Love & Thunder Honors Van Damme's Avengers Wish In 1 Weird Way

The most recent trailer for Thor: Love & Thunder honors Jean-Claude Van Damme in one weird way. The new trailer for the fourth installment in Thor’s personal story was released on June 23, 2022. Continuing the MCU’s crossover obsession, the trailer introduces the characters of the film and the new team they are forming including the familiar faces of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) now the Mighty Thor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Korg (Taika Waititi).

Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as Thor in Thor: Love & Thunder alongside the new villain, Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale. The new trailer shows Thor teaming up with his friends to try to stop Gorr, who seeks to wipe out all gods as they uncover the reason for his vengeance. The Thor: Love and Thunder trailer shows that the film will continue the Ragnarok-style comedy which was majorly successful among audiences and gives the final insight into the movie before its release on July 8.

Among the new scenes shown from the trailer is a moment where Thor does the splits, paying homage to Jean-Claude Van Damme’s famous signature split, practiced with his different fighting styles. Jean-Claude Van Damme is an actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and fight choreographer most known for his films such as Bloodsport (1988) and The Expendables 2 (2012). His martial arts featured heavily in his films, and the famous split is his most renowned move. Over his nearly 50 movies, Van Damme executes more than 80,000 splits so it is understandable how the move has become so associated with the martial arts actor. Van Damme's move is so famous, that he parodied it in a 2013 Volvo commercial: as two trucks he was standing on drove apart he simply moved into the splits and still rested on them both. The trailer for Thor: Love & Thunder, which can't solve the Guardians' biggest Endgame mystery, pays homage to this split perfectly as two pieces of machinery fly at Thor from either side, he jumps into the splits and stops both of them from hitting him. The split perfectly replicates Van Damme’s split and pays homage to his martial art movie history.

Paying homage to Jean-Claude Van Damme is even more significant due to Van Damme’s interest in being in Avengers: Age of Ultron. In 2013, Van Damme campaigned to be in the MCU on his Facebook which led to a positive reaction from his fans. According to The Guardian, Van Damme posted in response to Chris Hemsworth mentioning he would like Van Damme to co-star with him in the second Avengers movie and that he would be keen to play “one of these types of amazing comic book characters again”. The fan response to this potential casting resulted in fancams and trailers being made with Van Damme in them at the time.

Unfortunately, audiences never got to see Van Damme appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and there has been no mention of him joining the wider MCU since. Although Jean-Claude Van Damme’s experience and fighting knowledge would certainly be useful in the action-packed Marvel films, there doesn’t seem to be a character that he would be considered for but there is little doubt his split kick would’ve been quite the match for Ultron, and Thor: Love & Thunder could revisit Thor’s divisive Avengers: Age of Ultron story. Despite not being in Marvel officially, Thor’s split in the Thor: Love & Thunder trailer perfectly pays homage to the great Jean-Claude Van Damme instead.

Next: Love & Thunder’s Mighty Thor Transformation Risks An Endgame Plot Hole