Russell Crowe is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Zeus in the upcoming Taika Waititi movie Thor: Love and Thunder, and while we all have our own ideas about the god known as Zeus (from whatever piece of media you’d like to pull from), the Marvel comics version of the Greek god is a bit different.
In the Marvel comics, Olympus is a pocket dimension, and Zeus is praised by the ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire. So basically, take our history and what we know about Zeus and just put that into the idea that Zeus is real, but just comes from a pocket dimension instead of the great beyond in the sky.
He is the monarch of the Olympians and is the god of the heavens, sky, and weather. What’s fascinating about comic book Zeus is that he doesn’t have the same origin as the God we know. Born to Titans Cronus and Rhea, Marvel’s version of Zeus was their sixth child and was hidden away by his mother in an attempt to save him from how Cronus was treating his children, after learning of a prophecy that stated he would be overthrown by one of them.
Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Greece where he grew up until he could get revenge on Cronus. A lot of his history also still ties in with the legend of Zeus that we do know in the real world, like his marriage to Hera, but it also ties into the overall world of the MCU with things like the Eternals and, obviously, Thor.
How can Zeus play into Thor: Love and Thunder?
In the comics, Zeus met with Odin in the midst of a war between the Norsemen and a battle between Hercules and Thor. Zeus and Odin stopped the war and formed an alliance to protect Earth from the Celestials (who we met in the movies in Eternals). So, in theory, Thor could very easily know Zeus off the bat, given the history that Zeus has with his family, and Zeus could also, in theory, help Thor fight off Gorr the God Butcher as Gorr is probably after both of them, if not just searching for Zeus.
What I do hope Zeus does, though, is act as a source of guidance for Thor. In the new teaser trailer, we see Thor struggling with the idea of being a hero and wanting to give up the “superhero” job and just focus on living his life. While that makes sense for him, it is something that isn’t the Thor we’ve all come to know and love on the big screen.
Without Odin there to guide him, it might be time for a character like Zeus to step in and remind Thor of who he is and help him remember his Asgardian roots—that and maybe I just want to see Russell Crowe give some tough love to Chris Hemsworth. I deserve that. There’s plenty of ways that the character of Zeus can play into Thor: Love and Thunder, and it’s a perfect time to bring him into the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe!
(image: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
