Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder” kicked off its North American box office run with a massive $29 million in Thursday previews.
The film also began rolling out mid-week overseas where it earned $48.6 million through Friday from 42 markets. This essentially confirms the film is on track for projections of a $150 million or more domestic opening and possibly above $300 million worldwide.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR END CREDITS SEQUENCE
With the film now being shown, there’s been quite a bit of talk about what has become a new Marvel staple – a casting announcement in a credits stinger. From Harry Styles in “Eternals” to Charlize Theron in the “Doctor Strange” sequel, the stinger has become a platform for an actor to show up for a few hours, say a line or two and mark a potential future role as theirs.
In this case, it’s none other than Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent himself, actor/writer Brett Goldstein. Goldstein appears briefly in a sequence where an injured Zeus (Russell Crowe) orders his demigod son Hercules (Goldstein) to deal with Thor.
Speaking to Uproxx, ‘Love and Thunder’ director Taika Waititi says th inclusion came at the request of Marvel president Kevin Feige saying “Kevin really wanted him to do it” and he saw how big a response it got at the premiere: “It was such a cool moment in the cinema where it played, that people went nuts.”
As for how Hercules will fit into the MCU in the future, Waititi says he hasn’t been told the bigger picture:
“I don’t know if that’s to do with Thor, or if it’s to do with how that will develop. This will be interesting to see because Kevin, he’s obviously the mastermind of all of these threads and how they’ll tie up and how they meet, mix and match. So I’m curious to find out myself.”
The character has his own comic books to pull from as well, but he often does show up in the same stories as Thor in the comics.
It’s expected more will be revealed in two weeks time when Marvel holds its Comic-Con panel in San Diego and showcases what’s coming in the next two years or so.