Thor: Love And Thunder Could've Featured A Cameo From Jesus Christ
In "Thor: Love and Thunder," Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Jane Foster aka the Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (director Taika Waititi) travel to Omnipotence City, the gathering place for deities of all pantheons. They're visiting to ask Zeus (Russell Crowe), the king of the Greek gods (and master of ceremonies), for help in their fight against Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). The stands are full of figures of worship from all across the universe when they enter the arena.
We've got Zeus and his Greek pantheon including Dionysus, Athena, and Artemis. We've got the Kronan (Korg's people), a god made of rock sitting on a throne of scissors (because rock beats scissors, of course), the Egyptian and Wakandan cat goddess Bast, an Elche goddess, Quetzalcóatl from the Aztecs, and others that we're probably familiar with. There are the gods of emotion that our heroes disguise themselves as, a creature called Fur God, who is sort of a head on fuzzy feet. We even have Bao, the god of dumplings, and some Celestials standing outside, peeking through a window.
One deity we didn't see, however, is Jesus Christ. According to an interview Waititi did with BBC Radio 1 (via The Direct), he almost had a cameo.
Well, that would have sent social media into a tizzy!
In the interview, film critic Ali Plumb asks about any cameos that were "too mad" to include. When you have Bao in there, which Waititi said he came up with while eating dumplings for lunch, it seems like anything could work.
Waititi mentioned that Valkyrie does reference a "god of carpentry." As Jesus Christ is often referred to as a carpenter, it was clearly a reference to the son of the Christian god. Waititi said, "There was supposed to be a cutaway to you-know-who. Ole Big J."
Just ponder the social media ramifications of that cameo! Twitter would have lost its collective mind (though one could argue that it lost that long ago). There would have been endless debates, yelling in all caps, boycotts, think pieces, and memes galore. Add in the fact that the stadium seats full of deities are preparing for an orgy, and madness would have indeed ensued.
The discourse about a seconds-long cameo would likely have distracted from the actual film, even if it was funny. Best to leave those worms in their can.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is streaming on Disney+ right now.