Thor's Avengers: Doomsday Teaser Prayer to Odin Could Foreshadow His Death

After weeks of speculation and supposed leaked audio, the official Thor teaser for Avengers: Doomsday arrived attached to a film playing in theaters. It played in front of many people and was confirmed, and I've seen it myself. The description differs from the one I reported on earlier. My biggest takeaway is that this is a return to the more serious Thor, and the wording of his prayer to Odin may be foretelling his death.

Thor prays to Odin in a forest before saying goodbye to Love

The teaser opens on Thor in a forest, and the whole setting is shown. He is praying to Odin, as some of that earlier audio suggested. Then there's a shot of Love, Gorr's daughter, whom Thor is looking after and now considers his own daughter. She's being tucked into bed, and he's telling her goodbye.

The prayer begins: "Father, all my life I have answered the calls of honor, duty, and battle. But fate offered me something I have never hoped for." That something is "a child, a life preserved from the storm." He asks: "Grant me the strength of all fathers, so that I can fight once more." He wants to defeat a new enemy and return to her, not as a warrior, but as a protector, and he closes by begging his father to hear his prayer.

His hair is short, and his costume and his whole vibe match Infinity War Thor. We see him in his new costume, and the teaser closes by saying Thor will return in Avengers: Doomsday.

This is a reversion to the Infinity War Thor I always wanted

The nature of the dialogue and the theme running through this teaser tell me we've gone back to the Thor we always wanted. We had him between Ragnarok and Infinity War, before he was taken off the deep end in Endgame and then even further off the deep end in Love and Thunder. It isn't all the way back to the full Shakespearean Thor, but it's a much more serious and somber tone.

I think that's perfectly matched for the character. When he plays that seriousness against a perfectly timed comedic line, as he did in Infinity War and Ragnarok, it feels like the pinnacle for Thor. He still had some of his young brashness, but Chris Hemsworth had honed him into a place where he was surefooted, unlike the doofus Taika Waititi turned him into in Love and Thunder.

The Russos know Thor and Chris Hemsworth

This is where the familiarity of having the Russos in the director's chair comes into play. Looking back at the original Avengers, Thor has been in their care for a long time. They understand the character, they understand Chris Hemsworth, and they've been able to take him a long way from where they last directed him.

I know the Russos were trying to do some things with the character arcs in Avengers: Endgame, and that's why we ended up with depressed beer Thor. Now it seems like they've taken him back to Infinity War Thor, which in my opinion has so far been the best Thor.

The prayer's wording may be foretelling a Thor death in Doomsday

The prayer is significantly different from the so called leaked audio. Someone obviously made that audio to replicate what they knew was coming in the teaser. What's interesting is that he invokes the strength of all fathers. Yes, he's praying to Odin, but based on many of the rumors we've heard, and this is the lightest of spoiler warnings, there's a good chance Thor might die in Avengers: Doomsday.

That seems very conclusive, especially next to Kevin Feige saying Chris Hemsworth is in his prime and he could see him playing Thor for the next 10 years. A death would seem like the end of his run, but it certainly isn't. Where we last saw Jane Foster's Mighty Thor, up in Valhalla, she actually returns as a Valkyrie in the story, and the same could end up happening to Thor if he sacrifices himself on the eve of whatever battle he's praying about. Presumably the new enemy he refers to is Doctor Doom.

Should he perish protecting others, and he does ask to return as a protector, he may come back in an All Father role of some sort, or as Rune King Thor. It might be his death that levels him up into the Rune King Thor storyline from the newer Avengers comics run, where he had to go all the way to death to return in his most powerful form. Death is not the end in a world where people can return from Valhalla.

The prayer may come before the third act fight with Doctor Doom

The wording seems exactly on the nose for everything we've been hearing about his storyline and his possible sacrifice. I'll be very interested to see if this prayer is in the film at all, and where it falls. Because this is the Thor teaser, it feels like the beginning, but it might come going into the third act, when he knows they're about to face Doctor Doom, not only for Love's sake but for the entire multiverse.

In that context, the language seems poignant and foretelling. All the little earmarks seem to culminate in what's possibly a Thor death.

The original Avengers teasers suggest Hemsworth isn't done

I don't want to be all doom and gloom, though. I'd be very surprised if Chris Hemsworth didn't play a big role in Avengers: Secret Wars. It's pretty obvious from the decisions they've made that they've pivoted to the classic original Avengers, and just look at the trailers they've chosen as a precursor to Doomsday. It's the big three: Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth's Thor, and presumably Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom next.

At the time, I also thought there would be a Loki teaser in the mix, and that the full teaser trailer might drop later, perhaps at the Super Bowl. They didn't pick Sam Wilson's Captain America, Shang-Chi and Shuri's Black Panther for these teasers. They picked the original Avengers, with Thor second after Steve Rogers, and I think that tells us everything we need to know.

So a Thor death in Doomsday might just be part of his arc. Of course, I may be reading way too much into this. It is just a prayer, and it could come at the start of the film, in which case it'll be interesting to see who he's fighting. Maybe the X-Men.