There were a lot of big reveals in the recently released Thor: Love and Thunder that fans have been waiting years to see. However, when they finally got what they wanted, many of the on-screen iterations of fan-favorite comic book characters weren't exactly what fans were expecting.
The fourth cinematic effort for the God of Thunder sees him interact with his godhood in a more direct way, thanks to the onslaught of Gorr the God Butcher. Thor's new nemesis seems too much to face on his own, leaving him to seek out help from fellow deities. Unfortunately, it doesn't go according to plan.
Zeus, King of Olympus and God of the Sky, is the big new face in the franchise. Zeus has a long history in the comics. Like many gods in the Marvel Universe, he appears as a hero and villain with goals that regularly come into conflict with the franchise's superheroes. Most of his appearances in the series see him interact with the other various pantheons of deities. Gods in the comics have a strange mixed existence. They're clearly powerful, but by no means the end all be all. He's never been adapted to the big screen before Thor's latest outing. He's only appeared in a couple of animated series. His big on-screen debut has seen a decidedly mixed reception from the audience, partially due to Russell Crowe's unique performance in the role.
Zeus is arrogant, dismissive, selfish, hedonistic, cruel, lazy, and completely uninterested in anything that doesn't benefit him personally. While this isn't particularly relevant to the comic book source material, it's probably the most note-perfect adaptation of the original Greek myth ever put to the big screen. His role in the story is to disappoint Thor, who saw the older deity as a source of inspiration, further intensifying his identity crisis. Team Asgard shows up to alert their fellow deities that Gorr will be coming to slaughter them all, and Zeus regards it as unworthy of consideration. They request his aid and he waves them off. They request his weapon, and he sends guards to slay them. They defeat his army and use his own weapon to put a golf-ball-sized hole in his chest. He's far from the most important character in the story, he's mostly just there to provide a little friction and give the team a new powerful weapon. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the character is the fact that he's one of the few gods in the franchise to sound like they're from where they are canonically from.
Russell Crowe takes a huge swing on a Greek accent in this film, and while he lands a bit closer to Italian, his attempt is interesting. Zeus isn't from Greece, he's a deity born an infinite distance from any nation on Earth, but he was worshiped in Greece. He and the other characters all need to speak English for the movie, and it doesn't help anyone to nitpick why any of them would know English, but there's no reason they'd have a particular accent. If every god were to speak English, why wouldn't they have the accent of the group of people who worshipped them? It's an interesting question, but Zeus sounding Greek is actually a rarity in pop-cultural depictions of the Sky God. Looking deeper into the gods of the MCU reveals that issue in closer focus.
Why are the Norse Gods British? Has anyone stopped to ask? Thor, Loki, Odin, Heimdall, and Valkyrie, all speak with a rough English accent. Perhaps it was a casting decision. The first Thor movie cast Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, and Chris Hemsworth as its first round of Aesir. That's three British actors, one American, and one Australian, so British feels like a reasonable compromise. When American actress Tessa Thompson joined to portray Valkyrie, everyone had already agreed on English accents, but why? Zeus sounds like the odd man out, which makes sense because he's the first Greek god in the franchise, but why do so many other gods sound the same? The Egyptian Ennead from Moon Knight all sound British too. Khonshu and Taweret both speak with a lilting English accent. The only notable exception is Ammit, whose Jordanian portrayer Saba Mubarak maintains her unique dialect. Ammit is the most distinct vocal performance in the bunch for that reason.
It's bizarre that the default is English, regardless of the actor's natural voice. Hollywood in general and Marvel specifically have decided that English has the right ring to it when casting otherworldly beings. Maybe it's the only accent they have faith in an American audience to understand. Maybe it's just easier to learn for outsiders. Maybe it's the only non-American accent that an actor can botch without cultural backlash. Maybe this problem would be much easier to solve if Disney simply cast performers from the cultures their characters represent. The MCU will likely continue to give its gods of all cultures inexplicable British accents, but one New Zealand-born actor in the role of a Greek god was willing to take a big swing and that makes a difference.