Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Thor: Love and ThunderThor Odinson has proved that he is fundamentally a bad fit for the Guardians of the Galaxy in Thor: Love and Thunder. After the ending of Avengers: Endgame teased that Thor would team up with Star-Lord, Mantis, Drax, Rocket, Groot, and Kraglin, it seemed like a match made in MCU heaven. However, the Guardians' fleeting appearance in Taika Waititi's most recent Thor movie makes it clear that Chris Hemsworth's god of thunder just does not fit in with the team.

Avengers: Infinity War sees Thor team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time, as they share a mission to stop Thanos. He, Groot, and Rocket split up from the rest of the team to visit Eitri, the king of the dwarves, to make Stormbreaker. The three return to Earth to aid in the battle of Wakanda but are too late to stop Thanos. After Thor re-groups with the Avengers in Endgame and subsequently retires into depression, the Guardians team up with the Avengers and many others to stop the alternate timeline Mad Titan. Thor then decides to leave with the Guardians, leading into Love and Thunder, which sees him act as "back up" for when the Guardians are overwhelmed by an alien force. Upon hearing about Gorr the God Butcher, he leaves the team after getting some sage advice from Peter Quill.

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Thor's most attractive attribute to the Avengers actually makes him a bad fit for the Guardians: he is just too powerful. James Gunn's team of misfits is largely made up of only slightly enhanced individuals like Star-Lord, Gamora, and Nebula: though this could change with the introduction of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3. Thor, therefore, stands out as way too overpowered for the team. Having Thor, an Asgardian thunder god who can literally control the elements and wipe out any enemy force kind of makes the rest of the Guardians feel redundant. By contrast, their movies show that each of them, from Groot to Mantis, brings something unique to the team.

Thor Manages To Undermine The Guardians In Love & Thunder

The direction Taika Waititi has taken Thor in also makes him a tonally poor fit for the Guardians. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies absolutely feature comedy, but James Gunn's sense of humor is different to Waititi's, and the slapstick, silly approach he has taken to Thor clashes with the more earnest comedy of characters like Rocket Racoon and Drax the Destroyer. Thor had some great banter with them in Infinity War, but it is clear that he would not fit in as a full-time member, at least the version of Thor in Love and Thunder would not.

Having Thor in the team also undermines the self-contained nature of Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel. The movies rarely contain references to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is absolutely a good thing. Both films work because they do not rely on referencing the Avengers and other events on Earth. Having Thor in the team, though a space-based hero from Asgard, is a constant reminder of the Avengers, diluting the appeal of Star-Lord, Gamora and the rest of the Guardians' stories. Thor: Love and Thunder brings all of these concerns together and shows why Thor should never join the Guardians of the Galaxy again.