It would appear that Odin is going to appear in one way at least in Thor: Love and Thunder, since Sam Neill will be coming back to the MCU as the actor playing Odin, but of Anthony Hopkins’ return, there’s no word at the moment. Things have been kept as quiet as possible concerning the MCU movies for a while, and for good reason, since the idea of leaking too many facts has been a huge problem. But if there’s any chance of seeing Odin return in the upcoming Thor movie it’s hard to see since right now it would appear that the trailer makes no point to invite even the rumor of such a thing. Besides, it is well known at this point that Odin dissipated in Thor: Ragnarok as his time had come. But if there’s one thing that anyone should know, death isn’t always the final curtain call for a Marvel hero, even if the MCU makes it appear that way from time to time. Seeing Odin return might be interesting, but it’s also likely that it shouldn’t happen since if Chris Hemsworth is going to be stepping out of the Thor role eventually, one has to wonder how long Anthony Hopkins would want to stick around.
Odin’s return would make a little sense when thinking of how Gorr the God-Butcher operates, but finding a suitable way to bring him in feels as though it would be a challenge, at least when it comes to pleasing the fans since it’s been made quite clear that fans are going to grouse over every little detail they can find. If he were to be given anything less than a triumphant return it does feel as though people would be ready to shoot down the idea without hesitation and criticize the movie to no end for daring to bring back a favorite character in a manner that was deemed to be less than worthy of his stature. That sounds a little over the top, but the fact is that fans don’t enjoy being played with when it comes to their favorite characters, and thanks to Anthony Hopkins, the MCU version of Odin has been loved since the first Thor movie.
It was kind of a surprise to see Odin perish in Ragnarok, but wondering if Hopkins would come back feels like an iffy proposition since not only is the famed actor now well into his 80s, it’s fair to remind people that he’d been ready to enjoy retirement before Kenneth Branagh managed to enlist him for the role of Odin in the first Thor movie. This was embraced in a big way by fans since along with Rene Russo, Hopkins was a veteran actor on the set, while Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were relative newcomers that had to prove themselves in the roles they were given. It’s a little tough to think of this way, but Hopkins’ role in the Thor movies initially helped to give it the star power that was needed, as other names like Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgard were there as well, and they played their parts well. But while Portman will be showing up again, it’s uncertain how many of the original cast members will be there, since it’s fair to state that a few of them have died off in the movies, and it’s best to think that death should have at least some permanence.
Seeing Odin in the next movie would be great since it might be that he could be the deciding factor against Gorr. There is a debate over whether Odin would be able to defeat Gorr, but this is an argument that fanboys can have to their merry selves since the depths that such arguments tend to go to can get kind of nasty and juvenile. But when it comes to Odin, it’s not tough to think that there might be a way back that could satisfy the fans, while at the same time sparing Hopkins the need to come back, unless he really wanted to. It would be great to see him back, so long as he was still capable of making the role work. But for now, it sounds like we get Sam Neill, which isn’t exactly a downgrade.
Even better would be if the Odinforce somehow transferred itself to Sam Neill’s character and thereby granted him the power to do something about Gorr. That would be kind of trippy, right? It would appear there’s already so much in Thor: Love and Thunder that’s meant to blow the fans away that one more secret would be great, no matter what is. So long as it involves Odin that is. If he doesn’t make his way back for the movie it wouldn’t be the worst tragedy, but there are a lot of fans that would love to see him step back into the MCU and get into the mix once again.
