A Beginner's Guide To Thor: Love and Thunder
Everything you need to know about our favorite god of thunder before Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters.
Even though Marvel has been so good to us with the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on Disney+, it still feels like forever since we’ve had a new Marvel release. Sure, we’ve had Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel since then, but nothing hits home quite like an OG Avenger movie, amiright? And it’s Thor, I mean come on, we haven’t seen him in four years.
Because it's been a while since we’ve seen Thor, you might need a little refresher before Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8. Here’s what you need to know:
Who is Thor?
Thor
Thor Odinson is a god from the planet Asgard. He is the son of Odin (creative last name, right?) and the brother of Loki. We first meet Thor in his namesake movie Thor, where his mischievous brother Loki tricks him into attacking the Frost Giants — who were Asgard’s enemies. Because of this foolish move, Odin strips Thor of his godly powers and banishes him to Midgard (a.k.a. Earth) where he meets scientists Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis.
There are mysterious things happening on Earth (when are there not?) and Thor, Jane, Erik, and Darcy work together to try to figure it out. In doing so, Thor sacrifices himself, which wins over Odin and he restores Thor to his full god status again.
While on Earth, Thor falls in love with Jane, but he is forced to return to Asgard to save his father from Loki’s schemes and leave Jane behind. If you don’t know already, this is a pattern. Loki does something bad, Thor defeats him, Loki fakes his death, Thor mourns him, Loki returns and does something bad again — up until Loki actually turns good and dies for real.
Avengers
This Loki-Thor relationship is pretty much what brings him to the Avengers. Thor teams up with the Avengers to defeat Loki and the rest is history for that team as they take on bad guy after bad guy together for years to come.
Thor: The Dark World
To be honest, no one really knows what happened in Thor: The Dark World and it’s safe to say that’s the worst Thor movie (if not Marvel movie) that there is. But it might be an important plot point because it features Jane, who is also in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Basically, Jane somehow absorbs something called the “Aether” that wants to kill her and the universe. A bad guy wants to use the Aether to take over the world, and Thor wants to protect Jane and also beat the bad guy — because he loves her and also because he’s a hero. They win (surprise, surprise) and Thor and Jane share a special moment together and are assumed to be together after the movie. However, we later find out that Jane dumped Thor at some point before Thor: Ragnarok (although Thor claims it was mutual).
Thor: Ragnarok
Thor apparently doesn’t get the invite to join either Captain America or Iron Man’s teams in Captain America: Civil War because after Avengers: Age of Ultron we don’t see him again until Thor: Ragnarok.
In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor and Loki are reunited with their father who is dying. Upon Odin’s death, his first child Hela (who is hella evil) is released from her prison. Hela appears and is immediately ready to fight — she even breaks Thor’s precious hammer that he uses in all his battles. Thor and Loki narrowly escape into space and are dropped off on another planet.
Thor gets captured on this planet, while Loki uses his cunning to get on the good side of the Grandmaster, who runs the planet. Thor is forced to fight in the Grandmaster’s contest, but get this, his opponent is The Hulk.
Thor convinces The Hulk (who later turns back into Bruce Banner) and a woman named 142, who is actually a warrior from Asgard called Valkyrie, to come back to Asgard with him and defeat Hela. Loki also joins solely because he doesn't want to be left behind.
The team (and some prisoners they stole from the Grandmaster, including one hilarious rock-man named Korg) head to Asgard to fight Hela. They do defeat her, but in turn, they set Ragnarok (a.k.a. the end of the world) into motion, and Asgard is destroyed.
Avengers: Infinity War
The Asgardians and The Hulk set out on a spaceship, which is where we find Thor during Avengers: Infinity War. By now, you probably understand Infinity War since it was a turning point for Marvel, but we’ll quickly go through it from Thor’s perspective.
Thanos kills Loki and a bunch of Asgardians while Thor is left helpless to watch. Thor is then saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy, but he realizes he can’t do anything to defeat Thanos without his hammer. So Thor and Rocket (the raccoon) set out to get Thor a new weapon.
He gets a new battle-axe made and goes back to Earth to try to fight off Thanos at Wakanda. Obviously, they fail, Thanos snaps, and half the population is gone.
Avengers: Endgame
Thor does not get snapped, however, stricken with guilt over not being able to kill Thanos he runs away and becomes hilariously overweight. The Avengers recruit Thor and he and Rocket are tasked with retrieving the Reality Stone during the Avengers' time-traveling mission.
They return to Asgard during Thor: The Dark World and get the stone, plus Thor’s old hammer. In the final battle, Captain America is able to summon Thor’s hammer (meaning that he is “worthy”). You know the drill, they beat Thanos, but Tony Stark dies. After Stark’s funeral, Thor decides he’s going to stick with the Guardians of the Galaxy for a while and appoints Valkyrie the king of Asgard.
What Are Thor's Powers?
Thor is the god of thunder so he can use lightning and thunder as weapons. He also has great strength and endurance and originally possesses a hammer called Mjolnir. However, after Hela breaks the hammer, he forges a new weapon, a battle-axe called Stormbreaker. The axe has the same powers as the hammer, however, it can also open the Bifrost — which is the bridge that connects Asgard to different planets.
But our favorite power is Thor’s humor. He may not be the strongest Avenger (though he thinks he is), but he’s the funniest.
What is Thor: Love and Thunder About?
The answer to this question is getting increasingly harder as Phase 4 goes on. We really can’t predict what Marvel is going to throw at us at any minute.
However, what we do know is that Thor: Love and Thunder is meant to be a 1980s-style adventure film with a hint of romance thrown in, which is why Jane is back. We know that after Endgame, Thor is with the Guardians of the Galaxy, but he must return to Asgard to stop a new villain, Gorr the God Butcher (who is terrifying looking).
In the trailer (watch it below), we see Thor reach for Mjolnir, his old hammer, but someone else has actually summoned it: Jane, who has become the Mighty Thor.
We assume the movie will explore Thor coming to terms with the fact that he’s not the only god of thunder as well as rediscovering his long-standing feelings for Jane.
We know that Valkyrie will make a return appearance, and based on the fact that Thor was with the Guardians, they should make an appearance too. And according to IMDb, we’ll see new characters Gorr (Christian Bale) and Zeus (Russell Crowe), but that’s really all we got.
Oh and one more thing, we know things will be getting a little cheeky for Thor, or as director Taika Waititi says we’ll be getting the “full Hems’ Worth.” And you already know we think Thor’s a 10, so that shot alone might be worth the tickets…
Is There Anything Else I Need to Know?
The movie is based on the Mighty Thor comic book, which follows Jane Foster as she becomes the goddess of thunder. However, as she’s battling villains, she’s also battling cancer. In the comic, Loki makes a return appearance as well as Odin. But seeing as they’re both dead, we’re not sure if they will make a movie appearance — we also don’t know if Jane will have cancer in Thor: Love and Thunder.
In the age of the Multiverse, we really don’t know what can happen and who will show up. So, it’s better to stay on your toes.
Watch the Thor: Love and Thunder Trailer Now:
Thor: Love and Thunder heads to theaters on July 7 — you can buy tickets now.