There Are Actually Seven Heroes That Thor Never Met In The MCU

Thor: God of thunder, crown prince of Asgard, expert guacamole eater, and middling Fortnite competitor. In playing this heroic Asgardian, Chris Hemsworth has been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the get-go, seen the arc of the multiverse bend across 20-plus movies, met many beings, and made strange friends and dangerous enemies — and he's still not done yet! For all that illustrious adventure and fascinating character development over time, Thor has missed out on meeting a few very critical fellow heroes within the MCU. Sure, every solo character movie has its own incidental characters, but we're not talking about those: We mean folks that, when you stop to consider it, you go, "Wait, really? He hasn't?" Over this many movies and number of years, it's easy to lose track just who knows who, and Thor's efforts have taken him across MCU silos, from the magical world of Doctor Strange to the intergalactic exploits of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Still, even with all that crossover, there are major characters with whom Thor has never shared the screen. A few of them are simply missed connections. Others are those who were lost by the time Thor came back to reverse the dreaded Thanos (Josh Brolin) snap heard 'round the universe. These are the seven heroes Thor has surprisingly never met in the MCU (and only in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — we aren't talking about the Marvel comics here). 

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is first on our roundup, and since the web-slinger has been in four movies, it feels odd that two such critical characters haven't had a formal introduction. They'd probably get on famously — there's no doubt the impressionable Parker would be very starstruck to meet not just another magical hero like Doctor Strange, but a god, and all that. Meanwhile, we imagine Thor would find the young man's irrepressible enthusiasm very charming, indeed. 

Alas, all the times Peter has been most relevant to any one movie's plot were specifically those times Thor was not just unavailable, but also usually in a whole other corner of the galaxy. Plus, there was that whole period of time when Peter had turned to dust. Everyone was on screen in Avengers: Endgame, of course, but that doesn't make for a real introduction. Character-wise, they're both in a similar place right now: questioning their identities as heroes, having crises of faith, and feeling they haven't lived up to their potential. That's a lot of good stock for a relatable dynamic to come together. Let Peter go to space with Thor and the other Peter (Quill, aka Star-Lord). The kid needs a vacation.

This one's a two-fer: Thor hasn't met the Wasp — either Hope (Evangeline Lilly) or Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). He's met Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), and they seemed to get along as well as any random guy with an electrical engineering degree can with a near-immortal alien who can channel lightning and is currently living through a really deep depression. Janet and Hope both were snapped out of existence by Thanos (Josh Brolin), and, of course, Thor was nowhere near San Francisco and Pym Labs at any time during either Ant-Man or Ant-Man and the Wasp.

As much of a golden-hearted Party Chad as Thor is on his best days, he drinks his Respect Women juice by the magically refillable tankard, so we know he has a lot of respect and affection for no-nonsense ladies. Janet and Hope fit that descriptor to a T; we especially invite you to imagine how great a conversation between Thor, traveler of the cosmos, and Janet, long-lost vagabond of the Quantum Realm, might be. We're saying: Let them be friends, Kevin Feige.

Technically, we have no proof as to whether Thor has ever met Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp). Big, ensemble movies by their very nature must hand-wave over a lot of detail, especially when it comes to two characters imbalanced vis-à-vis importance. Sharon's star shone more brightly on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we presume will again on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but she's very much stuck Earth-side, far afield of Thor's intergalactic adventures, so we have never had the opportunity to see them interact.

At this point, Sharon is definitely used to encountering the fantastic, and had zero problem taking no guff from the likes of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), so she likely wouldn't tolerate much more just because another big blonde dude is also a superhuman magnitudes more powerful than Cap. Frosty as she can be, however, perhaps after some ego petting, Sharon might let the tough-girl bit drop and kick back to have some fun and crack a couple cans of Tropicália with Odin's first-born son.

Including T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), King of Wakanda, on this list may amount to a technicality, as he and Thor were both at the Battle of Wakanda. T'Challa did, at least, see Thor, but it was only at the very end, when the latter made his big, splashy arrival with Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper). Considering the fact that, very shortly thereafter, the good Wakandan king got himself snapped, the two have never actually been acquainted. 

It's kind of a shame that they haven't met, honestly. They have a lot in common: two men, crown princes, with beloved fathers who were kings with kingdoms built on historical lies. Both their fathers died, both have had to fight for their place in the world, and both have to reconcile the fathers they loved with terrible legacies about which they were never previously told. The powers that they were given were at first taken for granted, and then had to be re-earned through suffering. T'Challa has done well bearing that emotional burden, so Thor could really use a friend like him post-Endgame.

Yondu (Michael Rooker) has been dead a while, so obviously Thor will never get an opportunity to meet him. That might not feel all that relevant at first blush, but consider how important the Guardians — especially Rocket — have become to Thor. Rocket personally dealt with his own grief when Yondu died, and that was a critical step in his journey towards learning to express empathy. If Rocket hadn't experienced that as part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, he wouldn't have been nearly as well-equipped to help Thor in the way that he did throughout both Infinity War and Endgame. The whole Guardians team isn't very far removed from that death, and now there's been a lot more loss. It isn't so much Yondu as it is the loss of him — and how he taught everyone to grow past their arrested development and become more like the adults they are — that's so important.

Considering all this, it's a shame that Thor will never have the opportunity to meet someone that has provided so much context to the Guardians' lives. He and Peter Quill are only barely getting along right now, mostly because of Peter's ego and angst. Perhaps if Thor was to learn about Yondu's place amongst the team's memory, that could change.

Our favorite one-armed, octogenarian amnesiac, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), is another hero Thor hasn't met in the MCU. You may recall that both Bucky and Thor fought in the big final battle of Endgame, but they also attended Tony's funeral and (very briefly) shared the screen. That said, they've never exchanged dialogue, and given the friendship-shattering effect Bucky had on the Avengers' dynamic in Thor's galaxy-traveling absence, we're not sure what the god of thunder would think. 

Bucky is a man completely out of time and place, and is only just starting to readjust. Until recently, he had absolutely no one to rely on. Meanwhile, most of Thor's closest friends are dead, and he's feeling a lot of guilt over his actions leading to a lot of death he never intended. That's an unexpected common thread between them, and would be an interesting dynamic to explore, should their narrative threads ever truly cross. Thor of the past might've slapped Bucky's back and asked why he looks so droll. Thor now would probably be very content to sit with the Winter Soldier in a pair of lawn chairs and watch the other superheroes bicker amongst themselves, sharing wry looks over how they are both far too old and weathered for this.

Finally, we want to end with Gamora (Zoe Saldana). "Wait," you say, "they met — in Infinity War, remember? She thirsted over his muscles and stuff!" All true. Thor met a Gamora — one who no longer exists in the MCU. The Gamora that fans came to know and love in the MCU died in Infinity War; a past version of the green-skinned Guardian of the Galaxy from 2014, one with different motivations than that of the heroes her future (dead) self fought alongside, appeared in Endgame. A huge chunk of Peter Quill's emotional struggle in Endgame is coming to the understanding that the woman who unknowingly got a second life in a new timeline isn't the same woman he fell in love with.

The 2014 version of Gamora who flashes forward to the year 2023 in Endgame didn't experience Guardians of the Galaxy, and there's no getting that time back and living it over again like her dead, divergent-universe version. Gamora herself knows something is wrong; that's why she ultimately sided with Nebula (Karen Gillan) and betrayed Thanos in a new way. This Gamora must have that same emotional journey along a different path, and that story will likely be the baseline plot of Guardians of the Galaxy 3. She took off on her own, and the rest of the team is determined to find her and bring her back into the family where she belongs — she just doesn't know it yet.

Conversely, Thor may be just the person Gamora will need when that time comes. The Guardians crew is going to continue to have a hard time decoupling Dead Gamora from Alive Gamora, which makes for great drama, but Thor can definitely provide a neutral ground for her to get to know. The two found a lot of sympathy with each others' experiences in Infinity War; that can happen again, because those traumas surrounding her adoptive father Thanos are still true the way they were in the previous timeline's version of Gamora. We can only hope, for now, that James Gunn has the same emotional arc interests in mind.