Why Marvel Fans Are Mocking The Chris Pratt Scene In Thor: Love And Thunder
The Internet is having a ball!
For months, fans have been clamoring for a Thor: Love and Thunder trailer. Hell, even rival superhero franchises have been demanding it. Now that the first teaser is finally here, the fans are doing what they always do — rewatching it over and over, picking it apart, screaming in unbridled glee — but there’s also something a little extra amidst the usual fan reaction. Fans are howling in mocking joy over one of the funniest teaser scenes, and the awkward situation they imagine Chris Pratt finds himself in because of it.
Ever since Elliot Page called out Chris Pratt (via Variety) for attending what Page called an “infamously anti-LGBTQ” church, many fans have labeled Pratt a homophobe, and the new Love and Thunder teaser finds the actor in a surprisingly flirtatious scene with Chris Hemsworth. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, then that’s something you should do immediately. You can watch that moment, and the rest of the teaser, below.
In the second half of the preview, Star-Lord (Pratt) says, “Remember what I told you. If you ever feel lost, just look into the eyes of the people that you love.” Star-Lord looks past Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to his found family, the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Thor peeks his head into the view, seemingly wanting to be the one Star-Lord is looking at. Quill says, “Not me.” Thor chuckles awkwardly and responds, “Just listening.”
Judging by the fan reaction to the moment between Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth, including it may prove to be a brilliant stroke of marketing. Between the controversies that have swirled around Pratt since 2019 and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi proving himself more than willing to deliver queer romance in the HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death, fans are having a ball with the scene. PR-wise, Pratt is arguably the biggest albatross around Love and Thunder‘s neck, and releasing this scene in the teaser may have proven the absolutely cleverest way to handle it.
The scene in the teaser could ultimately add up to nothing more than a quick gag, but as a number of fans have been quick to point out, if something more than friendship were to develop between Thor and Star-Lord it would actually have basis in the source material. In 2020’s Guardians of the Galaxy #2, the comic book version of the Chris Pratt character seemingly sacrifices his life. He reappears in Guardians of the Galaxy #9, when it’s confirmed he had a romantic relationship with both a man and a woman for what amounted to over 100 years. So, the comic book Star-Lord is bisexual, and many think — or just hope — this could be a sign that the Marvel Cinematic Universe version is too.
Regardless of whether or not Chris Pratt’s MCU character turns out to be bi, there is potential for quite a bit of LGBTQ representation in Thor: Love and Thunder. We know that we’ll see a romance between Tessa Thompson’s King Valkyrie and another woman in the film. Not to mention that the new teaser gives us our first brief glimpse of Zeus, the King of the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods. Zeus’ demigod son Hercules is a friend of Thor and an Avenger in the comics, and his sexuality has always been a debated subject. In fact, multiverse variants of Hercules and Wolverine are a couple in the Marvel comic Exiles.
