Thor: Love and Thunder introduced Love, Gorr the God Butcher’s daughter. She’s got a new set of powers & abilities that make her quite powerful.
Gorr the God Butcher’s daughter plays a small but crucial role in Thor: Love & Thunder, and Love’s origins and powers make her a brilliant asset to the MCU. Chris Hemsworth’s fourth solo film as the Asgardian God of Thunder introduced several new characters to the MCU, including Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor, marking Natalie Portman’s return to the franchise, Christian Bale’s villainous Gorr the God Butcher, and his resurrected daughter, Love. While Thor’s MCU future is unclear following the mixed reception to Thor: Love & Thunder, Love’s debut in Phase 4 could change the landscape of the franchise forever.
In the wake of Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love & Thunder picked up with Thor traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy, though he quickly leaves his new friends to track down Gorr the God Butcher. After losing his daughter, Gorr renounces the universe’s gods and sets out on a quest to find Eternity, a cosmic being that would allow him to eradicate the gods in one fell swoop. At the altar of Eternity, however, Thor convinces Gorr to change his mind, and the villain instead asks for his Love to be brought back, with the MCU’s newest young hero being taken into the care of Thor himself.
Who Plays Love In Thor: Love & Thunder
Thor: Love & Thunder marked the acting debut of India Rose Hemsworth as Love. The ten-year-old is Chris Hemsworth’s own daughter, and she wasn’t the only member of Hemsworth’s family to appear in the Phase 4 film. Luke Hemsworth reprised his role from Thor: Ragnarok as an Asgardian actor portraying Thor in a stage show, and Chris Hemsworth’s wife, Elsa Pataky, appeared as a wolf woman, one of Thor’s past lovers. One of Hemsworth’s twin sons, Sasha and Tristan, also portrayed a young Thor in a flashback sequence. Bale, Portman, and director Taika Waititi’s kids also had cameos in Thor: Love & Thunder, so it was truly a family affair.
Is Gorr’s Daughter Love In Marvel Comics?
While Love was a pivotal character in Thor: Love & Thunder, the character doesn’t have a counterpart in Marvel Comics. While Gorr the God Butcher does have a child in the comics, this is actually a son named Agar, who died and fueled the villain’s rage against the gods, much like in Love & Thunder. While there is no character named “Love” raised by Thor in Marvel Comics, Thor does, in fact, have a daughter in an alternate reality with Lady Sif, though this child is named Torunn Thorsdóttir. Interestingly, Torunn translates to “Thor’s love,” so the name in Love & Thunder does have a connection to Marvel Comics.
For a few moments after Love was resurrected at the end of Thor: Love & Thunder, the character appears to be a manifestation of Eternity itself, and shares a resemblance to the Marvel Comics character Singularity. While Singularity’s origins in the comics remain a mystery, she shares many of Love’s powers, suggesting Thor’s new adoptive daughter could be the MCU’s version of Singularity, perhaps imbued with the powers of Eternity itself. In Marvel Comics, Eternity is an almost-omnipotent being that can transform its shape into anything it pleases, including people, so the MCU’s Love may be Eternity itself.
Love’s MCU Powers Explained
Love only appears briefly in Thor: Love & Thunder, so the film doesn’t explore her power set in too much detail. However, borne from Eternity itself, it could be assumed that Love is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, with abilities on par with other cosmic heroes such as Captain Marve or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Adam Warlock to shame. It’s possible that Love, like Eternity, can manipulate time, space, matter, reality, and magic and transform into anything in existence. Considering the source of her powers, it’s likely she’s also immortal (or close to), all of which makes her incredibly unique.
The moment in which Love returns and takes the form of Eternity suggests that she shares many abilities with the cosmic entity. However, her being only a product of Eternity suggests that she might not have the full breadth of the entity’s powers. Even so, Love is remarkably strong, proven in Thor: Love & Thunder as she is shown to be strong enough to wield Stormbreaker, and can keep up with her new adoptive father in battle. Since her appearance in Thor: Love & Thunder was only short, there’s no telling what the full scope of her abilities might be, but it’s likely that Love will return in the MCU’s future to show off more of her new skills.
Will Love Become A Young Avenger In The MCU?
Although there are apparently no solid plans in place, Marvel Studios has been teasing the formation of the MCU’s Young Avengers over several years, with the roster seemingly growing with every new project. So far, the likes of Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, America Chavez, Billy and Tommy Maximoff, Skaar, the Hulk’s son, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, Kid Loki, and Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart, among others, could all find themselves on the young superhero team. With this epic line-up forming, it’s possible that Love could join them as the Young Avengers’ cosmic hero, potentially filling the role that Thor assumed in the MCU’s original Avengers team.
Since it could be years before Love makes her next appearance in the MCU, her young age does nothing to prevent her from being a member of the MCU’s Young Avengers, as she could very easily be a teenager by the time of her next adventure. Fighting alongside Thor for the time being gives Love an advantage, as she will have spent a long time training with a former Avenger, learning to hone her abilities. Despite a mixed response for Thor: Love & Thunder, Love’s introduction into the MCU’s Phase 4 was hugely exciting, and might have set up wild storylines for the MCU for years to come.
