If you thought that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the biggest announcement of SDCC, then you were totally wrong! Marvel has confirmed the last week’s report of The Hollywood Reporter as they have officially announced the release date of Thor 4 which will be called Thor: Love and Thunder. Taika Waititi is back to direct the sequel for Thor: Ragnarok and this sequel will bring back Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster to be the comic accurate version of Thor! Marvel revealed the new logo and it’s even more vibrant than Ragnarok!
Thor 4 will play with many elements. It has been scheduled for a November 5, 2021 release date. People must be confused as to how Thor will appear in his own film when he is currently hanging with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Well, it could be possible that the Guardians could make a cameo in this film which will serve as a means to Thor’s short journey with them coming to an end, setting up Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Or things could be totally different as Thor: Love and Thunder could take place in the future, i.e. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could be a prequel story to Thor 4 where Thor hangs out with the Guardians, and lands up in his solo film which is just coming out before Vol. 3. Thor is expected to be their main weapon against the likes of Adam Warlock, so why would Marvel waste an opportunity to create something special. Perhaps they were just toying with us at the end of Endgame. We’d find out soon.
What’s totally amazing here is that as the title suggests, Thor will reunite with his former love. Moreover, Jane Foster will be the female version of Thor we’ve been longing for quite a long time. She even got her own Mjolnir at Comic-Con. It’d be interesting to see whether Marvel will manage to bring back the hammer somehow. Mjolnir is essential for Jane Foster to be Thor as it will be the deciding factor to whether she is worthy or not.
Talking about Valkyrie, she will also be back. Moreover, we’ve got the confirmation that she will be the first LGBTQ hero of the MCU. Valkyrie’s arc will involve her looking for a Queen to rule alongside her in New Asgard. Kevin Feige did confirm that later to io9 saying:
“The answer is yes. 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”.
This confirmation isn’t a surprise as there was a deleted scene back in Thor: Ragnarok where we would have seen a woman leaving Valkyrie’s room after a good session of hanky panky. Tessa Thompson confirmed that Valkyrie is bisexual. She said:
“In the canon, [Valkyrie] is bisexual. You see her with women and men, so that was my intention in playing her. Obviously, at the forefront of most of these stories is not typically their romantic life. They have big stakes, like saving the world, so that tends to sort of trump.
Captain Marvel just broke the ceiling off and dissipated myths about what women can do in these spaces and society. So it feels like we are really entering a new phase of Marvel. So this night is about celebrating more than just this film… [Stan Lee’s] vision is the idea: what makes you different is actually your superpower. And when we’re living inside of a robust time to be able to say to people that they can love who they want to love, they can be who they want to be. It’s perfect to include those narratives inside of this world.”
Jane Foster being Thor does feel surprising, but it is obviously a move towards an A-Force film which could now include Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Thor, Wasp, Scarlet Witch and a few others. Let’s see what Marvel will do with all this awesomeness at their disposal. Since this film will seemingly take place on Earth, it’d be interesting to see whether the Hulk returns.
