"Thor 4: Love And Thunder"

It's a beautiful year for all Marvel fans. After the year began with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" already being one of the best MCU movies in the movie theaters, we expect after the first images of "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" nothing less. But that's not the end of it: Thor is also finally getting his long-awaited fourth solo movie with "Thor 4: Love and Thunder". We are still waiting for the first trailer but based on the cast and other sources we can already say quite a lot about the movie. Who will be the next villain? Who will return to the big screen? We have dealt with all these questions and summarized the answers for you in this text. But be warned, it may contain one or two spoilers for the MCU. 

Chronological Order

The movie will be set in the middle of Phase Four and is most likely to be released on July 8, 2022, in US movie theaters. Chronologically, it is set between "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever". The events will of course take place after Endgame although it will be interesting to see if they take place before "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" or after. As we saw at the end of "Avengers: Endgame" Thor goes on a journey with the "Asgardians of the Galaxy" to protect the universe from whatever. Thereby it already comes the first quarrels between "Star-Lord" and him over the question of who the captain is. Since the Guardians will definitely play a role in "Thor 4", it remains exciting when exactly the storyline will be set.

Cast

Quite a lot is already known about the cast: First, the filming was already completed in June 2021 in Australia and there have already been some photos leaked on Twitter & similar sites. Secondly, Marvel published a few things through official media channels. If you look at the list of names, we should brace ourselves for quite something.

Familiar Faces

Who would have thought: Chris Hemsworth of course has the role of the God of Thunder, but also his love Jane Foster is back on the big screen after her break in "Thor 3". This time however, Natalie Portman has a special role. After director Taika Waititi gave her the mighty hammer Mjolnir at Comic-Con 2019, it is certain that she won't be only the shy scientist any longer, but that she will become "Mighty Thor". The two are supported not only by the complete Guardians of the Galaxy, but also by the new leader of Asgard: the Valkyrie, who has been in the MCU since Ragnarok. She is again played by Tessa Thompson. Also Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Sean Gunn as Kraglin and of course Waititi himself as the whimsical Korg are back in the game. 

Cameo appearances

It is also certain that there will be a few cameo appearances like there have been in "Thor: Ragnarok". Many fans were astonished when in a small play in Asgard suddenly Matt Damon as Loki, Sam Neill as Odin and Chris' brother Luke Hemsworth appeared as Thor. They are getting supported by Melissa McCarthy, who has been hired to play the evil sister Hera in "Love and Thunder". We are already looking forward to this scene. Also confirmed is Russell Crowe as Zeus. But whether this role is to be taken seriously or if its just an Easter-Egg for the fans is unfortunately not known yet. 

The villain

It's been a long time since we got to see him in a superhero movie, but now it's finally time again: Christian Bale has been confirmed as the villain in "Thor 4". If he can be half as convincing as he was in the "Batman: The Dark Knight" series, we can definitely look forward to some great acting. He will embody Gorr, the God Butcher. We will have a closer look at the whole story of Gorr in more detail at a later point because he has connections to many characters in the MCU, which we have already met. It's exciting to note here that after "The Dark Knight Rises", Bale has actually never wanted to take part in a comic book adaption again. He thinks the genre is too boring and he always described wearing the costume as – well – let's call it constricting. However, Taika Waititi persuaded him with his charm and, above all, a very good script, to reconsider this decision. 

The Ancient Gods

The ancient gods of our earth will also play a role. Two of them are already confirmed: The before mentioned Zeus, played by Russel Crowe, and the goddess Bastet, played by Akosia Sabet. While Zeus in the comics stands in connection to Odin and Asgard, Bastet is a goddess of ancient Egypt and is set in Wakanda. So Gorr seems to be targeting not only gods that we already know. Maybe thanks to Bastet there will be a bridge to "Wakanda Forever", which will be released in November this year. 

What about Loki

It is not yet known whether Tom Hiddleston will play a part as Loki again. What is certain is, that the Loki of the original timeline is dead. However, as we know, another one was able to escape with the Tesseract and even got his own series on Disney+. We would definitely be happy to see the two brothers reunite, even if the Loki from the other timeline has not yet been as purified as his dead, other self. 

Storyline

Mighty Thor

The "Mighty Thor" line will play an important and big role in the upcoming movie. In it, Jane Foster falls ill with breast cancer and, because of her deeds pronounced worthy of carrying the hammer Mjölnir. It is suspected that she got cancer due to her contact with the Aether. The more she uses her newly acquired powers, the worse the tumors inside her become. Waititi thinks that this approach of the comics is very interesting, but he has not yet confirmed that he will use it in the movie. But how does she obtain the hammer? The Mjolnir, which we saw in Endgame, was finally brought back into his line by Captain America. One theory is that we're not dealing with the Jane Foster of the old movies, but that she comes from another timeline. This would fit very well into the new multiverse. After all, we already got to see several versions of the superheroes in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and in the trailer for "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness".

Thor: Love & Thunder a love story?

Another important role in the movie is supposed to be the love stories. Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the romance between Thor and Jane. But there are more and more voices that say that the wild Valkyrie, embodied by Tessa Thompson, finally finds her love. Even if her sexuality has not yet been exactly illuminated so far, we do know that she is one of the LGBTQ+ characters in the MCU. So it's possible that there could be a romance with the new Jane or with Lady Sif. 

Gorr the God Butcher

Now to the villain "Gorr the God Butcher". He was only introduced in the comics in 2013 and is since then one of the most dangerous opponents of Thor. Gorr lived on a very religious planet. When his parents died in an accident, he renounces the gods and goes into exile. When he then learns that such beings actually exist, but that they did not help to protect his family, he swears bloody revenge. He wants to perpetrate his revenge with his powerful sword All-Black. This was created a long time ago by the evil god Knull. With it, he beheaded one, already known to us, Celestial. The one from whose head "Knowhere" was born. Then with the power of the sword and of the celestial he created the symbiotes we know from "Venom". Knull was stranded on the planet of Gorr. When he learned that he was a god, he killed him with his own sword and set off on his journey. It is conceivable that he hunts the ancient gods of the earth and that they then turn to Asgard in need of help. Odin no longer rules there, but his heir still exists. By the way, a connection between Gorr and Mighty Thor does not exist in the comics. Waititi can therefore give free rein to his creativity. 

The Production

As often mentioned before, Taika Waititi is again screenwriter, director and actor in one. Like this, he also achieved great success in the last part "Thor: Ragnarok" and made it the most successful movie in the series to date. After the current production had to be postponed again and again due to the ongoing situation, filming started on January 26. 2021 in the Fox Studios Australia in Sydney under the working title "The Big Salad". Particularly exciting is the camera technology with which the new movie was shot. In this StageCraft technology is used, which was already used in the Disney series "The Mandalorian". Instead of standing in front of a green screen, the actors are standing in front of LED video walls where the environment is displayed on. One of the advantages of this is that the actors can actually see their surroundings, unlike with a green screen and can thus better empathize with their role. Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth also allowed themselves a little joke and posted the so-called first official poster of the movie, which shows, well, only them. On social media, Hemsworth wrote about it, saying that they had to really tightly calculate the budget for the "Thor: Love & Thunder" poster, but that the message is clear: Lots of love and lots of thunder.

Fun Facts

At the end of the video, we have some fun facts for you about the production. For example, Thor with his 4th solo movie is now the only MCU character, which can show off so many stand-alone movies. The cast includes five Oscar winners: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi and Russel Crowe. With Bale and Crowe there have already three actors, after Michael Keaton, switched from DC to Marvel. It will be the twenty-ninth movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Chris Hemsworth, who is already playing the role of Thor for the eighth time, achieved with 105 kg his largest physique to date for this movie. Just to maintain the achieved mass, he had to eat eighth times a day.