Every Single Wild Cameo In Thor: Love & Thunder, Celebrated and Unpacked

There’s more than just love and thunder in the newest Marvel movie, Thor: Love & Thunder. There are also some killer cameos. But, did you catch all of them?

Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and a returning Natalie Portman (Thor, Valkyrie, and Jane Foster, respectively), are a delight as always, and newcomers Christian Bale as the villain Gorr the God Butcher and Russel Crowe as the funniest version of the Greek god Zeus you’ve ever seen are great as well. But, along with all these standout performances, there are some unexpected faces — both new and returning.

In an interview with Fandango All Access, director Taika Waititi (who also voiced Thor’s rock friend Korg) confirmed that there are several cameos in the movie, out in theaters on July 8, but he didn’t want to spoil them. “Otherwise, it won't be a cameo,” the director said. “You can't talk about it. Then they may as well be on the poster.”

We have no such reservations, though, so here are all the cameos in Thor: Love & Thunder unpacked and explained!

Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgård as Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig

Two main characters from the first two Thor movies have small roles in Love & Thunder. First Kat Dennings’ Darcy, who was last seen in the WandaVision series on Disney+, accompanies her friend Jane while she undergoes chemotherapy. Later, Stellan Skarsgård’s Dr. Selvig, who has appeared in a few Avengers movies, too, tells Jane over a video call that the cancer is progressing. Neither appearance is huge, but it’s nice to see two original Thor characters pop up in Love & Thunder, especially considering their connection to Jane.

Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth as Actor Loki, Odin, and Thor

Asgard's premiere thespians, who made their debut in Thor: Ragnarok as they performed a play glorifying Loki (to the delight of the real Loki, disguised as Odin), return in Love & Thunder. Lucky for them, all three survived the destruction of Asgard and Thanos’ attack on the refugee ship that kicked off Infinity War.

In Love & Thunder, we see the trio once more performing a play, this time reenacting Odin’s death scene from Ragnarok to the delight of the tourists visiting New Asgard. Sam Neill, a fellow resident of New Zealand just like Waititi, plays Odin. Luke Hemsworth, the real-life brother to Chris Hemsworth, plays his sibling’s most famous role in the play-within-a-film. Finally, Matt Damon, a man who is no stranger to cameos, plays Loki. (Damon and Hemsworth appear again in a later scene when they’re already asking King Valkyrie for permission to perform a play about the latest tragedy to befall Asgard before the rubble has even been cleared or kidnapped children rescued.)

Melissa McCarthy as Actor Hela

The theater troupe has a new member in Love & Thunder, as Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy plays the role of Hela, appearing after Odin’s death to destroy Mjölnir and attack Thor and Loki, just like in Ragnarok. The cameo is a hoot, because while Cate Blanchette played the Goddess of Death with a posh, icy menace, McCarthy goes full ham, cackling all the way.

Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif

Lady Sif was one of Thor’s oldest friends and a fairly major character in the first two films, but she was MIA in Ragnarok. That’s probably for the best, as it meant she was spared the fate of Thor’s other friends, the Warriors Three, who are all killed by Hela. Jaimie Alexander reprised the role, briefly, in a flashback sequence in the Disney+ Loki show. (Technically, it was a time loop, but for simplicity’s sake…) She properly reappears in Love & Thunder having barely survived the God Butcher’s attack, as Gorr was able to cut off one of her arms and leave her for dead. Thor takes her back to New Asgard, and at the end of the film, a still one-armed Sif is training Heimdall’s son to be a master of the blade.

Brett Goldstein as Hercules

He’s here. He’s there! He’s every-f*cking-where! It’s Roy Kent as Hercules!

In the first of Love & Thunder’s two post-credits scenes, we see that Zeus actually survived his fight with Thor, and is recuperating while his various women attend to him. He monologues about how mortals don’t respect the gods anymore before telling his son, Hercules, that he will make them fear the gods again. Hercules, played by Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldenstein, rises from a kneeling position and confirms he’ll do his father’s bidding.

Much like Thor, Hercules is both a figure from ancient mythology actually a Marvel Comics character in addition to being an ancient deity. He first appeared in 1965, in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, and quickly became a prominent player in the comics universe, and he’s frequently been portrayed as a member of The Avengers. Assuming the post-credits scene is setting up a future appearance, it will probably be a classic Marvel-style team-up where the heroes fight before ultimately joining forces.

Idris Elba as Heimdall

In the second post-credits sequence, Jane Foster, who died in the struggle to stop Gorr, arrives in Valhalla, the resting place of the Asgardian gods. Idris Elba’s Heimdall, who died in Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos killed him, is there to greet Jane and thank her for helping to save his son. It’s a nice little scene that gives two dearly departed Thor characters a happy ending.

Cut Cameos!

How can we talk about cameos that we didn’t even see? Well, there’s some stuff lurking around on the interwebs that tell us that Thor: Love & Thunder and even MORE familiar faces, but not all of them ended up in the actual movie. Apparently, there were going to be two more cameos that didn’t make the final movie. Christain Bale, who plays Gorr, told the Spanish-language website Prensa Escario that he shot scenes with familiar MCU characters.

“I got to work with Peter Dinklage. That's not in the final film, but he's fantastic,” Bale said. “I got to work with Jeff Goldblum — he's not in the final film either,” Bale added. “As you see, lots of stuff ends up on the cutting room floor even though it’s beautiful, brilliant stuff.”

Dinklage appeared in Avengers: Infinity War as a giant dwarf who helped Thor forge his ax, Stormbreaker. Goldblum played the Grandmaster, the megalomaniac who kept Thor, Hulk, and several other gladiators captive on his trash planet. How, exactly, Gorr would’ve interacted with them is unknown, as is the extent of their appearances. Guess we’ll have to wait for the DVD and Blu-ray for the extras to see.

Here’s when we think Thor: Love & Thunder will hit Disney+.