Beta Ray Bill Could Be In Thor: Love And Thunder

It looks like Thor: Love and Thunder might be adding another hammer-holder to its roster. 

According to an exclusive report by FandomWire, the fourth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise centering on the Norse God Thor will feature the alien warrior Beta Ray Bill. 

The towering, cybernetic humanoid character first appeared in 1983's The Mighty Thor #337 and hails from a multi-planet empire in the Burning Galaxy, which is inhabited by a group of advanced and peaceful terrestrials known as Korbinites. 

While few other details have been offered up about Beta Ray Bill's rumored appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder, the report comes on the heels of the official MCU casting announcement of Christian Bale. The Dark Knight actor is slated to appear in the standalone directed by Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi and scheduled to hit theaters November 5, 2021. There are currently no official details surrounding Bale's part, but much of the internet has been buzzing with speculation that he might take on the role of the famed Bronze Age hero. 

Beta Ray Bill's purported involvement is supported by something already confirmed within Ragnorak: Stormbreaker. Fans familiar with the long-running Thor comics will know Beta Ray Bill as capable of wielding both Thor's (now-gone) hammer, Mjolnir, and the mystical battle-ax Stormbreaker. After defeating the Norse God of Thunder in a challenge, Odin forged for Beta Ray Bill the very weapon audiences saw his son command in Waititi's 2018 film. 

In addition to his connections to the Thor series, Bill has a comic crossover with the Guardians of the Galaxy, starting with a Thanos-funeral incident. Since the start of the MCU, characters that have crossover potential have appeared more and more as the cinematic web expands. In light of the Avengers: Endgame conclusion and all of Bill's connections, it seems like the alien warrior is prime character real estate to explore. 

With production on Thor: Love and Thunder beginning in August, fans are eager to learn more about who and what to expect from the first-ever fourth standalone from an original Avengers member. But with practically no plot details out and only a handful of casting tidbits, nailing down the storyline — and how Beta Ray Bill might fit into it — is no easy feat. 

There is one comics plotline, though, that seems to provide a potential answer– and it conveniently aligns with several of the characters already confirmed for the 2021 Thor film. That comic run is the 2015 Thor spin-off of Marvel's Secret Wars run. It recalls the 1980s series of the same name, and in it, you could say practically everyone becomes Thor. Jane Foster (who will be played by Natalie Portman in Love and Thunder) is at the center of the storyline, both as a victim of an alternate-universe Thor murder spree and as a Thor, perhaps the Mighty Thor version of her in Love and Thunder that has long been confirmed by Waititi. 

The event requires Thors who have seen their various Earths merge band together to stop an alternative universe version of themselves from killing Janes across time and space. Beta Ray Bill appears as part of this team-up, as does Jane's incarnation of Thor. Considering the time and universe play of Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder going in this direction doesn't seem too impossible.

Without any confirmed details, though, we'll just have to wait to see what the future holds for Beta Ray Bill and Thor: Love and Thunder.