The Thor: Love and Thunder trailer continues Marvel's post-Thor: Ragnarok retcon by giving the God of Thunder two blue eyes again. Thor's Marvel Cinematic Universe story is shaped by tragedy, but the hero's journey in Thor: Love and Thunder appears to be taking him in a new direction yet again. He's ready to give up being a superhero, lose his Fat Thor look after Avengers: Endgame, and be a force for peace in the universe. This new outlook comes with various changes to Thor's appearance, and one of the smallest changes continues the MCU's trend of retconning a decision made in Thor: Ragnarok.
The third solo film for Thor reinforced his tragic MCU story, as he lost over and over again in Taika Waititi's directorial debut for the studio. Thor watched his father Odin die and his secret sister Hela destroy Mjolnir. He also lost his best friends and watched Surtur destroy all of Asgard. These losses were instrumental in shaping Thor's mindset heading into Avengers: Infinity War, where he subsequently lost his brother, Loki, and half the population of the universe. Thor: Ragnarok also saw the Asgardian lose his right eye in combat with Hela. While the MCU has maintained the other losses that Thor suffered in Ragnarok, Waititi's 2022 follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder continues the trend of retconning what happened with his eye.
Amid all of the adventures and humor includes in Thor: Love and Thunder's teaser trailer, it also confirms that Thor's eye is fixed at some point. The footage shows Thor with two blue eyes once more. The scar on his face confirms that this takes place after Thor: Ragnarok's events. While he got a replacement eye in Avengers: Infinity War, it was brown, which provided a visual reminder of what Hela did to him. Now that Thor: Love and Thunder is fixing Thor's eye to give him a matching blue set, the movie will make arguably the biggest retcon in this area to date. With Thor's blue eyes restored, the fading scar is the only visual reminder for the God of Thunder and viewers about what happened in Thor: Ragnarok.
Marvel's decision to repeatedly tinker with Thor's eye after Thor: Ragnarok is quite strange. When Hela initially cut it, Thor elected to wear a gold eye patch, mirroring the look of his father, Odin. It seemed to be a visual representation of how he was heading towards his destiny of being Asgard's king. However, Avengers: Infinity War saw Rocket give him a replacement eye so he could ditch the patch. This is the look he retained through Avengers: Endgame, where Thor decided he didn't want to be king. Thor: Love and Thunder may explain that Rocket found a blue eye to give Thor. Since the movie is returning the character to his long hair and ripped physique, Chris Hemsworth's Thor more or less has returned to his previous pre-Ragnarok appearance—albeit with a couple of brand new costumes.
While Thor's eye retcon will likely have some meaning in Thor: Love and Thunder's story, it doesn't fully explain why Marvel Studios has constantly changed this detail of Thor's appearance after Ragnarok. The eye patch and different color eyes were both fully done with CGI, so it didn't change anything for Chris Hemsworth's prep or performance. Hopefully the latest retcon for Thor: Love and Thunder was done with the God of Thunder's ever-evolving character arc in mind, otherwise this will start to feel like Marvel's constant changes to the Hulk.
