The villains Thor and Loki face in MCU Phase 4 could be a direct result of Avengers: Endgame. Serving as the Infinity saga's grand finale, Avengers: Endgame phased out the MCU's original team. Iron Man is dead, Captain America is wrinkly, and Black Widow's story would've already concluded were it not for her solo film being delayed. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Hulk will be passing their respective torches to a younger generation on Disney+. The only original MCU characters still fronting their own stories in Phase 4 are Thor, with Thor: Love & Thunder, and Loki, with his own eponymous TV show.
While Avengers: Endgame was very much a closing chapter, the epic crossover also paved the way for MCU Phase 4. Steve Rogers bequeathed his superhero title to Sam Wilson, and the Avengers' flagrant abuse of time travel is almost certain to cause problems further down the line. For Thor's part, the God of Thunder kicked out of his post-Infinity War slump and began a new adventure with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The original Loki was killed by Thanos (probably...), but the Avengers sloppily allowed 2012 Loki to get his hands on the Tesseract while they were swiping Infinity Stones from the past.
Thor: Love & Thunder will reunite Chris Hemsworth's renewed Thor with a cancer-stricken Jane Foster, while Loki follows Tom Hiddleston's runaway villain after his escape via the Space Stone. The two bickering brothers will both encounter new antagonists on these Phase 4 journeys, but the seeds for both new villains were perhaps sown during the events of Avengers: Endgame.
The Avengers' "time heist" plan was simple enough - grab the Infinity Stones from the past, use them to fix the present, then return each gem like nothing ever happened. Unfortunately, Tony Stark and the gang gravely underestimated the complexity of their operation. Not only was the timeline meddled with (Loki's escape, Rogers hooking up with Peggy, Stark meets his father, etc.), but the very act of traversing the quantum realm seems to have opened a can of worms that can't be scooped up and put back again. This much is evident from the MCU's Phase 4 projects - Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, the coming together of every Spider-Man era, the sheer insanity of WandaVision. And even though Mysterio was revealed as a charlatan, Spider-Man: Far From Home introduced the idea that Avengers: Endgame might've narrowed the gaps between universes.
At this point, the wise words of Tilda Swinton's Ancient One begin to resonate. Ms. One was famously reluctant to hand over the Time Stone to Bruce Banner, concerned that removing one stone from the past could create branch realities. Banner theorized that returning each stone to the moment it was taken would minimize disruption, but that was before Loki stole the Tesseract and the Avengers were forced into plan B. Any number of branch realities could've been created by the heroes' quantum realm escapades in Avengers: Endgame, and one organization in particular could be very upset about that...
Marvel Studios' first look at Loki showed Tom Hiddleston's mischief maker wearing a prison jumpsuit with "TVA" printed on the chest, teasing the MCU debut of the Time Variance Authority. A more recent trailer confirmed that theory, with Owen Wilson's administrator overseeing Loki's interrogation and trial. The footage also includes a scene where Loki is forced to watch a video of his Avengers arrest. Although their grievance isn't yet confirmed, the TVA seem to be unhappy that Loki escaped his natural timeline. As MCU fans know, Thor's adopted brother was supposed to be imprisoned on Asgard for his crimes, but instead, he now roams free on a faraway desert planet. This diversion in Loki's destiny has apparently earned him a residency inside a TVA cell.
In the Marvel comics, the TVA's jurisdiction spreads across the multiverse. The secret organization attempt to keep the various Marvel timelines and realities in order, stomping out any deviations, crossovers and splits that might occur - incidents similar to what the Ancient One described to Bruce Banner. Loki's displacement is arguably the biggest time variance caused by Avengers: Endgame, and certainly the most troublesome from the TVA's perspective, meaning Avengers: Endgame directly brings the TVA to Loki's door. Whether these clandestine time agents can be considered villains is, of course, relative. Loki himself is a bad egg at this stage, and the TVA are merely trying to correct-course reality. But for the narrative purposes of Loki, the TVA are the story's antagonists, capturing Tom Hiddleston's character and, judging from the trailer, forcing him to do their bidding. The TVA are typically presented as neutral pencil-pushers in the comics, rather than time-traveling superheroes, so the MCU could easily ramp-up their villainous tendencies for live-action.
Not only does Avengers: Endgame potentially bring the TVA to Loki, but the MCU's 2019 crossover extraordinaire might also lay foundations for Thor's new villain in Thor: Love & Thunder. Infamously, Chris Hemsworth's character become "Fat Thor" in his last MCU appearance. Fresh from being defeated by Thanos in the Infinity War, losing Asgard and its people, and making the fatal mistake of not "going for the head," the God of Thunder found himself in a dark head space after Avengers: Endgame's time skip.
Packing on the pounds with pizza and beer, Thor retreated into video games and refused to engage with the gravity of the situation. Thor was also an absent king whose people rare saw him. While the God of Thunder redeems himself in Avengers: Endgame's final battle, he chooses not to make amends as a leader, passing authority over to Valkyrie and heading off for a jaunty space adventure with the Guardians of the Galaxy. As Odin's son and the heir of Asgard, however, Thor is supposed to be ruler of the Nine Realms - worlds that need kind, fair, strong leadership now more than ever. While Valkyrie is more than capable of filling that role, Thor abdicated his solemn responsibility at the worst possible time.
Christian Bale's casting in Thor: Love & Thunder had been rumored for some time, with many suspecting he would play Beta Ray Bill. Instead, Disney recently confirmed that Bale would become the MCU's Gorr, ominously known as "The God Butcher." In the Marvel comics, Gorr is a humble alien who endures a harsh upbringing and a miserable adulthood, constantly surrounded by death and hunger. Gorr becomes vengeful after discovering the existence of Gods, and embarks on a crusade to kill these divine beings for ignoring his plight, and the suffering of many others like him. Gorr essentially believes that Gods are inept rulers born into power, and all of them deserve to die.
Avengers: Endgame sets up a Gorr vs. Thor clash perfectly. Taking into account the destruction of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok, Thanos' slaughter of the Asgardian people, Thor's gamer phase, and the God of Thunder's eventual departure from Earth, the reign of Odin's son has been nothing short of a disaster. As a superhero, Thor has done great work, but as a God, his record is appalling... and proves Gorr might have a point. Gorr's arrival in Thor: Love & Thunder could be a direct response to Thor abandoning his people in Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps he heard about the overweight, noob-slaying son of Odin and decided Thor was no longer worthy of living as a God, which could play into Jane Foster gaining Thor's abilities for herself.
A character with Gorr's backstory makes sense in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. After Thanos and the snap, the universe will see divine entities as either complicit or negligent. Why didn't they do more to help? Should any being hold as much power as Thanos? Thor, of course, did fight back against Thanos, but it was the mortal Tony Stark that finished the job which, again, supports Gorr's blasphemous narrative. Thor's Avengers: Endgame arc sufficiently explains why Gorr might've decided Thor is worthy of death.
