Thor: Love and Thunderadded a few new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among the more impactful additions was Brett Goldstein as Hercules, and now concept designer Andy Park has posted some of his original art of Goldstein as the character.
Like Thor, Hercules is an ancient deity reimagined as a Marvel superhero. The character was adapted from the Greek demigod Heracles, the son of Zeus(portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film)and the strongest of the Olympians. The MCU version of the character appeared in a post-credits scene forThor: Love and Thunderas Zeus ordered him to bring vengeance down on Thor (Chris Hemsworth), where he was played by Goldstein.
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Concept designerPark, who worked onThor: Love and Thunder,revealed concept art for Goldstein as the character on his Twitter. Park captioned the post with, “Hercules Hercules! Concept designing Roy Kent as the iconic Hercules from the minds of Jack Kirby & Stan Lee was so surreal! I can’t wait to see him properly clash into the MCU with…whomever he wants to!” The ‘Roy Kent’ in his caption refers to Goldstein’s character onTed Lasso,which is his most well-known role.
Goldstein was afrequent fan-casting for the MCU’s Hercules. It seems that Marvel Studios had him in mind forThor: Love and Thunderearly on since he was the basis for this concept art. Of course, it’s possible this was made after Goldstein was cast. The character does not look too different from how he looks in the final film - his costume is nearly identical.
Hercules has some extensive lorewithin the Marvel Universe. The character has a variety of runs and storylines to adapt to the screen, and there are plenty of stories where he and Thor face off against one another, for example. With Thor’s next appearance not yet set in stone, it’s anyone’s guess as to when Hercules will finally face off against him.
Hercules is also one of the canonicallyLGBTQ+ characters within the Marvel Universe. Like Valkyrie, the character is bisexual and at times has had a relationship with Northstar and was even depicted as being in a relationship with an alternate version of Wolverine. While it remains to be seen if this aspect of the character will be explicitly adapted to the screen, his addition toThor: Love and Thundercould mark a huge shift in representation for bisexual men in film.
Thor: Love and Thunderis available to watch on Disney Plus.
