Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is shaping up very nicely. The highly-anticipated Thor: Love & Thunder will be released in July 2022. After the success of Thor: Ragnarok, which made over $854 million at the box office, a fourth Thor movie was all but a guarantee.
Thor: Love & Thunder is a direct sequel to Thor, Thor: The Dark World, and Thor: Ragnarok. The film will be the sixth film within Phase Four and the 29th film overall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Chris Hemsworth has appeared in 9 Marvel movies so far, and he’s not slowing down yet.
Thor: Love & Thunder’s release date was recently changed to July 9, 2022, but that’s only increased the hype about this movie, which will be worth the wait. HollywoodLife has rounded up all the key things to know about Thor: Love & Thunder.
Thor: Love & Thunder Cast & Crew
Chris Hemsworth will be back as Thor in his fourth Thor movie. He’ll be reunited with Natalie Portman, who returns a Jane Foster. Jane hasn’t been seen since Thor: The Dark World in 2013. This time around, Jane has a much bigger role. She’ll become Mighty Thor in Thor: Love & Thunder and will be wielding Mjolnir, the legendary hammer.
Tessa Thompson is coming back as Valkryie, who is now the leader of New Asgard. Other stars from Thor movies reportedly returning for Thor: Love & Thunder include Jaimie Alexander as Sif and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster. Thor: Love & Thunder will also feature appearances by several Guardians of the Galaxy, including Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, and Vin Diesel as Groot.
Christian Bale has joined the cast as the villain Gorr the God Butcher. Russell Crowe is set to make a cameo appearance as Zeus. Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth will reprise their roles as Asgardian actors Loki, Odin, and Thor. They made their first appearances in Thor: Ragnarok. Melissa McCarthy will appear in Thor: Love & Thunder as an actress playing Hela. Singer Jenny Morris and Simon Russell Beale have been cast in mystery roles.
Taika Waititi returns as the director and now writer of Thor: Love & Thunder. He co-wrote the script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Taika previously directed Thor: Ragnarok. On top of directing and writing, Taika will reprise his role as Korg in the fourth Thor film.
What We Know About The Thor: Love & Thunder Plot
Thor: Love & Thunder will bring Natalie’s Jane Foster center stage now that she is set to debut her Mighty Thor. When Natalie was announced to return at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Taika dished some plot details. “That storyline is incredible is full emotion, love and thunder, and introduces for the first time female Thor,” Taika said at the time.
Natalie confirmed that Jane’s arc in Thor: Love & Thunder is inspired by The Mighty Thor comic series. “I’m starting to train, to get muscles,” she told Yahoo! in 2020. “If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”
At SDCC in 2019, Tessa confirmed that Valkyrie is an openly LGBTQ+ superhero. “As new king, she needs to find her queen. So that will be the first order of business,” Tessa said during the panel. Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, backed up Tessa and revealed that Valkyrie will have an LGBTQ+ storyline in the upcoming Thor movie. “The answer is yes,” Kevin told io9. “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.” In Eternals, Phastos and his husband share a kiss, marking the first time Marvel has featured an LGBTQ+ relationship onscreen.
Get ready for a lot of romance in Thor: Love & Thunder. “What I wanted to do from the beginning was to ask: ‘What are people expecting the least from this franchise?’ Oh, I know – a full-blown love story!” Taika told Wired. He told BBC in 2020: “It is so insane. It’s also very romantic. I’m into romances now. I just want to make a romance. I want to make something I’ve never done or never cared for. I would like to attack something like that.”
When Thor: Love & Thunder wrapped in June 2021, Taika noted on Instagram that the film is the “craziest thing I’ve ever done and I’m honoured to bust my ass and have a nervous breakdown so you can all see it in May 2022.”
Thor: Love & Thunder was filmed in Australia. Over the course of 2021, the cast was spotted on set — sometimes in character. In February 2021, Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth were photographed on set together. Hemsworth was back to his usual fit physique are Thor let himself go in Avengers: Endgame. Melissa McCarthy was pictured in full Hela costume while on set in March 2021 alongside Hemsworth as Thor and her husband, Ben Falcone.
Release Date & Production Information
The official release date for Thor: Love & Thunder is now July 8, 2022. The movie was originally set for release on November 5, 2021. However, it was initially delayed to February 18, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, Thor 4 was delayed again to May 6, 2022, after Marvel pushed all their release dates back. Marvel finally settled on July 8 in October 2021.
Principal photography began in January 2021 after a COVID-19 delay in Sydney, Australia. Filming wrapped in June 2021. When filming ended on June 1, Chris Hemsworth shared the same photo Taika posted on his Instagram page. “That’s a wrap on Thor Love and Thunder, it’s also national don’t flex day so I thought this super relaxed photo was appropriate. The film is gonna be batshit crazy off the wall funny and might also pull a heart string or two. Lots of love, lots of thunder! Thank you to all the cast and crew who made this another incredible Marvel journey. Buckle in, get ready and see ya in cinemas!!” Hemsworth wrote.
The first teaser for Thor: Love & Thunder dropped in April 2022. Thor is back and trying to figure out his true place in this world post-Endgame. He claims his superhero days are over, but not for long. The final moments of the teaser show Jane Foster/Mighty Thor wielding Mjolnir.
The official trailer — which you can watch at the top — was released on May 23, 2022, during the NBA Finals. Thor faces one of his biggest foes yet in Gorr the God Butcher. “The only ones who gods care about are themselves,” Gorr says in the trailer. “Old gods will die.” The trailer also has Thor baring all in front of Zeus and thousands of others.