Moon Knight Is Causing Thor: Love And Thunder Delays?
Is Disney+'s hit slowing down the god of thunder?
You wouldn’t usually think of Moon Knight as the kind of guy who could stop Thor, but there’s a new theory that that’s exactly what’s going on. Fan theories can be a dime a dozen, but one reddit user has posted an idea that actually has a bit of merit. They think we still haven’t seen a trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder because Marvel is waiting for a very specific reveal to drop in Moon Knight.
To be more specific, reddit user punitr1983 says they think that by the end of Moon Knight — perhaps in a post-credits scene for the final episode — Christian Bale will make a surprise appearance as his Thor: Love and Thunder villain Gorr the God Butcher and live up to his namesake. Punitr1983 writes, “I think Gorr is going to make an appearance in MK, maybe as a post-credit scene, after the climax of the show, and kills all of the Egyptian Gods except Khonshu who is safe in Marc/Steven’s body.” They even speculate that it could be Moon Knight will prove instrumental to Gorr’s origin. Christian Bale’s villain, they write, could have been a former avatar of Ammit — the god Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) follows — and that it could be this experience that ultimately sets Gorr on his god-killing quest.
Does punitr1983’s theory make sense? Well, there are a few things we know that could support the theory. But, ultimately there are more things working against it than for it.
Perhaps the biggest thing working in favor of the reddit user’s theory is the very fact that literal gods appear in both Moon Knigbt and Thor: Love and Thunder. In fact, Khonshu’s appearance in Moon Knight marks the very first time a mythological god outside of Norse myth appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Bast is mentioned by T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and he enters the spirit realm in 2018’s Black Panther, Bast herself never appears. So it would seem strange for Moon Knight to come out the same year as a movie with a villain dedicated to murdering all gods of every pantheon and for the two projects to not be related.
Then there are the reports of reshoots Christian Bale was called back for. When that story surfaced, it was reported that the reshoots were for Thor: Love and Thunder. However, in light of this theory, one might argue the reshoots could be for Moon Knight.
Unfortunately for punitr1983, there are too many other things that suggest their theory doesn’t hold water, For one, before the Moon Knight premiere, producer Grant Curtis said that Moon Knight would not feature any overt connections to the rest of the MCU. So far, that’s proven to be the case. While there are certain Easter eggs that may hint at connections — like the theory that in the premiere episode when Steven Grant wakes up in a strange country, he’s in Doctor Doom’s Latveria — there are no blatant references to other heroes, villains, the Blip, the Avengers, etc. No, the series isn’t over yet, but the early reviews confirm this, and those reviews were written by critics who previewed the first four episodes.
Finally, even if for the sake of argument we assume punitr1983 is right and Gorr the God Butcher shows up in Moon Knight, how would releasing the Thor: Love and Thunder now spoil Moon Knight or vice versa? It’s already been widely reported Christian Bale is playing Gorr the God Butcher and the fact that he kills gods is, you know, literally in his name. No, it seems more likely the reason for the delay is a combination of the reported Christian Bale reshoots along with Marvel not wanting to take attention away from the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
