Marvel Studios has been known to tinker with some movie releases when they are added to Disney+, and it looks like Thor: Love and Thunder is no exception to that. As Chris Hemsworth’s fourth solo movie as the God of Thunder debuted on Disney+, fans instantly noticed that one scene, including a vision of Asgardian hero Heimdall’s son, had some VFX work done since the movie hit theaters earlier this year, and it hasn’t impressed anyone.
Of Thor: Love and Thunder, the children of New Asgard are kidnapped by Gorr the God Butcher as he attempts to draw Thor into battle. As one of the stolen children, Heimdall’s son Axl can use the same power his father possessed to mentally communicate with Thor and tell him of their whereabouts. This also allows Thor to project himself to the place Gorr is keeping the children and reassure them he will save them. This scene also included Thor seeing a floating, ghostly image of Axl, which many couldn’t quite believe had made it into the movie as the special effects were not exactly special.
Now the movie has arrived on Disney+, it has become apparent very quickly that some attempt has been made to update the VFX in this scene, but it seems to have only made the moment even worse. To highlight the point, Twitter user @comicxbook shared a side-by-side comparison of the two versions, which shows that the work that was put into altering the scene may have been just a waste of time. Check it out below.
Thor: Love and Thunder Has Massively Divided MCU Fans
Like many of the movies of Marvel’s Phase 4, Thor: Love and Thunder has its moments but ultimately seemed to promise so much more than it ended up delivering in the eyes of many MCU fans. While fans were disappointed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for not delivering more multiverse characters, Thor: Love and Thunder’s disappointment mostly stemmed from an overly-jokey, disjointed narrative that failed to quite land with viewers or critics.
The movie spent much of its time on setting up and delivering jokes, something that has become more apparent as deleted scenes from the movie have started to be released. Director Taika Waititi has previously said that the original rough cut of the movie, which included all of the footage shot, lasted around four hours, and considering the final movie ended up being just two hours long, it is not surprising that the whole thing ended up feeling a bit disjointed and as though it was missing some gravitas.
With recent rumors suggesting that Waititi will not return to work on Thor’s next movie due to the bad reception of Thor: Love and Thunder, there is a question hanging over the future of Chris Hemsworth’s next MCU outing. Although the movie ends with the promise that Thor will return, there has been no indication of when exactly that will be, and with so many other movies already announced, it looks like there will be plenty of time to work out how to get Thor back on track in the future.