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Thor: Love and Thunder, the upcoming production of Marvel Studious directed by Taika Waititi, is intended to be the direct sequel to Thor: Ragnarok. Thor is doing something not even Iron Man and Steve Rogers have accomplished, getting a fourth solo movie. Thor: Love and Thunder is shaping up to be a huge MCU crossover event in Phase 4, which is said to have an Avengers 5 feel. Thor 4 will be the latest installment of the Thor franchise featuring many Marvel characters including old and new. Let’s find out more about Thor 4.
Thor Love and Thunder: Trailer
Love and Thunder was officially announced in July 2019, with Hemsworth, Waititi, Thompson, and Portman, who did not appear in Ragnarok, all attached to return to the franchise. Filming began in January 2021 in Sydney, Australia, and concluded at the beginning of June and is currently in post-production. With five other Marvel films set to hit theaters before Thor: Love and Thunder, we could be waiting a while.
Release Date of Thor 4
Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 6, 2022. Previously during the project’s announcement at San-Diego Comic-Con in 2019, the film was slated for release on November 5th, 2021. But was delayed to February 18, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before being moved up a week to February 11 once Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was rescheduled from November 2021 to March 2022. It was delayed once again to the May 2022 date in December 2020. It will be part of Phase Four of the MCU. Marvel Studios usually places their biggest films in that early May slot. Will Thor 4 be Marvel’s next event film? That has not been officially confirmed, but history would tell us yes.
Thor Love and Thunder: Cast
Chris Hemsworth will be back as Thor, an Avenger and the former king of Asgard. Russell Crowe is set to make his MCU debut as the god Zeus! Crowe’s character would mark the first appearance of Greek mythology in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Christian Bale will be playing the film’s villain Gorr the God Butcher. A character who, like his name implies, is on a mission to fight the gods. Will Thor, Zeus, and other gods will team up to stop Gorr? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Along with them former Thor cast, Taika Waititi (Korg) reprising the role from Thor: Ragnarok, Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) is also back as Valkyrie in her new role as the leader of New Asgard after Avengers: Endgame saw Thor head off into space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Natalie Portmen (Jane Foster) will be seen as the Mighty Thor and yes, she will get to wield Mjolnir.
She won’t be any ordinary Jane, she’ll be the Mighty Thor and yes, she will get to wield Mjolnir. “She does have powers. It’s not exactly the same as Thor – it’s her own version of it,” Portman teased.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has also confirmed that Valkyrie will be the MCU’s first openly LGBTQ+ superhero. “How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you’ll see across our films, not in just Thor 4,” he added.
Thompson has good news for Valkyrie fans too as she feels she’s got at least “another couple” of movies left in the MCU, so we won’t be seeing her exit anytime soon.
Vin Diesel (Groot), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), and Karen Gillan (Nebula) are also returning to the film. There are rumors of the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy making appearances. It makes sense, considering Thor is with them at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but it has not been confirmed.
Matt Damon, Sam Neill is also likely reprising his role as an Asgardian thespian and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, an elder of the Universe who ruled the planet Sakaar.
Unfortunately, Tom Hiddleston would not be returning as Loki as the character was killed off in Avengers: Infinity War by the Mad Titan Thanos. He’ll likely never cross paths with this version of Thor again, which is a little disappointing. But if Hiddleston isn’t returning, who is?
What is the Plot of Thor 4?
Thor 4 will pick up where we last saw our favorite Asgardian. He’s traveling the cosmos with the Guardians of the Galaxy and left Valkyrie as the King of Asgard. Waititi has revealed that he’s taken inspiration for the movie from the Marvel Comics series The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman, which will show the arrival of Mighty Thor.
“That storyline is incredible is full emotion, love, and thunder and introduces for the first-time female Thor,” he explained.
In the comics, Jane Foster is battling cancer while also being a superhero with the help of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Portman has confirmed that the film will tackle this storyline in the movie and that she will indeed receive the power of the gods. This likely won’t be a direct adaptation but will definitely draw inspiration from Jason Aaron’s comic book run on Thor.
All Waititi has teased though is that we should expect romance, likely a rekindling between Thor and Jane-
“It is so insane and it’s also very romantic. I’m into romances now. I want to make romance. I want to make something that I’ve never done or never cared for. I would like to attack something like that,” he outlined.
During Comic-Con Waititi said: “When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading one storyline by Jason Aaron, The Mighty Thor… And for those of you who know that storyline, it’s incredible, it’s full of emotion, love, and thunder, and it introduces, for the first time, female Thor. So, for us, there’s only one person who could play that role. Only one.”
Aside from that, Thompson teased that Valkyrie will be rebuilding Asgard and “re-investing in her people”, while Hemsworth has no idea what Thor has been up to since joining the Guardians: “At this point, he might be on the couch.”
Chris Hemsworth is revealing nothing about the actual plot of the movie other than saying it’s “one of the best scripts I’ve read in years. It’s Taika at his most extreme, and at his best. If the version I read is the one we get running with, it’s going to be pretty insane.”
AndWaititi confirmed that this film will be: “The craziest thing I’ve ever done.” He went on to add: “I definitely feel like we put everything – every idea and every single ridiculous concept or gag or stunt or character – into this film. I couldn’t be happier with it.”
