The following contains major spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder, in theaters now.
Thor: Love and Thunder is finally in theaters to great anticipation from fans eagerly awaiting the next installment of Thor's story and the return of Dr. Jane Foster -- this time as the Mighty Thor. But despite the film's title promising a love story of epic, thunderous proportions, it's no stranger to the occasional character death. And with a villain named Gorr the God Butcher, many fans may have anticipated some, well... god butchering at some point in the story. Let's get into the characters who didn’t survive the end of Love and Thunder.
Thor: Love and Thunder Includes a Great Number of Close Calls
It seemed that at every point in Love and Thunder, a character's life was on the line. Thor’s reunion with Lady Sif happens after a battle where she failed to protect the fallen god Falligar the Behemoth, losing an arm and preparing to enter Valhalla. In the Omnipotent City battle, Korg lost his rock body when it was disintegrated by Zeus' thunderbolt, leaving him merely a face and a mouth for the rest of the movie -- until he meets a fellow Kronan and life partner, Dwayne. Zeus appeared to die in the same battle, but the mid-credits scene confirmed that his godly strength kept him alive. Even Valkyrie had a moment where it looked like she wouldn't survive the movie during her fight against Gorr in the Shadow Realm, where she too was pierced by the thunderbolt.
Rapu Starts Gorr's God Butchering
When Gorr's daughter dies in his arms, he becomes grief-stricken and desperate that his planet's gods, namely Rapu the Bringer of Lights, will give him his ''great reward'' in the life beyond. He walks into a mirage-like oasis where he meets Rapu and his fellow deities celebrating the death of the former carrier of the Necrosword. They mock Gorr's piety and prayers for them. When Rapu tells Gorr that there is no reward of light, the Necrosword begins to call upon Gorr to kill the gods. When Rapu has Gorr in a chokehold, Gorr stabs and then decapitates Rapu in his first divine kill.
After acquiring the Necrosword, Gorr vows to kill all gods. Early in the film, Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy receive distress calls from all over the galaxy about Gorr's reign of terror against the gods of planets all over the galaxy. Audiences don't learn any of their names except for Falligar the Behemoth, who was the large white creature on a snowy planet from the promotional material. But aside from this montage of distressing footage, Gorr is not shown doing much god butchering, instead focusing his attention on killing Thor and stealing Stormbreaker to enter Eternity.
Gorr Falls Prey to His Own Belief System
Unfortunately, Thor's newest villain Gorr dies at the end of Love and Thunder. The Necrosword he wields as part of his vow to kill all gods infects his mind and makes him weak, slowly killing him as it pursues its deadly mission. The silver lining is that Gorr does, indeed, make it to Eternity, where Thor pleads with his adversary to choose love instead of murder by bringing his late daughter "Love" back to life and promises to take care of her. In an incredibly heart-wrenching scene, Gorr embraces his daughter one last time before he dies, seemingly at peace after a lifetime of resentment and murder.
Jane Foster's Return is Brief
Dr. Jane Foster makes her big Marvel Cinematic Universe comeback with Love and Thunder but tragically passes in the movie's final act. Even though becoming the Mighty Thor brings her "great health" and strength, she doesn’t have it when she’s not wielding Mjölnir, as each time she transforms, the hammer saps her strength and leaves her vulnerable to her stage four cancer. It’s implied that the cancer might be genetic since Jane’s mother also passed away from cancer when Jane was a child.
Deciding that wasting away and dying is no way to live out her final days, Foster decides to pick up Mjölnir one last time and help Thor destroy the Necrosword. She succeeds, but the effort drains away all her energy, and she dies in Thor’s arms. Because she died a hero’s death on the battlefield, Foster is granted a place in Valhalla, where she meets the fallen Heimdall -- and hopefully has much more in store for her development as a character.
You can see Gorr and Dr. Foster's emotional journeys in Thor: Love and Thunder, playing exclusively in theaters now.