Thor: Love and Thunder Preview

    Welcome back to HLS Entertainment! Today we are going to be doing a deep dive into absolutely everything you need to know before watching Thor Love and Thunder! I have loved doing these breakdowns for new comic book properties and ultimately this is just a really fun outlet for me so thank you for reading along! If you want to discuss your theories of your own with someone do not hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes !

Now, why should you care about what I have to say? Well, let us look at my track record and let it speak for itself. I will provide links to each Phase 4 MCU breakdown I have done, read them or scan through, whatever you like but the proof is there. I am pretty decent at this. Doctor Strange 2, Moon Knight, No Way Home, Hawkeye, Eternals, Shang-Chi, What If...?, Black Widow, Loki, TFATWS, and WandaVision. I unfortunately missed out on finishing my Ms. Marvel one but I will possibly publish the unedited version just for those who have asked how I go about doing these.

    Remember this is going to be HEAVY SPOILERS, if you don't want to be spoiled for the plot you can just read through the locations and character breakdowns and skip down to theories. The Theories will have potentially spoiler ideas, but they discuss more broad strokes ideas instead of the spoilers I will go deep into as I predict how the actual plot will play out.

Locations to Know

New Asgard

    

    New Asgard is a location that was first introduced in Avengers Endgame fully, but the location first appeared in Thor Ragnarok as where Odin died and Hela destroyed Thor's hammer. Remember that. 

    New Asgard seems to have set up as its own society on Earth but possibly living outside the restrictions of Earth's laws. That could definitely come into play in this film.

Omnipotence City - Nexus of all the gods

    Okay so initially I think we all assumed the place where we see Zeus and the other gods meeting was Olympus but now has been revealed to be Omnipotence City. Technically it has not been named as such but it is a very specific looking place that is near identical to the Jason Aaron Thor run that this movie takes ideas from specifically.

    

Unknown Worlds - Lots

    We see at least three different mysterious unknown planets/moons, including at least one he is on with the Guardians of the Galaxy. They might be going to multiple planets on in a montage of them doing missions together. We also see Thor and Valkyrie fighting Gorr on what seems to be a barren moon but who knows if it is Earth's moon or another from deep in the galaxy.

Characters to Know

Thor Odinson aka Thor - Chris Hemsworth

    Chris Hemsworth has now played Thor Odinson  in ten different Marvel Studios properties and they are Thor (2011), Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers Endgame (2019), What If...? (2021), as well as doing the voice of Throg very briefly in Loki (2021).

This is about to be a really long next run on paragraph recapping Thor's trip through the MCU highlighting everything you need to know. Okay here we go.

    Thor has been in so many properties now and has been on one heck of a journey throughout the MCU. Starting off he was stripped of his title of Thor and Odin placed the famous enchantment on his Hammer (Jonathan) while banishing him from Asgard to Midgard. While in exile on Midgard (Earth) he meets Jane Foster and finally learns humility and becomes worthy of the mighty hammer Mjolnir once more. He has battled his brother many times since, as well as monsters and creatures from all throughout the universe, but one of the most important steps he has taken was being a founding member of the Avengers. On these epic adventures and terrible battles Thor first became aware that someone is playing at some game with the infinity stones and learns of turmoil throughout the cosmos. During his travels he found the giant flaming demon Surtur who told him that Ragnarok, the death of Asgard was at hand. He went home to find his father missing and his brother Loki pretending to be him, they find him together, but it is just before his death. His life force was the only thing holding back Hela, and possibly capping Thor's power (see him sparkle up immediately). Hela kills a lot of Asgardians, Thor and Loki get kicked off the rainbow bridge hang out and find Hulk and Valkyrie on Sakaar. Hulk (Bruce), Valkyrie and Thor go to Asgard to oust Hela, Thor unlocks his power finally realizing he isn't the god of hammers. The remaining Asgardians have been on the run and protected by Heimdall but are about to be killed on their way to the Bifrost, but Loki arrives with all of the Gladiators Thor befriended on Sakaar to help. Thor realizes they cannot beat Hela and that they were never supposed to stop Ragnarok, Loki resurrects Surtur and he destroys Hela and the planet of Asgard. They escape on the ship Loki brought but sadly pretty quickly run into the Mad Titan. Thanos killed half of the surviving Asgardians and sent the rest on off (we find out they went to Earth), snaps Loki's neck killing our loveable scamp for good. Heimdall uses the last of his magic to send Hulk ahead to Earth to give them a heads up, and is killed by Thanos for it. Thanos blows up the ship leaving Thor floating in space, and he is found by the Guardians of the Galaxy who were responding to their beacon for help. Thor informs them what's going on, he Groot and Rocket ship off immediately to Nidavellir to make Stormbreaker, the Thanos killing kind of weapon. After nearly dying taking the full brunt of a star making Stormbreaker, Thor arrives in Wakanda to seek revenge. He fights alongside the Avengers team in Wakanda, until Thanos arrives and gets the final Infinity Stone, Thor overpowers Thanos but fails to make the killing blow when he had the chance. Thanos snaps, kills half the universe and disappears. Captain Marvel arrives on Earth with Tony Stark and Nebula, the surviving heroes talk about what happened and a group of the healthy survivors travel through deep space to hunt down Thanos. They arrive and find out Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones, and Thor delivers the killing blow he failed to do so previously, finally going for the head. Five years pass, Thor has spiraled into depression and feelings of unworthiness and he gains tons of weight and hides away in the now established New Asgard. In his seclusion Valkyrie has taken responsibility for building up and protecting the remaining Asgardians. Hulk arrives with Rocket to recruit Thor on a mission to undo everything, Thor barely holding himself together tries to deny going but eventually accepts. Back at Avengers compound Thor and the others tell each other everything they know about the Infinity Stones, Thor knowing the most but he is not much use in his current state and seeing a picture of Jane Foster makes it worse for him. They go on their mission splitting up throughout time, Thor and Rocket make it to Asgard during the time of Thor: The Dark World. He runs into his mother Frigga who immediately recognizes he is from the future and assures him of his worthiness and that he is who he is meant to be, no failure defines him. Be who you are meant to be, not what people tell you are supposed to be. And in a last second decision before traveling back, Thor extends his hand for Mjolnir and the hammer races to his hand. Depression does not define worthiness. All the surviving Avengers arrive back with the Infinity Stones, Thor tries to be the one to snap but he is still in no state mentally to do so. Hulk snaps his fingers returning the half of life that Thanos killed back to life. Thanos from 2014 arrives using the Avengers technology, we get an incredible fight of the MCU trinity fighting Thanos. Thanos army arrives to the field of battle, and then so do all the heroes throughout all of the MCU. The battle rages on, Tony sacrifices himself for their victory. Thor attends the funeral to honor Tony before leaving Earth with the Guardians. But before he leaves, he makes it clear to Valkyrie she has his blessing as the king of New Asgard.

King Valkyrie aka Valkyrie - Tessa Thompson

    This will be Tessa Thompson's third MCU property after appearing in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Avengers Endgame (2019). Realizing this is only her third appearance and only second major appearance as she did not exactly have a lot of screentime in Endgame was kind of shocking? Tessa Thompson has had such a major impact through her character already it feels like she has been around for much longer.

    

    As we know she met Thor in Ragnarok on Sakaar, she was one of the only surviving Valkyries that fought Hela (assumingly) over a thousand years ago to help imprison her. That is something that has not really been discussed but Valkyrie is assumingly much older than Thor and presumedly one of the oldest characters in all of the MCU, with only the Eternals for sure being older than her. She has been leading New Asgard for 8+ years now.

The Might Thor aka Jane Foster - Natalie Portman

    Natalie Portman has appeared in the MCU as Jane Foster three times so far in Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013) and What If...? (2021). This will be her fourth appearance after seemingly wanting to step away for good after the second Thor film. So happy to have her back.

    Jane Foster is a primary love interest of Thor's throughout his comics but more recently (2014) she has taken up the mantle of Thor, wielding the hammer as the Mighty Thor. But even that was not the first time she had wielded the hammer, that was in the 1962 issue titled "What If Jane Foster found the hammer of Thor?". Please go read the 2014 Jason Aaron run, it is a HEAVY inspiration for this film and covers Gorr and the Mighty Thor. Incredible run but be aware it will have potentially heavy spoilers for the film. I do not even want to go into it here because of the spoilers but I will in the plot breakdown. All we know of the last time we saw Jane, she and Thor were together but then in Ragnarok we get the off handed comment of "sorry Jane dumped you" by a fan of Thor. He jokes that it was a mutual dumping but we all assume that was not the case. The description to this film describes it as a surprise and shock that she appears wielding the hammer so finding out how and why will be fun in the film. I believe we can assume Jane was among those snapped away by Thanos due to her thinking they haven't seen each other in three years, meanwhile Thor confirms it has been over eight, the difference being she was gone for five.

Korg aka Made of Rocks - Taika Waititi

    Korg is one of the most delightful MCU characters and is played by director Taika Waititi himself, he has appeared in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and What If...? (2021). Something I want to tease/remind us all of is Korg also appeared alongside Ryan Reynold's Deadpool in promotion for Free Guy, the 2021 film in which both Reynolds and Waititi starred in. And in the trailer for Thor4, Korg calls Jane, Jodie Foster and that same joke used in the Free Guy promotion... Not saying anything is happening just saying not a coincidence. Yes I am the boy who cried Deadpool in these previews.

    We have not seen too much of Thor but know a good bit about him failing to print enough pamphlets for his revolution that failed that ended him up as a gladiator on Sakaar. (Lack of) paper beat rock. He has been a loyal fast friend to Thor ever since, and apparently enjoys playing video games...please let Deadpool be revealed to be Noobmaster69 and not the guy from that dumb commercial. In this movie it seems like we will find out Korg also boarded the Guardians ship with Thor and have been on adventures with them to start this movie.

Gorr the god Butcher aka Gorr - Christian Bale

    This will be Christian Bale's first MCU and is such a huge name to be added to the MCU's roster. We all know him playing a great Batman, but this looks so far like he should have played the Joker instead. His Gorr could jump very high in the MCU villain rankings. Like I talked about previously Gorr and his backstory are heavily covered in the Jason Aaron Thor run so if you want heavy details read it, but to summarize in the comics Gorr's family perished on a dying planet as he and his people prayed over and over for his gods to save them. But no one showed up to save them. Gorr comes across the dead bodies of what he believes to be ancient gods who died fighting one another.  Using one of their swords he makes sure that they are dead, and the All Black Necrosword has a firm hold on him immediately. Gorr gets the very tool that makes his revenge against the gods who failed to save his family possible. For thousands of years he fights throughout the cosmos to slaughter all of the gods being kept alive by the awesome power of the weapon he wields. Using the power of the sword he can make constructs like his Black Berserkers who will probably be his army in this film. 

Lady Sif aka Sif - Jaimie Alexander (picture from Thor 2)

    Lady Sif appeared in the first two Thor films and has also appeared in two episodes of Agents of Shield (but we are unsure what of that counts as MCU canon), one episode of What if..? as well as one episode of Loki on Disney+. In the What if episode she is a different universes Sif and in Loki she is really just a memory of Loki, so in actuality we have not seen our Sif since the end of Thor 2. 

    In this movie we will get the answer of where has Lady Sif been. She was one of Thor's closest friends and admirer but has been absent from the MCU since Dark World. And I have a theory that falls into heavy spoiler territory so you can scroll past this if you do not wish to know. Okay still here? I believe Lady Sif will be taken over the role left vacant by Heimdall's death as the All-Seer for Asgard. At the red carpet premiere actress Jaimie Alexander hinted that she did not really have to train for this role this time, which could fit her moving into a more to the side mentor advisor role. This is would not be a new thing for the character comics wise, as the Thor comic that came out as a precursor to the movie that is the role she is in for Asgard.

The Guardians of the Galaxy

    

    This will not be the first time the Guardians have shared screentime with Thor (Infinity War and Endgame) but will be their first appearance in a Thor film, unless you count the Collector being in the Thor: The Dark World post credit scene. Which you shouldn't but just saying these franchises have been loosely connected as they are the two space marvel franchises, and they might be even further connected if we find out the history of Gorr's weapon reflects that of the comics. Gamora is Knowhere to be found in the trailers and promotion art for the movie so we can possibly assume this will be prior to the Guardians going out searching for her.

    My one want for this movie is a Bowflex scene of Peter and Thor working out together.

Zeus - Russell Crowe

    This will be Crowe's first appearance in the MCU, but more importantly it will be the first time we see anyone from the Greek pantheon of gods. This opens the door for fan favorite characters like Hercules to appear in the MCU which is exciting! I am very curious if we touch on at all how Angelina Jolie's Thena might have been worshipped by ancient Greeks thinking she was Athena the Greek goddess of  war. Russell Crowe as Zeus just makes this cast crazy. Aside from Avengers movies is this the most star studded MCU film?

    I...don't get too attached to anyone in this scene. There is a god butcher on the loose and I doubt many survive.

Plot Breakdown

    Okay we made to the plot breakdown. Reminder this is going to be heavy spoilers as it is how I see the entire plot of the movie playing out read at your own risk but remember this all for fun I have not seen the movie or any leaks (have there been many? Feels like there were nearly zero after so much of SM3 / DS 2 leaked). I will remind you this movie has been talked about many times by the cast and crew as a romantic comedy set in space. On to the breakdown!

    I believe this movie probably opens up with a flashback of Thor and Jane, we possibly see highlights of their relationship maybe even see how they broke up before we move onto the title sequence. Then we kick in with the Asgaurdians of the Galaxy (and Korg). We see training montages of Thor getting back into shape, possibly Peter Quill too I just desperately want the Bowflex scene of them two. Important thing I want to note is the very large skeleton we see Thor training with the chains that bound him, I believe will be revealed to be a butchered god.

    We see many adventures of them together, I think the Guardians probably get sick of Thor as he is going on a journey trying to find himself and figure out who he is. This means many many costume changes from Thor.

    Eventually we get to the fight we see in the trailers. I believe Thor has stolen Quill's red jacket, ripped the sleeves off and has been wearing it similar to his Thunderstrike look in the comics. We see Thor learn that the people of this planet's gods have disappeared mysteriously. But when it comes time for battle Thor walks off and goes up the hill wearing a cloak like a monk. Mantis and Quill come up there to convince him to join the fight, I imagine there are jokes about him being a pacifist now but eventually he joins the fray.

    We get a big fun Thor showing off battle. After he has vanquished the assailants, the leader of the people they saved gives him two giant space goats as a reward. This is where I believe Thor and Korg make the Goat Boat and leave the Guardians so Thor can investigate missing gods.

    After finding many dead gods Thor either decides to go back to Earth or gets a call to do so for some reason. Maybe he has a run in with Gorr and he says he has already sent his Black Berserkers to Earth. During this time, I imagine we get scenes of Valkyrie going through day to day ruling and governing of New Asgard dealing with how they interact with the outside world. Thor arrives to New Asgard seemingly in the middle of a fight with the Black Berserkers, and to Thors surprise he sees Mjolnir flying around. He tries to summon it to himself but fails as it flies back into the hands of a masked stranger that is clad in armor similar to his own. Introducing the Mighty Thor. 

    We get scenes of them fighting alongside one another in the battle, possibly a flashback or two of how she first gained the title of Thor. I am not sure how fast it happens, but I do believe they will be using the plotline from the comics were Jane sadly has cancer, and every time she uses the hammer it reverses all the medical treatment she has had. We see the Thors and Valkyrie speak together, something we do not know is do they call the meeting or do they get a summoning for godheads to appear in Omnipotence City. I think the idea that Thor's arrival or him wanting to talk interrupts the Asgardian play again like in Ragnarok, but revealing Valkyrie is a huge fan of theater would be really fun.

    Our crew of Thor, Jane, Valkyrie and Korg fly off in the Goat Boat to OC. I am sure we get some heartfelt talks during the journey. Here would be a good spot to give us a glimpse of Gorr possibly his backstory before they arrive to OC. Once they arrive at OC we will be sure to get shots of them walking and talking through the city, but when it comes time for the meeting I imagine we will find out Thor is not allowed in because he has renounced his kingship. OR they will run into some issue about the gods not wanting to listen to them and Thor decides to make a grand entrance. Valkyrie, Jane and Korg head inside while Thor finds his own way in.

    We get a big grand entrance from Zeus and the other gods; I imagine they might discuss Zeus possibly being THE godhead now that Odin has passed which will seem like a farce. Discussions will start before Thor oh so rudely interrupts smashing through the window in the Goat Boat. Thor is quickly apprehended, and this is where Zeus flicks him as seen in the trailer. I am sure Thor starts a fuss starts fighting (are those guards golden Spartans?) Korg races to help Thor, while Valkyrie and Jane seem to enjoy the spectacle for a bit before getting involved themselves. This is where I am guessing Valkyrie or Thor speak up calling for the godheads to band together to find out who this god butcher is and to stop them together. Gods will be gods though; I am sure most will laugh it off saying they can never be bested meanwhile a few or just one tells them some information that gives them a new lead to go on and they fly off in the Goat Boat.

    This is where the movie gets really tricky. I applaud the marketing for this movie because they showed us clips from what is assumed to be the third act of this movie but we truly have very little information to go on. BUT, if we are to use the Jason Aaron Thor run as our guide I believe we could be seeing one of two different endings. I will let you make up your mind which path happens.

    One I think they find out from another god that someone like Hephaestus is missing. The important part being that the god that is missing is a god of weapons, blacksmithing, or anything of the like. This god will have been taken by Gorr and forced them to reveal how to build a specific weapon. Our team of heroes hunts them down following a trail to find and fight them. But I think Thor gets trapped inside of some sort of cage, possibly made of the All Black.

    A key thing here is that above can still be true while mixing in the plotline I am about to tell you. I think Gorr is successful at building his weapon, the God Bomb but there is an intervening of those above the gods the cosmic entities of the universe itself. We could see Gorr called into be tried by the five(six?) statue heads we see in the trailer of, Infinity, Eon, Death, the Watcher and the Living Tribunal. I believe there is a sixth but we cannot get a good enough look at it to name them. 

    This is where I believe Lady Sif enters the fold (I believe that could be her on the left in this shot from the featurette). Heimdall was the All Seer, this title might be a foundational thing where once he dies someone must replace him. I believe Sif will be the one to do so, in a comic released in promotion for this movie (not the prelude more of a tie in #1 issue) that is the role Sif is in for Asgard. To be fair, Beta Ray Bill is the Master of War for Asgard in it as well so take it with a grain of salt. I think Sif will be there to represent the cosmic entities as they judge whether or not Gorr's bomb should be allowed to exist as it was made to wipe out all deities. 

    I understand this is really pie in the sky theorizing, but I really think that might be the path this movie goes down, but to push it over the edge further I think the council of deities makes the decision the bomb is not allowed but Gorr is allowed to continue to hunt down gods and keep the power he holds. This is where we get the black and white battle of Gorr facing down at least Thor and Valkyrie. We oddly have not seen but one shot of Jane even in that black and white moon fight, but that quick shot could easily be in a separate part of the film and they edited it.

    So, we get out big final battle on the surface that looks like either a dead planet or a moon. I think we find out either the cosmic deities or Mjolnir itself, chose Jane to wield the hammer to be able to help stop Gorr and it might sadly reverse once they have beaten Gorr. I just have a feeling like they have hidden so much of her story on purpose from the trailers because it will be like a shooting star burning bright until it burns out. 

Theories

Part of the Reality Stone Still Lives in Jane Foster

    The way this theory goes is, the Aether was in Jane for a prolonged time and this radiation is undoubtedly the cause of her cancer but what if it still lingers in her and is what allows her to reforge Mjolnir. The Russo Brothers seem adamant that the Infinity Stones are not technically destroyed and gone, but their atoms are just spread across the universe. Maybe if you had had an Infinity Stone inside and apart of you, you might become like a magnet for it. Maybe Jane is slightly altering reality to become Thor by reforging the hammer and she is worthy to lift it.

We Have a New Strongest Weapon in the MCU

    In multiple parts of the trailers and featurette for the movie we see both Valkyrie and Thor holding what seems to be one of Zeus' lightening bolts. What if he grants them one to use in the fight against Gorr because it is the strongest weapon/force in the MCU and is capable of destroying the All Black

Gorr...the Eternal?

    I think we could find out that the reason Gorr hates gods is because his homeworld had a celestial egg inside of it just like Earth did in the Eternals. Seeing how they just used his planet as pawns could be the reason he hates them. And to take this a step further.. what if Gorr was an Eternal? And he has rebelled now to hunt and kill gods and celestials alike for allowing it to happen. 

The End of Phase Four

    This could be an entire blog to itself (probably will be), but MCU All Father Kevin Feige recently stated in an interview "as Phase Four nears its end"... um Kev we are only halfway through what you have announced what do you mean NEARS its end?? I think we have been just assuming all the upcoming projects like Black Panther 2, Secret Invasion She-Hulk etc etc, were apart of this phase. But when you look at the picture above.. Thor: Love and Thunder seemed to be the planned end to Phase Four all along. This film could have serious shake ups to the MCU and we just do not realize it yet. Maybe the previous theory IS true and this movie is setting up this cosmic tale of battling with the cosmic deities and celestials of the universe. This idea can easily be following the course Eternals set upon, where they defied the Arishem and were taken for judgement. Maybe the Celestials like Arishem themselves are going to be the ones responsible for Secret Wars instead of Kang? Who knows?

Thank you so much for reading! Please like, share, retweet, etc and follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes ! Hit me up with your theories for this film and the rest of the MCU going forward!