The date is growing closer. Yes, Thor: Love and Thunder is nearing its cinematic release after what has felt like eons of waiting. Marvel fans who have marked and re-marked the ever-shifting release dates in their calendars finally can put the erasers down.
Thor: Love and Thunder is remarkable for a few reasons, and there's plenty for fans to get excited about. Now that the delays are firmly in the past, Thor 4 is shaping up to be a big MCU crossover event in Phase Four.
The film also charts new territory for the MCU, as it is the first time a character will have had four standalone movies to themselves. Though there's still some time to wait to see all your favourites back on the big screen, we at least finally have the trailer to keep us interested.
Chris Hemsworth hasn't ruled out appearing in even more Thor adventures after Love and Thunder, but speculating on that is us getting way ahead of ourselves.
Hemsworth is reunitng with director Taika Waititi for the fourth film and most excitingly with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster/Mighty Thor. If you recall, Jane was not in Thor: Ragnarok, and her absence was explained in the awkward confirmation that she had dumped Thor. Maybe Thor: Love and Thunder will explain why.
Here's what we know so far.
Thor Love and Thunder trailer: When will the trailer for Thor 4 arrive?
It's finally here! And there's plenty to discuss, from the obviously erased character to the equally mysteriously missing villain Gorr. You can watch the trailer again here if you missed it up above.
Thor Love and Thunder release date: When is Thor 4 out in cinemas?
Long story short, Thor: Love and Thunder is out in cinemas on July 8, 2022.
When the plans for Phase 4 were initially announced, Thor: Love and Thunder was set for release on November 5, 2021. Yep, that long ago.
But then Black Widow was delayed, and all of Marvel's Phase 4 movies were pushed back one release slot, so the fourth Thor movie was moved back to February 18, 2022. This wouldn't be the last change in date, though. It was moved forward a week to February 11, 2022 only to be shifted back again, and then again until it landed on its mid-summer release date.
Thor: Love and Thunder has taken Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's spot (but fret not, the Black Panther sequel has also moved back along with a host more Phase 4 movies).
Thor Love and Thunder cast: Who is in Thor 4?
Of course, Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor, but most excitingly, Natalie Portman is back as Jane Foster. She won't be any ordinary Jane, she'll be the Mighty Thor and yes, she will get to wield Mjölnir.
"She does have powers. It's not exactly the same as Thor – it's her own version of it," Portman teased. This marks Portman's first major MCU appearance since Thor: The Dark World back in 2013 as although there was footage of Jane in Avengers: Endgame, she only provided new dialogue for repurposed deleted footage from The Dark World.
Tessa Thompson 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.
Related: Which MCU stars could give Thor 4 an "Avengers 5 feel"?
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has also confirmed that Valkyrie will be the MCU's first openly LGBTQ+ superhero. Er, sort of.
While Thompson has always played Valkyrie as bisexual, the character will only be 'canonically' bi from Thor 4 onwards, meaning that Eternals actually takes the mantle of introducing the first openly LGBTQ+ hero despite the MCU's retconning of her sexuality.
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.
Christian Bale will be playing the "villain" of the fourth movie, with Feige confirming in December 2020 it's the role of Gorr the God Butcher.
Vin Diesel had already confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy will be involved in some way in the fourth movie, while rumours of Chris Pratt reprising his role as Star-Lord were confirmed by... Chris Pratt himself, in a Tom-Holland-style spoiler blunder. Also appearing from the Guardians' family is Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, Sean Gunn as Kraglin and Vin Diesel as Groot.
Also returning is Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, having previously dropped some hints that she wasn't done with Asgard. It appears Jeff Goldblum will be in Thor 4, too, teasing a return as Grandmaster.
Matt Damon is also reprising his role as an Asgardian thespian alongside Sam Neill and Luke Hemsworth who play Loki, Odin and Thor respectively. New to the thespian troupe is Melissa McCarthy as an actress playing Hela (her real-life husband Ben Falcone is also cast in an undisclosed role, though we have to imagine he's part of the troubadour group).
New to the cast is Russell Crowe in a cameo as Zeus, and singer Jenny Morris in an unconfirmed role.
Other returning cast members could include Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Mark Ruffalo as Professor Hulk, but the only other one we're confident of is Waititi's once again voicing fan-favourite Korg.
Despite Heimdall being dead, Idris Elba is up for returning. "Listen, Heimdall is essentially part of the god family. So you know, he essentially could be alive. I'm just saying! I'm just putting it out there," Elba said.
Stellan Skarsgård has also not ruled out a return as Dr Erik Selvig, especially now that Portman is coming back. "I haven't heard from them. But I wouldn't mind," he said.
"I had a four-film deal and two were used for Thor movies and two for the Avengers," he continued, adding that it'd make sense for Jane's friends to return: "Me and Kat Dennings, too. We were a good trio."
However, Dennings has said that she's pretty sure she's not coming back. She said: "I don't think I'm in it. I feel like I would have heard by now. So literally my answer is I have no idea, I have even less an idea than I had before."
Thor Love and Thunder plot: What will Thor 4 be about?
With the arrival of Mighty Thor in the MCU, Waititi has revealed that he's taken inspiration for the movie from Marvel Comics series The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman.
"That storyline is incredible is full emotion, love and thunder and introduces for the first time female Thor," he explained.
Portman appeared to confirm that the movie would feature Jane's cancer storyline from the comics. "She's going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side," she explained.
Related: What the comics tell us about Thor: Love and Thunder
All Waititi has teased though is that we should expect romance, likely a rekindling between Thor and Jane. The movie will also delve into fan-favourite Korg's background.
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."
Complicating the matter is James Gunn's confirmation that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 takes place after Thor: Love and Thunder, raising the question of when Thor left the Guardians for his own adventure.
Thor will likely just make a reference to it in Love and Thunder, alongside a cameo in Guardians 3, but this is just speculation on our part.
Could we expect some multiverse shenanigans as there are likely to be in other Phase 4 movies such as Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home? A theory suggests that's how Loki could play a role in the fourth movie, despite his death.
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."
Thor: Love and Thunder will be released on July 8, 2022. The other three Thor movies are available to watch on Disney+.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
