Thor 4: Love and Thunder: Natalie Portman, female Thor, LGBTQ plot details, release date and more – CNET

Thor movies are quickly becoming some of the most exciting titles in the MCU. The Hawaiian shirt-wearing Taika Waititi directed Thor: Ragnarok, arguably one of the funniest (and best) Marvel films. He's back for Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth in the series, and he's brought a huge amount of news.

Most of it came out of San Diego Comic-Con, where Marvel basically won Comic-Con by announcing 10 of 11 projects planned for Phase Four. Expect more news down the track, as well as possible schedule changes: While Marvel president Kevin Feige did say Phase Four and Five are mapped out, they aren't absolutely set in stone. Thor 4, however, looks set for Nov. 5, 2021, making it the final film in that phase.

Let's unpack everything we know about Thor: Love and Thunder below.

Taika Waititi returns

Waititi and Chris Hemsworth had been discussing where Thor could go ever since they reinvented the hero into somewhat of an outright comedy character in Thor: Ragnarok. Days before Marvel's Comic-Con panel, it came out that Thor 4 would be happening with Waititi returning to both direct and write. The film would be playfully titled Thor: Love and Thunder, suggesting more psychedelic costumes, music and comedy are on the way.

Thank the Norse gods Waititi did come back. Hemsworth's contract ran out after Avengers: Endgame, but if the right script came along, he would be sold to play the Norse god for a ninth time. Waititi brought that script.

Natalie Portman is female Thor

Natalie Portman is going to play female Thor in Thor 4. Her response to the Comic-Con announcement is pretty darn good.

"Remember this as the before picture for when I get jacked," she wrote on Instagram with a picture of her on stage with Mjolnir, Thor's enchanted hammer.

Those aware of the controversy surrounding Portman's hiatus from the MCU probably didn't see this one coming. After playing Thor's girlfriend Jane Foster in 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, Portman was absent from Thor: Ragnarok, reportedly because Marvel gave the screenwriters permission to write a story that didn't include Earth-based characters. How did they paper over her disappearance?

In 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, the break up happens off screen. Thor encounters a group of fangirls while he and Loki search for Odin in New York. The girls mentions they heard Jane dumped Thor, and he yells that he was the one who dumped her. That's it.

So basically, Thor and Jane broke up.

The news may have come as a surprise since most traditional superheroes fall in love and remain with their partners for good (unless one of them dies).

For her part, Portman seemed well and truly done with the character.

"As far as I know, I'm done," she told The Wall Street Journal in 2016. "I don't know if maybe one day they'll ask for an Avengers 7 or whatever, I have no idea. But as far as I know, I'm done."

Three years later, Portman stepped out on stage at Comic-Con, where Waititi handed her Thor's hammer. In introducing her, he said, "When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading one storyline by Jason Aaron called The Mighty Thor, and for those of you who know that storyline, it's incredible, it's full of emotion and love and thunder. And it introduces for the first time, female Thor.

"For us, there's only one person who could play that role."

How Jane Foster becomes female Thor

Comic book writer Jason Aaron relaunched the Thor comic book series with Thor: God of Thunder in 2012. In 2014, he brought The Goddess of Thunder, the first of an eight-issue storyline focused on "new Thor," a mysterious woman who turns out to be none other than Jane Foster.

The storyline follows the original Thor at a point when he's no longer worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, his trademark magical hammer. This leaves Asgardia vulnerable, until a new Thor proves herself worthy of taking up the hammer. She becomes the Goddess of Thunder, and fights Frost Giants attacking Earth. It leads to a Thor vs. Thor situation, while everyone tries to figure out who the new Thor is.

First official LGBTQ hero

Tessa Thompson made her own big announcement among the many at Marvel's Comic-Con panel. When asked on stage what her character Valkyrie's first decision would be as King of New Asgard, Thompson answered, "First of all, as New King, she needs to find her Queen. That would be her first order of business. She has some ideas."

The MCU has hinted at LGBTQ characters before. Well, one LGBTQ character in Avengers: Endgame. After the Snap, Captain America holds a counselling session for those affected. A character credited as "grieving man," played by co-director Joe Russo, brings up his date with another man.

Thompson had already confirmed that Valkyrie, like in the comics, is bisexual.

A scene filmed for Thor: Ragnarok showed a woman walking out of Valkyrie's bedroom, but it was cut "because it distracted from the scene's vital exposition," Thompson told Collider in 2017.

After the Comic-Con panel, Kevin Feige confirmed to io9, "The answer is yes," when asked if Valkyrie would have an LGBTQ storyline. "How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you'll see across our films, not in just Thor 4."

People (on Twitter) have some ideas about who should be Valkyrie's queen. (Thor handed the legendary warrior the reins to Asgard before he went off galavanting with the Guardians of the Galaxy.) Candidates include: Female Thor and Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.

Plot and release date

We know the release date is Nov. 5, 2021. But maybe a more crucial point is that Thor: Love and Thunder, if nothing is shifted, will be the last film in Phase Four. It will directly follow the Hawkeye Disney Plus series starring Jeremy Renner, but the next movie it will follow is the Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last film in Phase Three, explored a world post-Blip (the five years that passed since people disappeared and returned from the Snap). So Thor 4 may have to deal with the aftermath of events in Doctor Strange 2. Those events could be immensely complicated, given the full on embrace of the multiverse. Or, given that the Disney Plus shows look to tie in to the movies (and therefore entice people to sign up to Disney's streaming platRead More – Source

cnet

Related posts

Can Misinfo Harm Science?

February 7, 2023

Climate change: World aviation agrees ‘aspirational’ net zero plan

October 8, 2022

Thor movies are quickly becoming some of the most exciting titles in the MCU. The Hawaiian shirt-wearing Taika Waititi directed Thor: Ragnarok, arguably one of the funniest (and best) Marvel films. He's back for Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth in the series, and he's brought a huge amount of news.

Most of it came out of San Diego Comic-Con, where Marvel basically won Comic-Con by announcing 10 of 11 projects planned for Phase Four. Expect more news down the track, as well as possible schedule changes: While Marvel president Kevin Feige did say Phase Four and Five are mapped out, they aren't absolutely set in stone. Thor 4, however, looks set for Nov. 5, 2021, making it the final film in that phase.

Let's unpack everything we know about Thor: Love and Thunder below.

Taika Waititi returns

Waititi and Chris Hemsworth had been discussing where Thor could go ever since they reinvented the hero into somewhat of an outright comedy character in Thor: Ragnarok. Days before Marvel's Comic-Con panel, it came out that Thor 4 would be happening with Waititi returning to both direct and write. The film would be playfully titled Thor: Love and Thunder, suggesting more psychedelic costumes, music and comedy are on the way.

Thank the Norse gods Waititi did come back. Hemsworth's contract ran out after Avengers: Endgame, but if the right script came along, he would be sold to play the Norse god for a ninth time. Waititi brought that script.

Natalie Portman is female Thor

Natalie Portman is going to play female Thor in Thor 4. Her response to the Comic-Con announcement is pretty darn good.

"Remember this as the before picture for when I get jacked," she wrote on Instagram with a picture of her on stage with Mjolnir, Thor's enchanted hammer.

Those aware of the controversy surrounding Portman's hiatus from the MCU probably didn't see this one coming. After playing Thor's girlfriend Jane Foster in 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, Portman was absent from Thor: Ragnarok, reportedly because Marvel gave the screenwriters permission to write a story that didn't include Earth-based characters. How did they paper over her disappearance?

In 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, the break up happens off screen. Thor encounters a group of fangirls while he and Loki search for Odin in New York. The girls mentions they heard Jane dumped Thor, and he yells that he was the one who dumped her. That's it.

So basically, Thor and Jane broke up.

The news may have come as a surprise since most traditional superheroes fall in love and remain with their partners for good (unless one of them dies).

For her part, Portman seemed well and truly done with the character.

"As far as I know, I'm done," she told The Wall Street Journal in 2016. "I don't know if maybe one day they'll ask for an Avengers 7 or whatever, I have no idea. But as far as I know, I'm done."

Three years later, Portman stepped out on stage at Comic-Con, where Waititi handed her Thor's hammer. In introducing her, he said, "When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading one storyline by Jason Aaron called The Mighty Thor, and for those of you who know that storyline, it's incredible, it's full of emotion and love and thunder. And it introduces for the first time, female Thor.

"For us, there's only one person who could play that role."

How Jane Foster becomes female Thor

Comic book writer Jason Aaron relaunched the Thor comic book series with Thor: God of Thunder in 2012. In 2014, he brought The Goddess of Thunder, the first of an eight-issue storyline focused on "new Thor," a mysterious woman who turns out to be none other than Jane Foster.

The storyline follows the original Thor at a point when he's no longer worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, his trademark magical hammer. This leaves Asgardia vulnerable, until a new Thor proves herself worthy of taking up the hammer. She becomes the Goddess of Thunder, and fights Frost Giants attacking Earth. It leads to a Thor vs. Thor situation, while everyone tries to figure out who the new Thor is.

First official LGBTQ hero

Tessa Thompson made her own big announcement among the many at Marvel's Comic-Con panel. When asked on stage what her character Valkyrie's first decision would be as King of New Asgard, Thompson answered, "First of all, as New King, she needs to find her Queen. That would be her first order of business. She has some ideas."

The MCU has hinted at LGBTQ characters before. Well, one LGBTQ character in Avengers: Endgame. After the Snap, Captain America holds a counselling session for those affected. A character credited as "grieving man," played by co-director Joe Russo, brings up his date with another man.

Thompson had already confirmed that Valkyrie, like in the comics, is bisexual.

A scene filmed for Thor: Ragnarok showed a woman walking out of Valkyrie's bedroom, but it was cut "because it distracted from the scene's vital exposition," Thompson told Collider in 2017.

After the Comic-Con panel, Kevin Feige confirmed to io9, "The answer is yes," when asked if Valkyrie would have an LGBTQ storyline. "How that impacts the story remains to be seen with that level of representation you'll see across our films, not in just Thor 4."

People (on Twitter) have some ideas about who should be Valkyrie's queen. (Thor handed the legendary warrior the reins to Asgard before he went off galavanting with the Guardians of the Galaxy.) Candidates include: Female Thor and Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.

Plot and release date

We know the release date is Nov. 5, 2021. But maybe a more crucial point is that Thor: Love and Thunder, if nothing is shifted, will be the last film in Phase Four. It will directly follow the Hawkeye Disney Plus series starring Jeremy Renner, but the next movie it will follow is the Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last film in Phase Three, explored a world post-Blip (the five years that passed since people disappeared and returned from the Snap). So Thor 4 may have to deal with the aftermath of events in Doctor Strange 2. Those events could be immensely complicated, given the full on embrace of the multiverse. Or, given that the Disney Plus shows look to tie in to the movies (and therefore entice people to sign up to Disney's streaming platRead More – Source

cnet