Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Thor: Love & Thunder.

In Thor: Love and Thunder, a glimpse of Thor’s back reveals a collection of tattoos, some of which are dedicated to Loki and hold two secret meanings. Taika Waititi's Love and Thunder brings back Thor, Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster as Mighty Thor. The team squares off against villain Gorr the God Butcher to stop him from reaching the entity known as Eternity and gaining the power to eliminate all gods.

In an effort to take down Gorr, Thor and his allies travel to Omnipotence City to recruit other gods to fight alongside them. They enter the city in disguise, but Russell Crowe’s Zeus demands Thor remove his disguise after he is found out. After being refused, Zeus “flicks” Thor’s disguise off by force, accidentally taking his clothes off in the process and revealing Thor’s tattoo-covered back. As Thor's back was bare when it was last seen in Avengers: Endgame, it's clear that the tattoos are both relatively new and meaningful.

Related: Why Mjolnir Chose Jane As The New Thor

Thor’s most eye-catching tattoos are of Loki’s Helmet and the phrases “RIP Loki” and “brothers.” The secret meaning of Thor's new ink seems to point in two directions. First, Thor is paying tribute to his late brother, the last living member of his immediate family after their parents died. Second, the tattoos serve to make Loki’s presence felt in Thor: Love and Thunder, despite the God of Mischief not returning in the flesh. There is, of course, the potential for Thor to someday reunite with Loki, as Loki's alternate timeline version is alive in the MCU. While the two often fought, they cared deeply about one another. After Loki died and returned multiple times (as mentioned in Korg’s monologue at the beginning of the movie), Loki perished for good at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, right before Thor’s eyes. His death deeply impacted Thor, and it's fitting that he got tattoos to honor his brother.

What Thor's Other Back Tattoos In Love & Thunder Mean

chris hemsworth thor nude in thor love and thunder

Thor also has a scroll tattoo on his back dedicated to lost loved ones, which honors his parents with “Mother” and “Father” written on it; Frigga and Odin died in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok, respectively. The scroll also has four other names on it: Heimdall, Loki, Tony, and Natasha. Like Loki, Heimdall faced an untimely death in Avengers: Infinity War. Furthermore, two of Thor’s allies from the original six Avengers, Iron Man and Black Widow, ultimately sacrificed themselves in Endgame to help defeat Thanos and bring back those he snapped away in Infinity War. Thor’s tattoos represent the devastating losses he has suffered, a sentiment only strengthened by his broken heart tattoo, which may also be a nod to Jane Foster, the ex-girlfriend he hasn’t gotten over. Though the two reunite in Thor: Love and Thunder, Jane unfortunately dies, also sacrificing herself to destroy Gorr’s Necrosword with Mjölnir.

While Thor may be adding a Jane tribute to his tattoos after Love and Thunder, it isn’t all bad news for him. Heimdall lives on through his son Axl, who fought alongside Thor in the battle against Gorr. Thor also adopted Gorr's powerful daughter, Love, after the dying Gorr asked that Eternity restore the life of his daughter. The movie’s second post-credit scene also reveals Jane and Heimdall together in Valhalla, signaling they could still appear in future MCU projects in some capacity. The God of Thunder's tattoos in Thor: Love and Thunder allow him to carry his loved ones with him everywhere he goes. Luckily, he may get the chance to reunite with some of them in the future.

Next: All 11 Marvel Movies Releasing After Thor: Love & Thunder (& When)

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