Get Ready For Thor: Love and Thunder!

July 8th is the first time we’ll be able to see one of the original Avengers in the Phase 4 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) timeline. Often referred to as the Prince of Asgard, the son of Odin, the God of Thunder, or even Point Break, you know him, you love him, Thor Odinson! Picking up from Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder will explore Thor’s transformation and search for inner peace and even potential “Avenger” retirement. There’s no way Marvel would let Thor do this without facing some challenges. From the Olympians to Gorr the God Butcher, and even Jane Foster as Mighty Thor, Love and Thunder is going to explore a lot of new aspects of the MCU. Here’s everything you need to know before watching Thor: Love and Thunder: 

Jane Foster

First introduced as an astrophysicist in Thor, Jane Foster helped Thor return to Asgard after he was banished to Earth by Odin. Jane and Thor’s rocky and unpredictable relationship lasted until some times before Avengers: Age of Ultron, and was confirmed to be over when Thor said “She didn’t dump me. I dumped her. It was a mutual dumping…” in Thor: Ragnarok. Avengers: Endgame addressed how Jane had been blipped by Thanos, adding at least another five years to this pair’s separation.

So far having only seen their relationship from Thor’s perspective, it’ll be refreshing to see Jane’s thoughts on both their relationship and the current condition of the MCU timeline, including the events from Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame! Given her prominent role in Thor: Love and Thunder, I think it’s safe to say that Thor and Jane’s relationship might not be over just yet. 

Ragnarok’s Destruction

The destruction of Asgard by the Goddess of Death, Hela, was only a part of what Thor would lose in Thor: Ragnarok. Not only did Hela destroy Asgard, but she also shattered Thor’s “hammer like a piece of glass,” as Loki so sympathetically put it. Mjolnir, Thor’s symbol of worthiness was gone. Though Thor didn’t have Mjolnir, in Avengers: Infinity War, he was able to wield Stormbreaker, his new weapon that he nearly died forging.

All of this loss set up the basis for Thor’s story in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and now, Thor: Love and Thunder. So far, only Captain America has been “worthy” enough to hold Mjolnir, however, now it seems that Jane Foster is also worthy. This emphasizes the significant amount of power Jane holds, and even allows us to ponder the question of whether she was worthy of Mjolnir in the first two Thor movies.

The Death of Loki

The opening of Avengers: Infinity War starts out with Thanos trying to obtain the power stone from Thor and Loki. Because of Thanos, their decade long mischievous and fun love-hate relationship was unfortunately put to an end. After trying to trick Thanos, Loki dies and his lifeless body thrown at Thor’s feet, leaving him with no one. 

It isn’t until Avengers: Endgame that we see Loki again; well, kind of. When the Avengers go back in time, we see the Avengers version of Loki hold the Tesseract and disappear. As we all know, this was the basis for the Disney+ series Loki. Since this variant of Loki is running around in the multiverse, though it’s not expected, it’s possible we might see him in Thor: Love and Thunder. 

God Without A Cause

At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thor was completely alone. All of this continued loss caused him to become depressed as we see in Avengers: Endgame. As a result, Thor lost his “god-like” physique and drive to fight for things. Additionally, Thor no longer wanted to rule the people of Asgard, and spent most of his time drinking beer and playing Fortnite, leaving Valkyrie to be de facto king

Now looking at the trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, we’re able to see how Thor transforms back into his recognizable physique. Hopefully now his heroic drive has returned as well!

The Guardians of the Galaxy

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor ends up joining the Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m excited to see Thor and Starlord’s continued competitive, but light-hearted, relationship, which I’m sure will make for some laughs in the opening scenes of the movie.

Queen Valkyrie 

Valkyrie, who was an enemy turned friend to Thor in Thor: Ragnarok, helped Thor, Loki, and Bruce Banner escape Sacaar and fight Hela in Asgard. After beating Hela, Valkyrie joined Thor and helped him to lead the people of Asgard. 

In the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, Thor, who didn’t want to be King of Asgard,  told Valkyrie that she was now the new ruler. Valkyrie, surprised at first, accepted and has been leading Asgard ever since. Before Thor left, Valkyrie said that she would be making some changes to “New Asgard,” something that will be interesting to see in Thor: Love and Thunder. 

Thor returning to the big screen is exactly what I need to spice up my summer. From the vivid colors, the soundtrack, and the characters, it looks like this movie is about to be Marvel’s next big hit! I can’t wait to see what Thor: Love and Thunder will bring to Marvel’s Phase Four!

For more Marvel content from Siya, check out her Ms. Marvel podcast!