Between Thor: Love & Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Marvel Studios movies of 2022 have introduced many new corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The least of which is the afterlife for the first non-Earth-based location in MCU history, Valhalla.
The post-credit scene to Thor: Love & Thunder shows the newly appointed Mighty Thor of Asgard, Jane Foster, arriving in the afterlife of the Gods. For the first time since the movie's release and launch on Disney+, there is now behind-the-scenes footage of the scene.
Valhalla Behind-The-Scene
A new featurette released by AMC Theaters shows the first behind-the-scenes footage of Valhalla in the Thor: Love & Thunder post-credit scene.
The scene appears to use The Volume to shoot the 360 "heavenly" landscape.
Natalie Portman speaks in the featurette about coming back to the Thor franchise after debuting in the first film in 2011 and missing the third in the trilogy Thor: Ragnarok.
“It’s been really exciting to come back with a completely different lens on the same world… It went this unexpected direction and it was absolutely incredible.”
In Assembled: Thor: Love & Thunder, stunt Ccoordinator Kyle Gardiner talks about Portman's commitment to the role and her willingness to get involved with the stunt process as much as possible.
“Natalie came in very early, ready to work. She wanted to master everything as much as possible, so she could do as much as possible.”
Portman added that despite her experience in blockbuster action films, this was the first time being asked to dive into fight training.
Talking about her workout plan and how exciting it is to "actually be working towards being bigger.”
“Despite having been in lots of action movies, I’ve never really done any fight training or anything… It was really fun to get to train for the first time in my life to be strong, you know? Usually, as women, we’re training to get as small as possible. So it’s exciting to actually be working towards being bigger.”
The full featurette can be watched below:
Creating Valhalla in the MCU
This look at Valhalla shows the production of one of the many afterlives represented (so far) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Wakandan afterlife of the Astral Plane, the Field of Reeds in Moon Knight, and even the world of the soul stone shown in Avengers: Infinity War have all been represented in the MCU.
Valhalla is the heaven of the Gods of Asgard and to get there you must die with honor in battle (sorry Sif). The scene shows Jane showing up and meeting up with another legend of the Thor franchise, Idris Elba's Heimdall.
This scene is a big moment for fans of the first 4-movie run in MCU history and certainly puts some resolution on both Jane and Heimdall's endings.
Natalie Portman specifically has praised her experience returning to this universe after getting the chance to play The Mighty Thor. More action, more fun, and more importance to the story than ever before.
The biggest question going forward is, will fans see Jane or Heimdall again? Setting up this afterlife opens the door for a return but many fans want to believe this was a resolution for these characters and their impact on the cornerstone cosmic franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
