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Thor: Love and Thunder, from director Taika Waititi, had plenty of surprising moments, but the one that might have surprised Marvel fans the most is who appeared in the first post-credits scene. While Waititi brought this scene to life, the director credits Marvel boss Kevin Feige as the person who chose the actor for the role. 

[Warning: Spoilers ahead for Thor: Love and Thunder.]

Taika Waititi attends the premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney
Taika Waititi | Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Brett Goldstein joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hercules

In Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Korg (Taika Waititi), and the rest of the crew travel to Omnipotence City to ask the gods to help defeat Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Thor talks with Zeus (Russell Crowe). And things don’t go well, leading to Thor throwing a lightning bolt through Zeus.

In the first post-credits scene, it’s revealed Zeus somehow survives. But he wants vengeance on the God of Thunder. He tasks his son Hercules with the mission of defeating Thor.

Hercules is played by Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein. Marvel fans have been waiting for Hercules to join the MCU for a long time. And Ted Lasso fans might be even more excited now that Roy Kent could be a major player in the Marvel universe. 

Taika Waititi discusses the ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ post-credits scene

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Taika Waititi broke his silence about the Thor: Love and Thunder post-credits scene. The New Zealand director said he was a fan of Ted Lasso and knew who Goldstein was. However, the decision to cast him came from Kevin Feige himself. Waititi also said he doesn’t know what Goldstein’s future as Hercules in the MCU looks like. 

“I can’t share much because, you know, that was all Kevin,” Waititi shared. “Kevin was like ‘Hercules? How ’bout we ask Brett?’ And, you know, Kevin keeps his cards close to the chest. So I don’t want to like ‘Where are you pushing this? … Where are you going with this Hercules character?’ So we’ll see. But it’s pretty exciting to start opening up the world of Zeus and Hercules and the Greek gods.” 

It does seem as though Waititi and Feige are setting up an eventual showdown between Hercules and Thor. We haven’t visited the worlds of the Greek gods yet in the MCU, so it would be exciting to explore.

Will there be a ‘Thor 5’?

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‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Taika Waititi Explains Why He Was ‘Anxious’ About Working With Christian Bale and Russell Crowe

Neither Kevin Feige nor Taika Waititi has confirmed a Thor 5, but the enthusiasm is still there based on the box office. Thor: Love and Thunder had the best opening for any Thor movie, grossing around $143 million domestically, according to CNBC. It’s another win for Marvel Studios, which just had tons of success with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

While reviews from critics are somewhat mixed, the audience has been more favorable to it. And many turned out in theaters to see the latest entry from Marvel. It will be interesting to see how this movie does financially in the coming weeks, but it is off to a good start. 

Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters. 

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