Thor: Love and Thunder: cast, release date, trailer, plot and what we know

Thor: Love and Thunder: cast, release date, trailer, plot and what we know Thor: Love and Thunder is the fourth Thor movie., directed by Thor: Taika Waititi from Thor: Ragnarok. It has a 2022 release date and sees Chris Hemsworth resume his role as God of Thunder for the ninth time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is significant in other ways because it features Natalie Portman reprising her role from Jane Foster, but this time as a Thor version of the engine. The movie was announced at San Diego Comic Con 2019, complete with the official logo, which you can see above. Filming on Thor: Love and Thunder was originally scheduled to begin in August 2020, but it's unclear how this was affected by subsequent world events. Thor: Love and Thunder's release date has been moved to 2022, up from a previous date of 2021, as the entire MCU movie slate has been pushed back. Here's everything we know about Thor: Love and Thunder so far, including its release date, cast, when it's likely to see a trailer, and more.

Thor: Love and Thunder release date

The release date for Thor: Love and Thunder is February 11, 2022. It was originally set for November 5, 2021, but like many movies, our current global situation has delayed it.

Thor: cast of Love and Thunder

(Image credit: Marvel Studios / Disney) Only Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), and Natalie Portman were officially cast in Thor: God and Thunder, but several reputable reports reveal that former Batman Christian Bale will be the villain in this film. This was apparently confirmed by Thompson in an interview. Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster for the first time since 2013's Thor: The Dark World, a gap of nine years when the movie finally arrives. She will play the Thor Goddess of Thunder version of the character introduced by Marvel Comics in 2014. Director Taika Waititi is expected to play Korg again, after resuming his role from Thor: Ragnarok in Avengers: Endgame as the god's Fortnite friend. There is speculation as to who is playing Christian Bale: Marvel villain Dario Agger, aka the Minotaur, is feeling like a potential contender. That's because he appears as a main villain in the Thor: Goddess of Thunder comic series, and the character is good at Bale's wheelhouse (he's essentially American Psycho's Patrick Bateman as energy billionaire, who can also become a monster). People have also said that the character Beta Ray Bill is a possibility. Will Tom Hiddleston's Loki Appear in Thor: Love and Thunder? Loki has died in the main MCU timeline, but we do know that Loki in Avengers-era Endgame has managed to escape capture, which will be the subject of the upcoming Loki series on Disney Plus. So it's plausible that Hiddleston could make another appearance. Idris Elba has expressed interest in resuming his role as Asgardian guardian Heimdall, but we hope he's gone since his death in Avengers: Infinity War.

Thor: Love and Thunder trailer: expect a first look next year

There is no trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder yet, and we don't expect to see one until the summer of 2021 at the earliest.

Thor: Love and Thunder plot: what we know about the film's story

(Image credit: Marvel) The cover of 1's The Mighty Thor 2015, published by Marvel Comics. We hope Thor: Love and Thunder addresses how we left the God of Thunder at the end of Avengers: Endgame, which is to say, overweight and in tune with the Guardians of the Galaxy. This movie will be released before Guardians Vol. 3, therefore we expect the plot point to be addressed here. Valkyrie has been left in command of New Asgard, a coastal town on Earth, so it will be interesting to see how his stories flow again. Love and Thunder will draw inspiration from Marvel star writer Jason Aaron's Thor comics. In this comic, Odinson loses the ability to lift Mjolnir and Jane Foster takes on the role of Thor, while fighting cancer in her prime. "When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading a script by Jason Aaron, The Mighty Thor," Waititi said onstage at San Diego Comic Con 2020. "And for those of you who know this script, it's amazing, c's full of emotion, love and thunder, and features, for the first time, a female Thor. So for us, there is only one person who could fill this role." Natalie Portman took to the stage at the event, brandishing Mjolnir, confirming that she is back to play the character. Much like Thor: Ragnarok made cursory reference to the Planet Hulk story from the Marvel comics, however, we'd be surprised if the movie was a literal adaptation of this series. Instead, we expect the elements to be lifted from the comics, but the plot is largely original. Waititi previously described the film as "now so over-the-top in the best way", after writing four or five drafts. "It gives the impression that Ragnarok is really a factory film, very safe... this new film gives the impression that we asked a group of 10 years what should be in a film and we just said yes to everything." Waititi also said that Thor's overweight stuff has already been done, so Hemsworth is likely to be back in good shape this time around. Nothing specific has yet been said about Christian Bale's role in the film.

More Thor makes a lot of sense

It's funny that Thor is the only solo series so far to have four movies in the MCU, but Ragnarok was something of a soft reset for the character. Waititi left gods and bland prophecies behind and made a bizarre sci-fi comedy with some of the DNA from his previous films. And Portman's return here has a lot of potential to show us new facets of the MCU. No wonder Waititi is making a Star Wars movie after Thor: Love and Thunder. He just makes really funny movies.