Thor Love and Thunder: Who is Bao, god of dumplings

‘Thor: Love and Thunder‘ sees Chris Hemsworth’s Thor face Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, but fearing the confrontation in the Shadow Realm – where Gorr is the strongest – Thor tries to raise an army of the most powerful gods, by visiting the Omnipotence City. 

His plan is to get Zeus riled up about the death of other gods, knowing that the Greek god’s thunderbolt weapon will suffice in stopping Gorr. Not only does Zeus not take Thor’s alarms seriously, but the Asgardian’s hero is offended when Thor interrupts – leading to a confrontation between Zeus’ guards and Thor’s group, including Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster. 

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Before pandemonium breaks out in Omnipotence City and Thor makes an enemy of Zeus, Waititi shows the gods gathered there, including the gods of dreams, and carpentry. One god that is bound to catch everyone’s eye is Bao, the god of dumplings. Fans seem to love it already. 

This character is a deviation from the Marvel comics and is the director’s own inclusion. When Waititi started helming the Thor films, there were doubts he wouldn’t do the franchise justice, and the director was determined to break things down and do it his way. Now, in his second Thor movie, the director goes about having his fun with these additions. 

Baos are yeast-leavened buns in Chinese cuisine and come with a variety of fillings. Dumplings refer to the broader class of dishes which has pieces of dough wrapped around a filling. 

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While Waititi hasn’t openly professed his preference for baos, dumplings, or Chinese cuisine, the director from New Zealand is appreciative of the flavours in foods of immigrants in countries like the US and the UK. Speaking to ETimes, the 46-year-old said, “Food that makes all the countries great is all from immigrant countries. It’s their flavour, baby.” 

Baos being represented in the Thor movie is most likely the director’s way of living up to his words.