With less than 24 hours until the release of Marvel Studios' What If...? Episode 7, we finally have an idea of what to expect from the "Party Thor" episode. The official title has been released as What If... Thor Was An Only Child? along with a teaser and plenty of details from the show's creative team.
Head Writer AC Bradley and Director Bryan Andrews spoke with EW about the new episode and why it isn't as serious or ominous as the several before it. The pair went as far as to say that Hemsworth's own fun side shines through the character - and they also teased a plethora of cameos - including Howard the Duck, who we also saw in Episode 2, What If... T'challa Was A Star-Lord?
The preview for What If... Thor Was An Only Child is a short one and is currently only available to view exclusively on EW, which you can find here. However, with the head writer and director providing a slew of information on what's to come in the episode, we've also shared their thoughts below.
"I love the Thor-Jane relationship, and we wanted to play around with that part of the love story without the framework of tragedy. The story took root from a love of '80s and '90s rom-com and party films. After so many serious episodes, what's the most fun we could possibly have? And the answer to that is: Let Thor throw a party.
Anyone who has siblings knows that that relationship affects us greatly growing up. So in the MCU, Thor grew up with Loki, literally the god of mischief, always running into trouble, so Thor became the good prince, the good son. Without his brother dragging him into trouble, Thor had to find it on his own, and so he grew up a bit differently — still our lovable hero, but his interests are less about becoming king of Asgard and more about becoming perhaps the party prince.
This episode is chock full of cameos. A lot of the lines are improvised by the actors. It should be Easter egg heaven. I hope people have fun with the one this week because it's not as bombastic world-ending as other episodes. The mandate for me when I was writing it was, I just want to have fun, I just want to be silly. It's a lot sillier than anything you'd see in the MCU. It should be an episode to watch with a beer.
Seth Green came in to record as Howard the Duck. I was walking him through the episode like, 'It's really fun and zany, and it's kind of like a throwback to Can't Hardly Wait.' And the man very politely nodded and went, 'Yeah, I've seen it.' And it wasn't until the drive home that I was like, 'Oh frick, he was in it! I just pitched him his own movie.'" - Head Writer AC Bradley
"Some of the stuff has already been a little bit leaked because of merchandising, there are like shirts that say 'Party Thor!' so it lets you know a certain degree of the attitude behind this episode. It's a complete 180 from the couple episodes that came before that were more serious, more dramatic, tragic, and shocking. It's going to be a really great palate cleanser from the stuff that came before, and it will set you up for the stuff that will come after.
We get to reinvent him because his entire life from the beginning to this point is totally different, so we got to create a brand new version of Thor, truly. We push that comedy. It does take place in the timeframe roughly of what we think of as Thor, so there are some other characters that we do get to see from that movie — Jane Foster makes an appearance as well as Darcy and Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings did such a fantastic job.
[Hemsworth] ate it up. We started finding the voice, and Chris has got such natural comic instincts — they've started bringing that out in Ragnarok, but we got to lean into that even more so in this. There's some stuff that got particularly goofy, and he was laughing, and the guys in the recording booth over there in Australia were laughing, and he was just like, 'I really like this Thor!' He gets to cut loose more than he ever has in the Marvel Universe. I get a sense that maybe there's a little bit of actual Chris in 'Party Thor' which might be one reason why he gravitated towards it so easily and had so much fun with it." - Director Bryan Andrews
What do you guys think of the premise for What If... Thor Was An Only Child? Are you excited for the zaniness and bevy of cameos, or are you more looking forward to the climax of the series?
Regardless of your take, be sure to share your thoughts in the usual spot, and if you haven't seen What If...? yet, the trailer and synopsis are included below.
Enter the multiverse of unlimited possibilities. Marvel Studios' first animated series, What If...?, starts streaming August 11 with new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+. “What If… ?” features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist.
Marvel Studios' What If...? premieres new episodes each Wednesday, only on Disney+.