Here's The Thor: Love And Thunder Joke That Was Originally Supposed To Be In Thor: Ragnarok

"Thor: Love and Thunder" is finally out and setting box office records. The latest MCU movie is another entry in the universe of Marvel movies having an identity crisis caused by trauma and heartbreak.

According to Taika Waititi, Thor goes through a bit of a midlife crisis in the film, and it makes sense considering what he's been through. In "Thor: Ragnarok" alone he lost his father, his eye, his hammer, and his home. Then in "Infinity War," he lost his friend, his brother, and half his people. The resulting depression led to Thor gaining weight and becoming one of the best characters in "Avengers: Endgame," before "Love and Thunder" undid that in a quick training montage.

Still, "Love and Thunder" continues the sad Thor train, with the god of thunder clinging onto his old hammer in the best romance of the film, a mini-crisis of identity once he realizes his god heroes are actually trash, and also a hilariously sad Loki joke Waititi rescued from the "Ragnarok" cutting room floor.

Though Loki is not present in "Love and Thunder," his memory lives on, kind of. In his quest to get help from the gods in stopping Gorr the God Butcher, Thor asks Zeus for help, but is instead ridiculed and accidentally stripped naked — revealing a big back tattoo in honor of the fallen god of mischief. Speaking to Insider, Taika Waititi said the big RIP Loki tattoo was originally thought of as a comedy bit for "Thor: Ragnarok" since Thor believes his brother is dead, but the audience knows he's alive.

"[Thor] was going to say, 'I mourned you, look I even got this stupid tattoo,' and Thor lifts his sleeve and it's a tattoo that says 'RIP Loki.'"

Sadly, as it often happens, the gag never made it to the film "for some reason," according to Waititi, but he was still determined to get it into a film. "So I doubled down and put it on his back," Waititi added. "And then [Marvel Studios head] Kevin [Feige] was like, 'Can we make it five times bigger?' So that's why it covered his entire back."

What makes the gag even funnier is the miscellaneous tattoos around the RIP Loki one, like a giant tattoo of Loki's helmet, a tiny grave for Thor's brother, a rose, the word "brothers," and also a list of every important person in Thor's life that has died: his mother, his father, Heimdall, Loki, and also the Avengers Tony and Natasha. It's a small detail, but it's a nice touch that at least one of the Avengers still thinks of Natasha.

"Thor: Love and Thunder" is now in theaters.