Marvel films love Easter eggs, and fans would have believed that Taika Waititi had fun when he decided to make a Dwayne Johnson tribute in Thor: Love and Thunder. The director has previously mentioned that Korg’s partner is named Dwayne, so there is no doubt that he was inspired by the former wrestler.
While Thor 4 is universally acknowledged as the worst MCU installment, it had a couple of scenes that were only meant to entertain viewers. Some fans felt it was different from its predecessors, though it still offered fast-paced fun for the summer.
Taika Waititi Confirmed Korg’s Partner Is A Tribute To Dwayne Johnson
Director Taika Waititi confirmed in a tweet that what fans saw in the ending scene of Thor: Love and Thunder was Korg’s boyfriend, Dwayne. He replied to a fan, “No coincidence baby” to a photo of Dwayne wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt with gold jewelry. Indeed, the look was reminiscent of the Jumanji star Dwayne Johnson in his 90s era.
No coincidence baby https://t.co/oGTUzz9bMg
— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 16, 2022
Korg and Dwayne’s part in the movie was a happy ending scene. In the film’s history, Kronans can only conceive children by holding hands and singing over a fire. The duo was spotted in the closing montage doing the said ritual over a volcano.
Waititi previously said in an Instagram Live that Korg’s origin will be revealed in Thor: Love and Thunder. The filmmaker stated via Comic Book:
“We do touch on Korg’s culture. Where he’s from… if you look in the comics about Kronans, it’s an interesting thing about where they come from.”
He also mentioned the ways his works explore queer romances, as what Korg and Dwayne showed in the film via Out.
“We’re all queer. Just to varying degrees of where we are on the [sexuality] spectrum, I think. I think, innately, humans have all got some degree of queerness in them.”
Aside from Waititi’s Korg, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is also a notable queer character in the Thor franchise.
Thor VFX Supervisor Found Korg A Challenging Character
Visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison once shared that Taika Waititi sometimes makes his life complicated, especially when he spontaneously comes up with ideas he wants to incorporate into the movies. Morrison talked about working on Korg via Comic Book:
“I would say the one thing I did learn on this is, once Taika discovered that he could just come up with new punch lines and zingers in the edit suite, was when my life got a lot harder… You’ve got to have them form comedy, which as anybody will tell you, I think all actors would, drama is hard, but comedy is significantly harder.”
Morrison noted that it was challenging to make the audience laugh and believe a character that is a 7’6” monster made of 1,300 rocks.
