Is this the Thor: Love and Thunder trailer or the first look at Bridgerton Season 3? When we see a man stripped down to his shanties, we’re not programmed to think “Marvel movie.” Leave it to director Taika Waititi to change the game, because this new Thor: Love and Thunder teaser is a complete 180 from the MCU’s heinie-less past.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, because the stripped-down (and sadly blurred-out) Chris Hemsworth doesn’t appear until the very end of the trailer. We’ve glazed over the return of Waititi’s lovable Korg, the introduction of Christian Bale’s Voldemort-looking villain, and, the greatest gift of all, Jane, a.k.a. Goddess Natalie Portman. Literally—she’s a full-on deity now.
Which has become a problem, as Bale’s “Gorr the God Butcher” has entered the arena to murder every divinity he can get his hands on: “All gods will die,” he proclaims, for good measure. Thor and ex-gf Jane are going to have to get those sparks flying into something of a greater electrical power if they want to make it out of this one alive.
As with most Marvel movies, a number of familiar faces rear their heads in the trailer. Though they’re not really in this new look, the Guardians of the Galaxy will be back, at least for a bit. Also joining Jane and Thor in the epic quest against the God Butcher—that name will never get old—is Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Who else? Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Chris’ brother Luke Hemsworth will return from Thor: Ragnarok, to put on another Shakespearean play as “Loki,” “Odin,” and “Thor.”
In Thor’s last screen appearance—2019's never-ending Avengers: Endgame—Marvel faced some criticism over its portrayal of the character, who entered a deep depression thanks to his failures in Avengers: Infinity War. Thor faced fat jokes, was teased about his binge eating, and over and over again, he was mocked by his much more buff teammates.
Now, in Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel seems to be cleaning the slate. Thor’s going from “dad bod to God bod,” Korg says in the trailer, as the God of Thunder exercises in a mossy hideaway with giant chains. Soon enough, Thor’s back in full muscly action—butt and all. But was that enough to make up for Marvel’s mistakes?
Returning from Thor: Ragnarok is director Taika Waititi, who wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Love and Thunder will be Marvel’s first film since this month’s Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and will debut as new episodes of Marvel TV shows like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk begin to drop on Disney+. That’s one heckuva Marvel-packed summer.
Thor: Love and Thunder will crash into theaters on July 8.
