Avengers: Doomsday rumors: Thor vs Hulk and Love's return

Two insider reports surfaced about new Thor scenes for Avengers: Doomsday and the wider MCU. One has Thor fighting the Hulk again. The other has Thor and Love, who is more or less his daughter now, returning to Earth. Many fans were excited by these reports. At the same time, Michael Waldron spoke about his involvement in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and I believe that points to Loki having an enormous role in Doomsday, leading to the Thor and Loki reunion I've been waiting for.

When we last saw Thor and Love at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), starring Chris Hemsworth, they weren't on Earth.

Marvel's NYCC Doom t-shirt probably isn't a new look at the MCU villain

First, a quick note, because some people asked me about it. Marvel revealed a new t-shirt that seemingly shows a new look at Doctor Doom. It has the hood and the mask. There's another image as well, but it shows the Punisher, Spider-Man and Daredevil, and those aren't necessarily MCU accurate versions of the characters.

So yes, it's a cool look at Doom, and it's a very awesome shirt that's apparently going to be for sale at NYCC. But I'm not sure it reflects much about how Doom will look in the MCU. I don't think this is a new look at Doom. I think it's just a cool thing Marvel is doing for NYCC specifically.

MyTimeToShineHello reports Thor and Hulk will fight again

The insider MyTimeToShineHello reports that Thor and Hulk will reportedly fight again in the future of the MCU. She doesn't specifically say Avengers: Doomsday. But if we think past Doomsday and past Secret Wars, I'm not sure Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is going to be involved much after that, if at all.

In fact, I'm pretty sure Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is not going to survive the reset of the MCU. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed they're going to recast some of the old Avengers. He specifically said Iron Man and Captain America, but I'm assuming Black Widow comes with that, along with most of the original Avengers. The exception is Thor, since we've been hearing that Chris Hemsworth is going to stay on as Thor after the MCU reset.

Why I think the Thor and Hulk fight lands in Doomsday or Secret Wars

Because I don't think we get past Doomsday or Secret Wars with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, I believe this fight is going to happen in one of those two films. We'll see Thor go up against the Hulk again.

We've had repeated battles between these two. We got one in the very first Avengers film, then another in Thor: Ragnarok, which was awesome. Since then, we haven't had the Savage Hulk back. Spider-Man: Brand New Day was set to bring the Savage Hulk back, so it looked like it could be a great fight again, at least hopefully.

It sounds like Marvel is listening to the fans about what they want. Not only are we reportedly getting an Avengers versus X-Men scene in Doomsday, but we might be getting a Thor versus Hulk scene in Doomsday or Secret Wars as well, which I'm sure many fans would be excited to see.

Thor and Love reportedly head to New Asgard in Avengers: Doomsday

The second report comes from a newer insider, some of whose reports have already been confirmed true, though this should still be taken with a grain of salt. The insider states that Love will go to New Asgard in Avengers: Doomsday. "Valkyrie will appear, and the actress has already filmed her scene." Korg is not expected to have any significance, according to the insider, and other characters from Thor's core group are not expected to appear.

Right now in the story, Thor is off world. He's with Love, and they were on an alien planet helping some other aliens. It looks like he's coming back. Based on what we've heard from other insiders in the past, the reason Thor becomes aware of everything happening is Love. She was revived by Eternity, and we were shown that she has some powers now. Being connected to Eternity and the universe, she can sense what's happening.

According to previous reports, she senses the incursion about to happen, so she and Thor go back to Earth to regroup with the Avengers. It would make sense that their first stop would most likely be New Asgard, to talk to Valkyrie and see if she's noticed anything. Valkyrie has been ruling New Asgard while Thor has been gone.

When the report says his core group won't appear, I'm assuming that's most likely because so many people are already involved in this movie. It's hard to fit everybody in without it seeming overstuffed. I still wouldn't be surprised if we see them there. Korg has always been by Thor's side, and they lived together for a while at New Asgard. Thor will probably stop by quickly, check in, and then go meet up with the Avengers. So we might see Korg, we might see Miek, but as reported, don't expect them to play any real role. It makes a ton of sense.

Michael Waldron explains his role on Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars

Michael Waldron wrote Loki season 1 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and he was going to write Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. He had already started on the Kang Dynasty script before everything changed and Kang turned into Doom. He's now working on Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Talking about originally writing Kang Dynasty, Waldron said: "I was writing the movie after that, but there wasn't a filmmaker attached yet. I was just involved in all those conversations." He explained that when that movie went away, he worked on what would become Doomsday and Secret Wars for a time. Then the Russos and Stephen McFeely came in and shaped what these movies would be, and he had the opportunity to come back, get to know Joe, Anthony and Steve, and help however he could. "That's what I'm trying to do is just support them."

I think it says a lot that he's involved, because he pretty much wrote the key multiversal projects in the MCU so far. He was already working on what was going to be a giant multiversal film in Kang Dynasty, involving time travel, multiversal travel and everything building up to this. I think he has a good grasp of how Loki should be, and I think that more than anybody who has done an MCU project so far, he has the best grasp of the multiverse. He established the rules. Marvel might be confusing with those rules sometimes, drifting away from them and even breaking them depending on what you're watching, but he knows how everything should work.

So it makes total sense that the Russo brothers would have him contribute to the script and use him to keep the laws consistent. He's supporting them by helping with the multiversal side, while the Russos and McFeely have the overall big story idea.

Why I want Kang addressed in Avengers: Doomsday

Since Waldron was already writing Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars before, I'd hope at least some of Kang Dynasty bleeds into these films. I think they should address Kang, and if they don't, I think that's a mistake. I think the fans want it.

I also think casual viewers need it. Marvel set up a massive number of Kangs in the post credits scene for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and I think the casual audience needs that wrapped up. McFeely and Waldron could do that together without a problem. It's easy to bring Doom in and have him defeat Kang, but we need to see it, even if it's only a couple of minutes on screen.

Why I think Waldron's involvement points to a Thor and Loki reunion

Overall, I think this ultimately leads to a reunion between Loki and Thor, which I've been waiting for ever since we saw Loki become who he is today. He's the god of stories, the one who saved everyone attached to him across all the universes and branches. He's given them true free will. Apart from Tony Stark's, I think his story arc has been the best in the MCU.

Thor has also been through a lot over time, so seeing him meet up with his brother again, and seeing Loki in this new glorious purpose as a great hero, would be a tremendous scene. With Waldron writing Loki, as I'm assuming he is here while helping with the multiversal side, it looks like they're going to do that in a great way.