Space sharks appear to be heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as director Taika Waititi revealed the creatures will appear in Thor: Love and Thunder. Waititi is back with Chris Hemsworth's Marvel franchise after a successful reinvention of the god of thunder in Thor: Ragnarok, one that infused the character and his franchise with a new comedic tone and visual style. Thor 4 was confirmed to be in the works at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 and has left fans wanting to know more about how Waititi plans to continue Thor's story after Avengers: Endgame.

Specific story details have been tough to find, but there is a great deal of information known about Thor: Love and Thunder. Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) will return as the King of New Asgard in search of her queen, while Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) will also make a long-awaited reappearance in the MCU and become Mighty Thor. Thompson has also confirmed that Christian Bale is playing the villain of the film, although the identity of Thor's new foe is not yet known. Regardless of who Bale plays, it sounds like Thor will have extra help in his attempt to defeat him.

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Waititi led an Instagram live-stream of Thor: Ragnarok to help provide MCU fans with a memorable way to pass the time in quarantine. The stream featured appearances by Mark Ruffalo and Thompson but also resulted in Waititi teasing some of his plans for Thor: Love and Thunder. At one point during the video, he discussed how over the top and weird the next film is going to be in comparison to Ragnarok, and to illustrate his point, Waititi revealed that "space sharks" will appear in Thor 4.

Space sharks aren't an original creation by Waititi for Thor 4, as they have a history in Marvel Comics and are commonly referred to as Starsharks. As it pertains to Thor, the space sharks also have some importance in Marvel history with the god of thunder, specifically in Jason Aaron's run with the character that Waititi has repeatedly praised and drawn inspiration from. The space sharks lived in orbit around Gorr the God Butcher's planet and ate the remains of the gods he killed. This storyline in the comics led to a young Thor, current Thor, and King Thor from the future being attacked by the Starsharks when they went to fight Gorr.

With the comic history in mind, the inclusion of space sharks might not just be a way for Waititi to raise the weirdness factor of his next Marvel movie. It's possible that this means Gorr the God Butcher is the villain of Thor: Love and Thunder, even though there are similarities with that character and what Waititi did with Hela. Also, if Gorr isn't in the movie, perhaps this could mean that the King Thor storyline is something that he is interested in exploring. Now that Thor: Love and Thunder won't hit theaters until 2022, we'll have to wait even longer to find out how space sharks factor into the movie.

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Source: Taika Waititi via Instagram

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