‘Thor: Love and Thunder‘ introduced Russell Crowe as Zeus, when Thor and his friends visit Omnipotence City to seek the help of Gods, form a team, and visit the Shadow Realm to defeat Gorr the God Butcher. The 58-year-old plays the God of Lightning, who Thor describes as the wisest, and proclaims that Zeus is the God of Thunder’s hero. 

However, their encounter doesn’t go as planned and Thor hits Zeus with his own lightning bolt, setting a course of enmity where the God of Lightning tells Hercules in the mid-credits of the film that Thor Odinson must fall from the sky so people start respecting and fearing gods again, instead of banking on superheroes. 

While it seems Crowe will appear again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), he was initially not going to portray the Greek god. As revealed by veteran artist Miles Teves, the New Zealand-born actor was slated to appear as the Devil or Satan. 

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The 59-year-old shared the concept art he’d designed for ‘Love and Thunder’ on Instagram, saying “I was told by the good folks at Odd Studio down in Australia who commissioned this art that Russell Crowe might be having a comedic cameo as Satan in the new ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’. It didn’t work out that way. Hopefully it wasn’t because he saw my drawings. Though I’d understand.” 

Another artwork shared by Teves shows a lounging Satan, with the artist sharing how he was asked to conceptualize Crowe at his current weight to show the debauched nature of the character. 

While Satan might not have made it to ‘Love and Thunder’, the debauchery is channelled by Crowe even when he plays Zeus, who seems more fixated on fun than tracking down a being who’s killing gods. 

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This has sparked theories of Mephisto appearing at some point in the MCU. He’s an extra-terrestrial demon who rules ‘Hell’ or ‘Hades’ – a fiery pocket dimension. Fans expected Mephisto to appear in ‘WandaVision‘ but were left hanging, and now Teves’ artwork seems to indicate that ‘Love and Thunder’ might have also passed up the chance to introduce the fictional character who first appeared in the 1968 issue of ‘The Silver Surfer’.