Everything you need to know about 'Thor: Love and Thunder', Marvel's metal romantic comedy

Everything you need to know about ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, Marvel’s metal romantic comedy.

The Asgardian god returns in a new adventure to face his destiny, a new villain and even his ex-partner Jane Foster.

“As far as I know, it’s over. I don’t know if they’ll ever want me for Avengers 7 or something." In these terms, Natalie Portman referred to her future in the MCU in 2016, in an interview for The Wall Street Journal . 

Everything you need to know about 'Thor: Love and Thunder', Marvel's metal romantic comedy

We don’t blame her; She had already suffered from exacerbated fanaticism in a mainstream saga (the Star Wars prequels , ahem) and she had no better luck in her jump to Marvel as Jane Foster .

To be fair, Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) astrophysicist girlfriend’s biggest feat in two movies ( Thor and Thor: The Dark World ) had been giving Loki (Tom Hiddleston) a loud smack . She, under the pink wig of Closer , who shaved her head against fascism in V for Vendetta , Oscar’s tortured dancer in Black Swan and graduated from Harvard, once again came face to face with the epic blockbuster. To make matters worse, Patty Jenkins was replaced by Alan Taylor in the sequel, something that pissed off the actress so much that she did not hesitate to sign her final divorce (at least, at that time) with Marvel.

How did the Kevin Feige studio respond ? Casting Taika Waititi , an outsider with a weird accent insane enough to cut Thor’s hair off, rip his hammer off, and send him on the biggest rampage in the MCU. As for Jane, her absence from the next galactic epic was justified by the fact that there were barely a couple of scenes on Earth, and they didn’t even bother to clarify who left whom.

With Thor: Ragnarok , Waititi gave that avenger a second life in low hours, an injection of color and self-parody from which the avenging meetings Infinity War and Endgame would benefit . Five years later, the goofy humor, the entrenched traumas and the extra kilos have earned the character a fourth solo installment for the first time in the history of the MCU, a privilege that not even Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr. ) has enjoyed.

Everything you need to know about 'Thor: Love and Thunder', Marvel's metal romantic comedy

And what occurrence has the New Zealander imposed in his second round with Thor: Love and Thunder , which he directs and co-writes with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson ? The return of Natalie Portman, an idea that was already in his head while he was directing Ragnarok . “ We put Natalie together with Taika and, in a single meeting, she agreed to do it ,” Kevin Feige told the 2019 Comic-Con in which they confirmed the return of Portman, Mjölnir in hand.

The filmmaker’s vision of Foster, now as Mighty Thor , was key to Portman’s decision to give caped and mesh cinema a new lease of life. " The intention is to continue reinventing this franchise, not to see it again as a scientist waiting for Thor on Earth ", Waititi has assured. The actress has advanced that Jane no longer depends on the long-haired avenger: “In the previous films, she was someone who needed to be saved by Thor, but in this story she follows her own path.” She certainly sounds a lot better than Avengers 7 .

gods and monsters

Thor: Love and Thunder is a hilarious and unhinging romantic comedy. We don’t say it, Taika Waititi says it, and Chris Hemsworth corroborates it. The blonde avenger regains his hair and abs just in time for the reunion with his ex after “8 years, 7 months and 6 days”. How does he get to this point? Fleeing precisely from love.

The protagonist starts this new journey still dragging the pain for the losses he has suffered in recent years. With New Asgard in the capable hands of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson ) and his hero days on hold, Thor embarks on a journey of self-discovery alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy (returning Peter Quill – Chris Pratt –, Nebula –Karen Gillan –, Mantis –Pom Klementieff –, Drax –Dave Bautista –, Rocket –Bradley Cooper – and Groot –Vin Diesel–). It is normal that, after having had to fire a considerable number of relatives and friends and having tortured himself by blaming himself for the snap of Thanos (Josh Brolin) , he needs time.

Everything you need to know about 'Thor: Love and Thunder', Marvel's metal romantic comedy

“Most people trying to find themselves are running from something,” says producer Brad Winderbaum: “ What he’s running from is love because, in his experience, everyone he loves dies. He thinks he is cursed .” However, in the cosmos, unlike what happens in Madrid, one can meet his ex at any time and the Asgardian soon runs into Jane Foster turned into Mighty Thor. At the moment, we know that she is super powerful and skilled with the hammer, although we do not know if she will follow the arc of the Jason Aaron comic , The Mighty Thor , where her transformation into the Goddess of Thunder is accompanied by a cancer that worsens every time. she fights.

Beyond the romantic past they share, what brings the couple together in this production has its own name: Gorr, the Butcher of Gods , a new threat that forces Thor to postpone his retirement. The antagonist, played by an unrecognizable Christian Bale , was devout until a painful loss led him to slaughter all those gods he used to worship. " You can’t stop looking at it ," Hemsworth acknowledges of Bale, who returns to the superhero genre a decade after hanging up the Batman cape . " We were all a little scared in the presence of Gorr ", has confessed Portman.

Fortunately, Thor is not alone in this cosmic battle against Gorr. In addition to Jane Foster and her Mjölnir, the protagonist has the invaluable help of Valkyrie, eager to return to action after too long sitting on the throne of New Asgard longingly recalling her years as an elite warrior . Korg also returns (voiced by Taika Waititi ), the protagonist’s faithful companion in gladiatorial battles and Fortnite contests .

Everything you need to know about 'Thor: Love and Thunder', Marvel's metal romantic comedy

“He is still loyal to Thor,” the director advances about his character: “He maintains that innocence, he sees the best in people .” Who doesn’t seem, at least initially, so keen to lend the group a hand is the god among gods, Zeus , played by Russell Crowe . The powerful deity has succumbed so much to the excesses in the City of Omnipotence (his hobbies include stripping Asgardians naked) that he hasn’t even noticed a certain galactic assassin massacring divinities. “ I never thought that he would be present the day Russell appeared on the screen looking like Gladiator, making fun of himself ”, Hemsworth tells about his partner.

metal-hero

Thor is no longer what he was, in the best possible sense. In little more than a decade of cinematographic life, the marvelite god has gone from being the burly heir to the throne of Asgard and one of the most corseted avengers in the cliché of the hero to becoming a complex character, tremendously funny and charismatic, and a Indispensable piece in the MCU . And we owe all that to Taika Waititi, who knew how to take advantage of Hemsworth’s most thug and jester side.

“ It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me that a character like Thor would change ”, ditches the director: “He has been in the saga for a long time, he has had time to go through several phases”. However, he had to arrive to bring about the transformation and, although he knew what he wanted to tell, the creator admits that he was relieved when Ragnarok received good reviews in its first screenings: “ I am proud that we managed to reinvent the character and that the film will work, and at the same time people will be left wanting more ”.

Thor: Love and Thunder is heir to everything that made its direct predecessor one of the most celebrated titles in the universe led by Kevin Feige, but also expectations. Of the original Avengers, only the God of Thunder has earned a movie in this generational transition that the Marvel Universe finds itself in , and the scenario has completely changed since we fired the character in Endgame : Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has staged a reunion of Spider-Men and Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) has found himself drawn into a multiverse unleashed in a ‘Phase 4’ surrendered to Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) .

This new odyssey of Thor seems strangely oblivious to such chaos, indifferent to any end of the world or parallel reality. Waititi, for his part, guarantees a tone and style similar to that of Ragnarok, but increasing the drive: “ We wanted to accentuate how vibrant and crazy the situations that Thor lives are ”. Perhaps it is producer Brad Winderbaum who best explains the endorphin rush: “ If Ragnarok was a synth-pop album from the 80s, Love and Thunder is metal ”. Let’s hit ‘play’ once and for all.