Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in cinemas in just over a week, bringing with it some of the craziest things seen so far in the MCU. Among those things are two mythical goats by the names of Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, characters that according to Chris Pratt, only exist in the film thanks to a prank between directors Taika Waititi and James Gunn.
While Taika Waititi has professed on a number of occasions that he pushed the envelope so far on Thor: Love and Thunder that he wouldn’t be surprised if it ended his career. However, it seems that the inclusion of the attention-grabbing duo of Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder could have been nothing more than a way of having a bit of fun with Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. While Gunn was consulted on Thor: Love and Thunder when it came to the dialogue of the Guardians, Pratt has also suggested that the next Guardians movie will directly follow on from the events of Thor’s latest outing. Pratt told Marvel Entertainment:
"[Waititi] just wanted to stick James with some goats. James has to pick up [in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3] where Taika left off, and he stuck us with some space goats... Typically [MCU directors don’t stick each other with stuff in the background], but I guess Taika kind of plays by his own set of rules...you’ll see there’s a few things that he did that I think was kind of an inside joke to play on James. It’s a bit of that sort of improv world where you see what you can roll with."
How Linked Are Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians 3.
While there is a constant thread running through every Marvel project, Pratt’s goat-based comments have opened up an interesting piece of information that has up until now been a mystery. While we know that Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy headed off together following the events of Avengers: Endgame, it was not known what would happen after the events of Thor: Lover and Thunder. According to Pratt’s comments, it seems that even with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in the middle, Thor’s new movie will have a direct link to where the Guardians end up in their third movie next May.
So far, plot details about Thor: Love and Thunder has been scarce when it comes to the involvement of the Guardians of the Galaxy, with no-official word of how much of the movie they will be in. With Christ Pratt now hinting that Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher will return in some way in Guardians 3, that opens questions of whether the Guardians will play a significant role in Thor: Love and Thunder’s finale and whether Thor himself will be appearing the next Guardians movie in some way.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become as much about its crossovers and interlinking characters as about its overall plots and storylines. Just like the comic books, the MCU has become a place where any character can drop in and out of another character’s story, and that in a way is keeping Marvel’s run going and prevented it petering out. While the addition of a couple of space goats may not seem like an integral part of the story, it is part of the fun that keeps Marvel fans coming back for more.