Love & Thunder Makes Endgame's Divisive Fat Thor Story Worse

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Thor: Love and Thunder.

Thor: Love and Thunder makes the divisive "Fat Thor" storyline from Avengers: Endgame even worse. In Thor: Love and Thunder, the titular God of Thunder returns to the MCU for the first time in the post-Infinity Saga era as he fights a new adversary in Gorr the God Butcher. However, the longtime Avenger looks significantly different from his last appearance in the franchise as he's no longer "Fat Thor" in Thor: Love and Thunder.

After his catastrophic failure to stop Thanos's snap in Avengers: Infinity War and the realization that there was no way to undo its effects, Thor experienced deep depression. This caused him to fully check out from all of his responsibilities, including ruling New Asgard. He also stopped taking care of himself, resulting in him gaining weight and becoming "Fat Thor." This was one of the most divisive plotlines in Avengers: Endgame, as it was mostly viewed as a way for the movie to get cheap laughs as the God of Thunder's new look became the butt of several jokes.

Thor: Love and Thunder had the chance to finally justify the God of Thunder's physical change. Unfortunately, it not only failed to do just that but it made it even worse. The movie briefly featured Avengers: Endgame’s Fat Thor before he transformed back to the character's original physique, and the way it explained how the God of Thunder achieved his new buffer physique is a whole other problem. The hero went through an intense workout to lose weight as part of his healing journey and also addressed his mental health through meditation. This transformation was only shown through a quick montage and barely touched on the ups and downs of such a difficult task. Marvel Studios could have instead devoted the God of Thunder's entire Thor: Love and Thunder arc to this narrative to make sure that it was realistically handled.

Love & Thunder Could Have Done Much More With "Fat Thor" (& Mirrored Gorr)

Focusing on Thor's healing journey in Thor: Love and Thunder would have also effectively made his dynamic with Gorr the God Butcher better. Like the God of Thunder, the villain's arc is defined by tragedy after he heartbreakingly lost his daughter at the start of the movie. As someone who has experienced a string of losses over the years with the death of his whole family, Thor could have used this to make a connection with Gorr. The consecutive heartbreaks that the Avenger suffered toward the end of the Infinity Saga made him blinded with rage, not wanting anything but to exact revenge against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Killing the Titan at the start of Avengers: Endgame, however, didn't give Thor the satisfaction that he thought it would. This was how he could have convinced Gorr to stop hunting down the gods.

Thor: Love and Thunder closed Fat Thor's storyline, so it is highly unlikely that the MCU will revisit this version of the character down the road considering how divisive it is in Avengers: Endgame. The problem is that the MCU had the chance to prove critics wrong by depicting the God of Thunder's healing arc properly, and they botched the opportunity.