Summary
There has been quite a slate of news pouring out in the world of Marvel films. From the release of the first trailer for theMCU’sThunderbolts” film to thetrailer forVenom: The Last Dancerevealing the villain Knull, the god of the symbiotes, making his big screen debut, there is a lot for Marvel fans to be excited about. However, there is one film that has yet to be confirmed, and yet seems to have been the cause of much speculation over recent months, and that is Thor 5.
Not yet confirmed, a fifthThorfilm is in discussion, and at this time, the director ofThor RagnorakandThor: Love and Thunder,Taika Waititi, is not expected to return to the director’s seat. In fact,Furiosadirector George Miller has expressed an interest in the fifth film’s potential, and the end ofThor: Love and Thunderdid leave many questions and plot points unanswered. One thing the film teased was the introduction of Hercules, the son of Zeus, played in the film by Russell Crowe. If the Greek herowere to return to theMCUin a fifthThorfilm, could he turn to Thor in order to face a grave threat by forming theMCU’sversion of The God Squad?
During theinfamous Skrull crossover eventSecret Invasion, the pantheon of gods on Earth got together to choose champions to face the threat of this alien invasion, choosing heroes like Hercules, Ameadus Cho, Ajak, Snowbird, Atum, and Amatsu-Mikoboshi to come together and face the gods of the Skrulls. They ultimately slew the Skrull gods, but Mikoboshi chose to stay behind when the other heroes returned to Earth, a decision not understood at the time, until much later when he returned.
Mikoboshi came back as the Chaos King, determined to bring back the universe into a state of nothingness, as he himself is born of the VOID and is the darkness by which the entity Eternity defines itself. The Chaos King unleashes his forces on the pantheon of gods, using each god that has died as a soldier in his growing army to face his enemies. Hercules is forced to reform the God Squad, with Amedeus Cho rejoining the team alongside newcomers Sersi, Hellstorm, Thor, Venus, and the combinedmight of The Silver Surfer and Galactus.
Mikoboshi’s power was too great for the squad, defeating them many times in the battle for the universe. With each pantheon he slew, his power grew, as did his army. He managed to recruit Abomination to his fight andused him to battle Doctor Strange, subduing the hero when he was distracted, and used the Carrion Crow, the Eater of the Dead, to fight and antagonize the revived X-Men, who were searching for a diary left by the powerful mutant Destiny which held information on how to defeat Mikoboshi.
Mikoboshi found himself delighted to see the slow demise of Gaea, the Elder Goddess who gave birth to the Gods themselves. In the end, the God Squad fought one last glorious battle, and when all seemed lost and Mikoboshi began to consume all reality, it was revealed he instead was sealed in an empty universesimilar to Marvel’s own universe, one in which Amaedaeus Cho and Galactus found and sealed the Chaos King inside.
One of the fascinating things about this squad is how many members of both iterations have already been introduced into theMCU. Aside from the obvious Thor and Hercules, Sersi was a big part ofThe Eternals. Doctor Strange and The Abomination have both had their roles in theMCUas well,and with the X-Men andthe Silver Surfer and Galactus all set to make theirMCUdebuts in upcoming films, the foundations for this team have been set. The question is how to bring the team together, and what threat they should face.
While seeing a frightening god like Mikoboshi come to life on the big screen would be great, a clue to the squad’s formation may lie in another upcoming film,Venom: The Last Dance. Like Mikoboshi, Knull is a primordial being born in the darkness that existed before the rise of creation. Gaining power through theslaying of one of the Celestialsthat gave rise to the universe, Knull was also responsible for creating the Necrosword, or otherwise known in the comics as All-Black the Necrosword. The sword was also used by Gorr both in the comics and theMCUfilmThor: Love and Thunder, corrupting Gorr the more he used it before being destroyed. Knull used it during his invasion of Earth until Eddie Brock became the new King in Black and destroyed both it and Knull in the process.
If Knull is making his big screen debut inVenom: The Last Dance, and rumors are swirling that he could cross over into theMCUin some capacity, then perhaps the overwhelming darkness and power he represents would be enough to bring Hercules, Thor and other god-level heroes together in theMCU. If Thor were to continue his story and make animpression either before or afterAvengers: Secret Wars, then perhaps a universe-ending threat like Knull or Mikoboshi is what he needs, and only by joining the God Squad could he face this threat fully.
MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
