Marvel Cinematic Universe, the mighty God of Thunder was shown to be a complex character who was different from the multitude of other superheroes Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had created by the early 1960s. His live-action adventures started out with a serious tone and grew to be more comedic, helping to illustrate Thor's many layers and personalities.
In line with that same goal to make Thor different from the other heroes, comic book writer Jason Aaron took a unique approach in his portrayal of the iconic character. Thor: God of Thunder was his first issue, and in the comic, Aaron focused heavily on character development, always asking the question - what makes the hero unique? Thor: Love and Thunder was an adaptation of Jason's run on Thor. And while some of the film's significant changes were to be expected, a huge part of its original story was changed, which would've fit perfectly in line with the MCU's ever-expanding multiverse saga.
A Thor Team-Up Fits With Love & Thunder's Themes
The notion of characters teaming up to fight a great evil was one of the main themes present in Taika Waititi's Love and Thunder. In the beginning, Thor teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to help free King Yakan's temple from Habooska the Horrible's control. After receiving a distress call from Lady Sif, he teamed up with Jane Foster, Korg, and Valkyrie during their encounter with Gorr. Even after that, Thor called upon the help of the gods of Omnipotence City to create an army of reinforcements in hopes of freeing a group of Asgardian children from Gorr, who imprisoned them in the Shadow Realm.
The many different versions of Thor working together would've made a lot of sense given Love and Thunder's theme of teaming up as this also happened in the comics. A younger Thor (Viking-era), middle Thor (during his time with the Avengers), and older Thor (the last surviving god in the universe) united in the far future to fight against Gorr. This dynamic partnership enabled Thor to see the different versions of himself and how they would interact with one another. The team-up also allowed him to face major philosophical questions about himself and his place in the world, which was another big theme of Love and Thunder that largely went unexplored.
The Multiverse Saga Justifies A Thor Team-Up
Although in the comics, the three Thors were able to meet up via time travel, the multiverse saga of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Telling the story of Thor: Love and Thunder this way would've opened the doors of the multiverse even further. Audiences would have been given a deeper understanding of Thor's character as his variants would simply play off their strengths and weaknesses while learning new information about one another. The seeds would've been planted for what could've happened to Thor's character as part of the Sacred Timeline had one variant decided to do the wrong thing and branch off from their pre-determined destiny.
What Thor Learns From Each Version Of Himself In the Comics
In Thor: Love and Thunder, the God of Thunder tried to better himself as a person. Jason Aaron's comic book iteration of the character took this notion a step further as with each of his variants, Thor learned something important about himself. Initially, his youngest version was very hot-headed, impulsive, and shallow. But later down the road, he was able to step out of his comfort zone and faced fear for the first time as Gorr held him captive in a cave and tortured him.
From this and his eventual rescue, he learned that optimism had its place but that relying on others was a must. He also learned that like anyone else, he wasn't infallible. During Thor's time with the Avengers, his present self began to doubt whether the gods were actually good for the universe. He saw their failings and considered some of Gorr's larger points, one of them being that all gods were selfish. Although he didn't agree with their extent nor Gorr's methods, he was forced to do much soul-searching and rediscovered the good that gods could do when they actually acted in the interest of others instead of themselves.
Thor's future self, who was very old, depressed, and weary had completely given up his will to live. But eventually, his younger self provided Thor with a spark of hope, reinvigorating the hero inside him during his fight with Gorr. Thor was shown that even when all seemed lost, there was always hope. In the end, while Thor: Love and Thunder was a fun adventure, it would have been a far better film had Marvel more closely followed Jason Aaron's comic book portrayal of the God of Thunder.
