Thor 4: Groot Gets Engulfed In Flames In New Deleted Scene Art

By Nathan Johnson Posted:
Thor Love and Thunder Groot

After a successful theatrical run, Thor: Love and Thunder is now available to stream on Disney+ at no additional charge to subscribers. The film follows Chris Hemsworth's Thor after the events of Avengers: Endgame, where he is back at New Asgard with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and Taika Waititi's Korg. Waititi also directed the movie, giving him his second director credit in the MCU.

The Guardians of the Galaxy made an appearance in the movie, however, they were only in the first few scenes before they departed on their next adventure. In the little screentime they had, though, they were able to get an action scene with Thor at their side, even if the God of Thunder did most of the fighting himself.

However, it seems as though the Guardians were originally supposed to be present for a little bit longer than they were in the final cut, as some artwork from a deleted scene has recently been revealed at Disney's D23 Expo.

Groot's Flaming Head in Thor: Love and Thunder

Disney's D23 Expo is currently taking place this weekend in Anaheim, California. At Marvel Studios' booth, there was recently a presentation for Thor: Love and Thunder, which included some artwork by Anthony Francisco of a deleted scene from the film, as well as concepts of some other elements that made it into the final cut.

Thor: Love and Thunder artwork, D23 Expo
Marvel

The artwork of the deleted scene features the Guardians of the Galaxy fighting alongside Thor as they all work together to take down a massive group of enemies.

Thor: Love and Thunder artwork, Groot, Rocket, D23 Expo
Marvel

The most notable part of the image, however, is that Groot's head and left arm are engulfed in flames. It is unclear who may have set him on fire, but since he is a tree, the Guardians would have had to act quickly so he wouldn't suffer too much damage.

Thor: Love and Thunder artwork, D23 Expo
Marvel

Another piece of artwork features Thor commanding an army of children of all different races. It appears that one of the kids is even wielding Stormbreaker and harnessing the axe's power. 

Thor: Love and Thunder artwork, screaming goats, D23 Expo
Marvel

The final piece showcases the screaming goats that made multiple appearances throughout the film. In this particular example, they are pulling the ship that Thor and his companions used to get to the Shadow Realm.

Why Was Groot's Head on Fire?

Deleted scenes are always a cool addition to a film's special features that a majority of fans are interested in checking out when the DVD is available for purchase. Even then, there are still early ideas and concepts that never even get filmed for MCU movies. In Thor: Love and Thunder's case, the artwork of Groot's head being in flames is one of those scenes.

When the team was still brainstorming how they wanted to include the Guardians of the Galaxy, it is highly likely that someone came up with a fairly big battle scene where Groot is lit on fire by the enemy. Knowing Taika Waititi, he may have even suggested Groot doing it to himself as a battle strategy, but then decided to cut it when there was no way to explain why the character would hurt himself.

Thor: Love and Thunder is now available to stream on Disney+.

- In This Article: Thor: Love and Thunder
- About The Author: Nathan Johnson
Nathan is a writer at The Direct where he covers Star Wars, the MCU, and DC news. He joined The Direct in April 2021 and currently writes news and feature articles about all three brands mentioned above, but his main specialty is his knowledge about anything and everything Star Wars.