Thor: Love and Thunder | Official News and Speculation Thread

[Silvermoth]

Big deal, I haven’t seen the Thor 4 script either. Don’t see me bragging about it

 

[HammerDown]

Taika Waititi: So the next Thor film i'm doing... We're basically launching ourselves again on an adventure film. That was the thing i loved about doing Ragnarok, it felt like we where putting Thor on a really cool adventure. New things to see and do. This one we want to double down a lot on that, bigger, bolder and brighter. There's going to be some really crazy stuff in this film.

 

[Catoti]

I am HIGHLY sceptical of this movie.

 

[HammerDown]

Taika Waititi: 'Jojo Rabbit is my most mature film'

What can I tell you?” he muses of the sequel, Thor: Love And Thunder, in which Natalie Portman’s love interest, Jane Foster, will be returning and will be taking up Thor’s hammer herself. “We’ll be exploring lots of new worlds not seen in Ragnarok or anywhere in the Marvel universe. And it’s going to be even more bold and vibrant. So we’re going to double down on that and make it more of a Thor film. If you read the comics, they’re outrageous. They’re insane!”

 

[Patrick77]

I'm looking forward to this. Substitute or replacement characters, or whatever you want to call them, often don't produce anything particularly interesting in comics, but I thought that the Jane Foster as Thor stories worked. At least from the standpoint of her character.

No idea what Waititi will do with the concept, but the movie is bound to be entertaining. Some type of cosmic adventure. I wonder about Beta Ray Bill making an appearance? That's always been an interesting possibility. I don't know that the Beta Ray Thor aspect would even need to be used. He's interesting enough without that.

As a Thor fan from the comics originally, I've pretty much let go of any expectations at this point. For a long time, even the idea of a single Thor movie would have seemed improbable, and now he is the only original Avenger getting a 4th movie. That's pretty cool.

Not all of his appearances have been great, but after the grand entrance in Wakanda during the finale of Infinity War, I am satisfied as a fan of the character. Everything else is gravy at this point.

 

[Shuri]

Christian Bale Circling Role in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

Christian Bale is in negotiations to join Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder,” Variety has confirmed.

Should the deal close, it would be Bale’s first big franchise movie since his final performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises.”

The fourth film in the “Thor” franchise — which is slated to open Nov. 5, 2021 — will be directed by “Thor: Ragnarok” filmmaker Taika Waititi, with Chris Hemsworth playing the titular superhero, Tessa Thompson reprising her role from “Ragnarok” as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman returning to the franchise for the first time since 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World.” Collider first reported the news Bale was in talks for “Love and Thunder.”

 

[Shuri]

Best news since Love and thunder was announced. I hope it works out.

 

[BoredGuy]

I am HIGHLY sceptical of this movie.

I am, a bit
But I can't believe I'm going through the same thoughts AGAIN, as I was before Ragnarok

Then:
"Taika's a great director, and I love the cast, but I dunno... Ragnarok should be epic and dark and serious, I don't like what they're saying about it being a 'buddy road trip comedy'... omg, they said it's the 'funniest marvel movie ever' I really don't like that, the end of the world shouldn't be funny....etc"

Now:
"Taika's an Amazing director, who's proven me wrong before, and I love the cast, Christian Bale would be a great add... but I dunno... Jane's story is emotional and somber, I don't like that they're saying it's going to have a romantic angle, the comic showed the love between Thor and Jane but it wasn't romantic per se... etc"

So I just gotta give the dude the benefit of the doubt at this point

 

[Catoti]

I am, a bit
But I can't believe I'm going through the same thoughts AGAIN, as I was before Ragnarok

Then:
"Taika's a great director, and I love the cast, but I dunno... Ragnarok should be epic and dark and serious, I don't like what they're saying about it being a 'buddy road trip comedy'... omg, they said it's the 'funniest marvel movie ever' I really don't like that, the end of the world shouldn't be funny....etc"

Now:
"Taika's an Amazing director, who's proven me wrong before, and I love the cast, Christian Bale would be a great add... but I dunno... Jane's story is emotional and somber, I don't like that they're saying it's going to have a romantic angle, the comic showed the love between Thor and Jane but it wasn't romantic per se... etc"

So I just gotta give the dude the benefit of the doubt at this point

I have no doubt in Taika's skills and talent as a director, the guy has done some great work.
My concern is the direction the Marvel/Disney higher ups want to take the movies, and I don't want them to follow the comic book's footsteps with Jane Foster Thor or anything of the sort.

 

[BoredGuy]

I hear ya on that

The idea of this next phase bringing in the "Legacy" era of new heroes taking on other characters names does nothing for me... not in the comics, and not in the movies either

DC always did the legacy character thing, part of why I preferred Marvel growing up
to paraphrase Stan: "Nobody cares about the costumes or the powers, people love Spider-Man because they love Peter Parker."

But again, in Taika and Feige I trust, so I'm excited for "Thor 4: More Thor" regardless

 

[Fosterson]

I hear ya on that

The idea of this next phase bringing in the "Legacy" era of new heroes taking on other characters names does nothing for me... not in the comics, and not in the movies either

The thing is though that this isn't a true legacy character-type situation, given that Jane isn't replacing Thor. Taika has been at pains to say that Hemsworth is still the star and main focus of the movie, and that while Jane has an important role, she is still just a supporting character.

Heck, there are even quite a few folks on here and other sites who think Jane will die at the end of this movie, like she did (briefly) at the end of the Mighty Thor arc. And even if she doesn't die in this movie, I don't see how that denigrates Thor as a character. Who says the universe can't have two Thors? Maybe Jane stays around on New Asgard to protect Earth while Thor goes off adventuring in the cosmos with the Guardians?

 

[Zarex]

I hear ya on that

The idea of this next phase bringing in the "Legacy" era of new heroes taking on other characters names does nothing for me... not in the comics, and not in the movies either

DC always did the legacy character thing, part of why I preferred Marvel growing up
to paraphrase Stan: "Nobody cares about the costumes or the powers, people love Spider-Man because they love Peter Parker."

But again, in Taika and Feige I trust, so I'm excited for "Thor 4: More Thor" regardless

I thought legacy characters were one of the things DC had a better handle on than Marvel back in the day. Though they - like Marvel - would go back to the tried and true versions whenever there was a sales slippage, the idea of one character passing the baton (or the shield, or the hammer) to the next in line due to retirement/injury/corporeal disintegration was more realistic than a masked fellow fighting an endless war. I'd prefer to see more legacies like Scott Lang, Sam Wilson and Jennifer Walters in the MCU than rebooted, continuity killing versions of characters we've already seen.

 

[BoredGuy]

The thing is though that this isn't a true legacy character-type situation, given that Jane isn't replacing Thor. Taika has been at pains to say that Hemsworth is still the star and main focus of the movie, and that while Jane has an important role, she is still just a supporting character.

Yeah Jane may not take over
but between that, and FalconCap, and a potential new Widow, and Kate Bishop Hawkeye, it seems like we should expect to see a bunch of new faces wearing a bunch of old names in the near future

I thought legacy characters were one of the things DC had a better handle on than Marvel back in the day. Though they - like Marvel - would go back to the tried and true versions whenever there was a sales slippage, the idea of one character passing the baton (or the shield, or the hammer) to the next in line due to retirement/injury/corporeal disintegration was more realistic than a masked fellow fighting an endless war. I'd prefer to see more legacies like Scott Lang, Sam Wilson and Jennifer Walters in the MCU than rebooted, continuity killing versions of characters we've already seen.

I agree about the rebooting characters thing, I definitely don't want any recasting mid-stream
But I'd rather characters stand on their own without taking another characters name
Part of the reason I never liked FalconCap was that Falcon is a hero in his own right who didn't need a "promotion" to be a real hero

 

[Shuri]

I have nothing against legacy characters, I just don't like Jane. After enjoying Ragnarok where she was absent, being told she's going to be brought back with full focus on her dampened my interest a lot. But I trust Taika and I still have Thor, Valkyrie and hopefully, Bale's character to look forward to.

 

[HammerDown]

I also didn't mind her being absent in Ragnarok. I actually welcomed it to be honest.
Having said that we had Thor in Ragnarok, IW and AEG. I'm ready for a change of pace and now with the news of Jane Foster returning in TLT i'm kinda cool with it because it seems to be the cancer storyline which is a very good angle and her becoming a version of Thor is also very interesting.

The real deal here for me is having a great actress like Natalie Portman being directed by Taika. That's the biggest draw for me. We can already guess that Taika is going to overhaul the character of Jane completely and will probably do a similar job to her relationship with Thor. I trust Taika to make it work and have them rekindle an endearing relationship.

Also like Taika said, Thor is still going to be the main character... He is Thor.
I think and hope that the Jane Foster Thor storyline will be brought in to progress Thor's own journey in the MCU. Also this might very well be the 2nd Thor movie in a Taika's trilogy, one which he had alluded to in the past...

* On another and more personal note i do hope they tackle the cancer storyline. I have a friend that has/is going through that situation and i see the impact on her, their young daughter and the family as something very sad. I think that a beautiful story told with a glimmer of hope would really connect and help them or at least the young girl process the situation through a different angle.

 

[ileg01]

What do you think about the rumor, that Jodie Comer will be in this movie?

 

[ileg01]

Jodie already posted a picture with Taika and nobody can comment this post. So perhaps it is a sign. Hopefully is it true ;-)

 

[Iceman]

I’d take that right now! Make it happen.

 

[Silvermoth]

I feel like Jodie would love to work with Taika’s sense of humour

 

[Fosterson]

I have nothing against legacy characters, I just don't like Jane. After enjoying Ragnarok where she was absent, being told she's going to be brought back with full focus on her dampened my interest a lot. But I trust Taika and I still have Thor, Valkyrie and hopefully, Bale's character to look forward to.

That's a perfectly legitimate opinion. However, I'm not sure using past portrayals of Jane in the MCU is a good way of measuring how she's likely to be portrayed in L&T. Taika said that when he pitched this movie to Portman, he explicitly said that she would be doing something totally different to what she'd done in the first two movies.

I'm also not entirely sure to what extent it's fair to hold Portman responsible for the problems of Dark World. The biggest mistake Marvel made with that movie was hiring Alan Taylor. The dude has a terrible record with big-budget movies (see: Terminator: Genisys) and should have never been handed 170 million dollars.

Sure, you can say Portman's performance was underwhelming, but the dialogue she was having to spout was hardly great. Not to mention that her character is literally uncoscious for about half the movie. And as for the whole "she and Hemsworth have no chemistry" thing, that goes both ways and I think it's unfair to hold Portman entirely responsible and exonerate Hemsworth.

The point is that even if you removed Portman entirely from Dark World, that movie would still suck. Removing Jane wouldn't make Malekith any more interesting, the dull visuals any more striking, or Thor any less morose.

Hemsworth himself has said that he would have been happy to walk away from Thor after TDW and AOU, and that it was only Taika's radically new vision that got him excited again. If Hemsworth was allowed that reprieve, then why shouldn't Portman (who has one more Academy Award than him btw) be given the same opportunity to redefine her character?

As I said above, there's nothing wrong with not liking how Jane was portrayed in the first two movies (especially TDW). My point is simply that that was mainly a problem of writing and direction than something to do with Portman. I'm confident that with Taika's script and direction, she'll do great.

 

[Yowza]

Just saw the folowing image on youtube after watching a trailer for another Netflix film:

 

[Yowza]

Taika's a dapper fellow; a New Zealander trying to be friendly...

 

[HammerDown]

“Thor: Blood and Thunder”
There’s a source of inspiration.

 

[Patrick77]

Isn't Blood and Thunder basically a storyline in which Thor becomes enraged and wrecks everyone lol? It's been a while since I thought about it, but I seem to recall it being a favorite among fans looking to highlight Thor feats and victories, along with Alone Against the Celestials, and some others.

The title is similar to Love and Thunder, so I imagine Waititi has at least read it. There might be some inspiration drawn from it, I suppose, layered with other ideas. I don't remember the plot itself being very interesting, though, compared to other stories.

Enchantress being in the film would be fantastic, that's something that fans have discussed since the first Thor movie came out. The more I hear about this movie, the cooler it sounds, tbh.

 

[HammerDown]

Also here's something interesting that kind of mirrors what is happening in the MCU.
Thor, Jane Foster, Doctor Strange, Loki...
(Thor: Love & Thunder, Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness, Loki series...)