What Happened To Thor"s Missing Brother, Balder The Brave?

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Warning! This article contains spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 3, "1893."
Summary

  • Loki Season 2, Episode 3 hints at the existence of Balder the Brave in the MCU, confirming that he does or did exist in the universe.
  • The mention of Balder in the Norse diorama suggests that he may play a significant role or make an appearance in future MCU installments.
  • Balder's omission from the MCU so far, despite being Thor's half-brother and a member of the Norse pantheon, indicates that he may be dead, but his inclusion in the diorama hints at the possibility of his return or involvement in future projects, such as the next Thor movie.

Loki Season 2, Episode 3 featured a scene that was both perplexing and exciting in equal measure as it featured a diorama depiction of Thor's thus-far unmentioned missing brother, Balder the Brave, but stopped short of elaborating on what happened to him. The scene, which Director Kasra Farahani himself commented on, was ostensibly one meant to remind Loki and the audience of his divine origins while deprecating Loki by omitting him from the chosen Norse god lineup. But the likelihood is that this wink to the audience probably carried more significance than a throwaway joke – one that might just pay off in future MCU installments.
The Asgardian contingent of characters in the MCU have been pretty thin on the ground when compared to the comics. Enchantress, for instance, is a pretty significant Asgardian that hasn't been mentioned in the MCU. Now that Asgard (at least, its original location) has been destroyed, it initially seemed as though the MCU had settled for the current roster of Asgardians to be its final one. Loki, however, has contradicted this by simply mentioning Balder the Brave, thereby confirming that he does, or did, exist in the MCU.
Loki Finally Confirms Balder The Brave Exists When viewing the Norse diorama at the Chicago World Fair, and inwardly lamenting his own omission from it, both Loki and Mobius acknowledged Balder's existence, albeit in different ways, with Loki wondering "Why did they include Balder. No one's even heard of him," to which Mobius retorts, "Sure they have, 'Balder the Brave.'" Loki's comment is a nod to the fact that the MCU has not featured Balder at all thus far, while Mobius confirms that he is actually well known in-universe. The episode's Director may have batted away the notion that this foreshadows Balder's arrival in the MCU, but could easily be a deflection.
Balder was nearly included in the MCU once before, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as part of the alternate-universe Illuminati. Not only that, but he was to be portrayed by Daniel Craig, a big-ticket actor who would have easily given weight to the status of the forgotten Asgardian. This, however, never came to fruition – though there is little doubt that Craig's involvement in the MCU would go down a storm, akin to how Richard E. Grant's Classic Loki was so well-received in Loki Season 1.

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