This is a theory that has been bubbling in my head for a few months (thanks to a couple fanfics I've been writing) but I can't help but to think that, in-universe, that this could be the reason that various Norse gods look different between the MCU and their mythologies.

And it is because characters like Fandrall, Volstagg, and Amora pretended to be Loki, Thor, and Lady Sif respectively. Take a look...

How Volstagg, Fandrall, and Amora the Enchantress impersonated Thor, Loki, and Sif respectively.

In the first Thor film, it is alluded that the gang has visited Earth several times and gotten mortals to worship them as gods. Many of these visits would likely have occured in the decades or century after Odin defeated Laufey. The real Loki would still be very young around this time, but Thor would have been around 500. We don't know the ages of Sif and the Warriors three, but they could have been active during the first initial trips. While Fandrall is not the trickster Loki would become, I could easily see him being mischievous enough to come up with the idea to tell us mortals that he was Loki. Volstagg could be the one to present himself as Thor. Amora the Enchantress could have pretended to be Lady Sif.

If Thor is willing to have Loki play the role of DB Cooper (see the Loki Series S1E1), I could see him and his friends going along with this scheme.

I know Amora the Enchantress has yet to appear in the MCU (and Taika Watiti missed out on having her appear in LaT, especially in a cameo as one of Thor's past lovers in Korg's opening monologue), but nothing outright rules out her existance in the MCU.

Note: Flaired as MCU because in the comics, there is enough lore to rule this out.

By the end of Endgame, they have the perfect set up for Thor to go through a challenging, self-discovery, and compelling journey. But rather than resolving those issues with a meaningful recovery arc in Thor: Love and Thunder, they made a horrible attempt at a comedy.

Recovery isn’t instantaneous, and it isn’t easy, especially for someone who has fallen as hard as Thor. Thor 4 could have leaned into this by showing him properly confronting his grief, failures, alcoholism, etc. Instead of a quick montage of comedic workouts, we could’ve had a movie of Thor regaining his mental and physical strength, watching him fight for his recovery— struggling with his worthiness, confronting the memories he tried to bury, and slowly rebuilding his confidence—would have been far more powerful than simply skipping to the end result.

This would have resonated with anyone who’s faced a difficult personal journey, reminding them that setbacks and struggles are part of the process, and that there’s always a way back from rockbottom. Instead, Love and Thunder glossed over all of this, leaving Thor’s recovery feeling hollow and unearned. The film’s tone and pacing seemed almost afraid to sit with Thor’s pain or give weight to his journey, opting instead for easy laughs (which I’m not sure anyone was actually laughing) and flashy visuals.

Thor’s transformation could have been inspiring and relatable, grounding his godlike status in a deeply human story. Recovery takes time, effort, and self-reflection—all things Thor deserved to experience on-screen. Instead of rushing to a punchline, the film could have given us a story of resilience, healing, and rediscovery.

Hey been going on a comic lore deep dive these last few weeks and I remembered learning before that the complicated situation of Thor’s originally introduced human identity of Donald Blake. Despite being a original element of Marvels interpretation of the character, it soon became a potential continuity snarl due to the rapid authorial shift into making the protagonist the literal norse god rather than a mundane human who transformed into Thor and lacking a canonical backstory for Donald Blake and/or why Thor had been previously stuck as him.

The eventual explanation given if I recall correctly was that the Donald Blake form was created as an adult with vague false memories to humble Thor; and that Donald literally did not exist previously or as a separate entity. But there was later several more complicated retcons; including that Donald Blake was a separate being with an actual full life before merging with Thor before a later revision had Donald Blake still existing and being a construct without the actual juvenescent years or medical training existing outside his own mind. But these retcons themselves have been ignored and/or subtly implicitly undone by later creators; partially due to this aspect of Thor being downplayed and absent from many adaptions.

Thor’s human identity has been in flux canonically for quite along time but I also remember him bonding with other humans, including dodgy paramedic Jake Olsen, and having to share his ontological existence with other personalities in addition to switching forms. But as this element of Thor has been largely abandoned by most creators and never appeared in the MCU outside the scenes of Thor being depowered in his first MCU film.

So I’m curious if there exists a comprehensive guide to the situation in terms of both the real-world and in-universe history of the character? The Doyalist and Watsonian explanations in literary theory terms; why the writer did this authorially and why the fictional character did this canonically.

Thanks for any responded and/or links.

thoughts?

What do you think could they do a king thor film of his final days ? or a Old King Thor story arc? or maybe include other xmen or characters to do a story beat, of a mix toward thor & company as an older character like in the comics? share your thoughts maybe its a darker serious film with some comedy?

Thar be spoilers