lack of empathy. But, as Christians, we should remember that broken promises like this are the truth for every false god throughout history. Whether a worshiper of Baal in the time of the Judges or science in the modern day, lives are lived and sacrifices made, looking forward to an eternal reward. In every case, the promise is broken. There is no Valhalla for the Viking warriors, and there is no eternal nothingness for atheists.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven. So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:1-2, CSB)
The unrighteous will have their reward, but it will not be what they expect. God has written His truth on their hearts, yet they turned away from it, setting their eyes on other desires.
The book of Hebrews has the “Hall of Faith.” In it, we see that even the Old Testament heroes waited for their promised reward.
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. . . . All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us. (Hebrews 11:6, 39-40, CSB)
In the MCU, so far, at least, it is unclear what the eternal rewards like Valhalla even are. Are the other realities entrusted to these “deities” to determine who can and cannot gain entry?
As Christians, we know that we don’t earn heaven. We deserve hell. It is only through the perfect sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we may be adopted into the family of God. When we seek to do good works, it is not to earn our reward but out of gratitude for Christ’s mercy:
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism. (Colossians 3:23-25, CSB)
Pagan gods aren’t God.
This theme might as well be the subtitle of the movie. When Thor: Love and Thunder introduces us to the mass of gods inhabiting Omnipotent City, we learn they are hiding from Gorr, the god butcher. These aren’t gods. These are cosmically powered beings that exist for their pleasure.
These impotent beings remind us of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:25-39. In it, God tells Elijah to challenge the priests of Baal to a demonstration of power. Not surprisingly, things do not go well for the priests of Baal. Nevertheless, it’s a humorous story to read and picture—and it even has some literal potty humor; in the original language, “wandered away” is usually refers to stepping away to relieve oneself.
At noon Elijah mocked them. He said, “Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!” (1 Kings 18:27, CSB)
Where Baal fails to light the fire of his priests’ sacrifice, God’s fire from heaven is so consuming that it melts the very stones of the altar.
In one of the post-credits scenes, we see a wounded Zeus as he laments the sorry state of the pantheon of Greek gods in the modern day. He complains to his sycophants, “When did we become the joke. No more. They will fear us again!” His declaration reminds us of the story of King Sennacherab:
[King Sennacherab’s] servants said more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. He also wrote letters to mock the Lord, the God of Israel, saying against him: Just like the national gods of the lands that did not rescue their people from my power, so Hezekiah’s God will not rescue his people from my power. Then they called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem, who were on the wall, to frighten and discourage them in order that he might capture the city. They spoke against the God of Jerusalem like they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which were made by human hands. King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven, and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword. (2 Chronicles 32:16-21, CSB)
Thankfully, Thor: Love and Thunder does not presume to include any Christian references in the dozens of religious references throughout the movie. There is a different sense between this movie and the earlier MCU offerings. In Thor: Love and Thunder, we are shown how “all gods” are powerless to stop Gorr, but in the original Avengers movie, we had the affirming line from Captain America, “There’s only one God, ma’am—I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”
In the end, Thor: Love and Thunder sets up the idea of gods as straw men and then proceeds to knock these strawmen down. Like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the characters’ motivations are often based on lies. The Necrosword promises revenge. Mjölnir promises “great health.” Even Thor promises an easy victory but leaves only destruction in his wake.
Christians know that God answers prayers. We may not always like the answer, but the Bible assures us that his answer is in our best interests.
I waited patiently for the LORD, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. (Psalm 40:1, CSB)
This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14–15, CSB)
All You Need is Love!
Thor: Love and Thunder concludes with the message, “All you need is love.” All movie long, Gorr has stated his ultimate goal of killing all gods. So when he reached Eternity and sought his one wish, he’d intended to ask that all gods die. As Goor stands before Eternity, Thor tells Gorr:
Thor: It’s not death or revenge that you seek.
Gorr: What do I seek?
Thor: You seek love. Because that’s all any of us want.
Gorr is no longer under the Necrosword’s influence, and without that evil whispering in his ear, Thor and Jane succeed in reminding him of his love for his daughter and her love for him. Instead of seeking the destruction of all gods, he asks Eternity to resurrect his daughter. Both Gorr and Jane die, leaving Thor and “the child born of Eternity” behind. Thor committed to caring for the girl, and they go on adventures, becoming known as “Love and Thunder.”
But this movie’s definition of “love” is so perverted. It’s all about how people make them feel and how they think about other people. Thor: Love and Thunder’s definition of love is all about affirmation, not a joint journey to righteousness. But affirming a choice founded in sin is not love; it is an escort to eternal destruction.
Unbelievers, and many professing Christians, get hung up on the section of 1 John 4:16 that says, “God is love,” but they forget that God is more than love. Yes . . .
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, CSB)
. . . .but God is so very much more.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; faithful love and truth go before you. (Psalm 89:14, CSB)
Thor: Love and Thunder is a movie that talks of gods and killers, love and loss, but it does it all through the humanist lens. Like so much out of Hollywood, it seeks to affirm society’s constant drifting out of the will of God and into evil. Yet compared to the inerrant Word, the philosophy of Thor: Love and Thunder is just like the gods it portrays: self-centered, weak, and utter frauds.
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