Thor: Love and Thunder

Christian Bale and Russell Crowe join the Marvel franchise in this movie directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth.

You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. Though Chris Hemsworth, as usual, has a lot of fun in the title role, the film around him too often strains to provide excitement and laughs. Where do we go now?

Since when do the weapons have feelings? Was that whom I think it was in the post-credits? And please tell me everything about the goats.

In the comics, the character is a frequent member of the Avengers. Will he show up in future Marvel movies? Bifrost is, classically, the rainbow bridge that connects Asgard to Earth. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s more like a cosmic vacuum that can transport figures to and from anywhere in the galaxy. As Thor explains to the not-quite-dying Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Valhalla is reserved for warriors who die in battle. He lives on a barren planet where all of his kinsmen are either dead or dying, including his daughter, whom he’s hauled out to the middle of the desert in the belief that the god he’s believed in all of his life will save him. When Gorr finally reaches Eternity in Love and Thunder, the depiction is much the same, only this one just sits like it’s doing some particularly intense yoga, waiting for that wish to be cast. The shattered pieces of the hammer have been on display in New Asgard, which has become a bit of a tourist trap, with an ice-cream store called Infinity Conez, but the pieces have been calling out to her, and she answers. In the comics, the Necrosword is actually a symbiote, not unlike Venom, that simply prefers to take the form of a sword. Gorr still thinks that the god would want to help a faithful believer, but instead the god laughs at him, and the Necrosword—a mythical blade with the power to kill gods—manifests itself to him, just in time to do some god-butchering. But as Love and Thunder’s first few minutes indicate, the God of Thunder isn’t much of a team player, so they go their separate ways. Thor hooked up with the Guardians in Infinity War, and has been bopping around space with them for a while. N-Port’s Jane Foster was Thor’s love interest in the very first Thor movie, and they were firmly a couple in Thor: The Dark World. But as the flashbacks in Love and Thunder reveal, the two split up for mundane, non-superheroic reasons—i.e., they got bored of each other, which also seemed to be about how Portman felt playing the role. She returned briefly in Avengers: Endgame, where an alternate-timeline version of The Dark World’s storyline played out, but it apparently took offering Portman the opportunity to get jacked and grow 9 inches taller to lure her back to the MCU.

Let's explain those "Thor: Love & Thunder" end credits scenes, with spoilers and background info aplenty.

The other credits scene is a warm coda to the Jane Foster story. If there are other afterlife destinations in the MCU, might she rather be somewhere she knows more people, animals or whatever? The first reveals Zeus ( Russell Crowe) was not, in fact, killed by Thor ( Chris Hemsworth). His godly pride seems to be the most injured part of him. Hercules also has a long and storied history ... in Marvel Comics. Judging from previous stories in which Zeus was moved to fits of pique ... what could possibly go wrong? He has gone mano a man-god with Hulk a few times.

Marvel's Thor: Love And Thunder follows in the footsteps of the much-loved Thor: Ragnarok. Both are directed by Taika Waititi, and both offer a lighthearted ...

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Ragnarok's Taika Waititi returns to direct the fourquel that took in $3M in Australia on Wednesday, the 2nd highest opening day during the pandemic and highest ...

There were No. 1s across the board in Asia-Pacific and Europe with the top launch in Korea at $3.1M on Wednesday. This was good for the 5th highest opening day during the pandemic era. Indonesia landed the best opening day during the pandemic with $1.6M. It was followed by Italy at $1.4M (3rd highest opening day of the pandemic/2nd biggest of 2022) and Germany at $1.2M (4th highest pandemic opening day). Ragnarok’s Taika Waititi returns to direct the fourquel that took in $3M in Australia on Wednesday, the 2nd highest opening day during the pandemic and highest opening day of 2022 to date (both excluding previews). This is also the 5th biggest all-time opening day for an MCU title in Oz (also excluding previews).

Chris Hemsworth in "Thor: Love and Thunder." How'd they make this himbo boring? Credit: Jasin Boland./Marvel Studios ...

While they are captivating in their details, designs, and cultural inclusivity, the blink-and-you'll-miss-them nature of this sequence speaks to the slapdash approach that makes the film deeply frustrating, as it is littered with wasted opportunities. In the end, Love and Thunder is raucous, flashy, and vacuous, not satisfyingly fun. The storytelling is lazy and bumbling, which makes the emotional beats feel clumsy. But best of all is when he turns into a kids' show host from hell, decapitating a snake creature to use it as a puppet to terrorize the children he's abducted. There must be room, after all, to watch the dull flashbacks of Jane and Thor's tepid isolation of affections. Sadly, Crowe is not given a ton to do in his first MCU outing. Thor: Love and Thunder is a mess that can't make sense of what matters. In a dank cage on the dark side of the universe, Bale brings color and a twisted hint of a loving dad whose soul has been mutilated by grief. But while a bunch of the characters we've loved return for this fourth installment, the thrill is gone. Here, that sexual spark is dulled, even though — as trailers teased — Hemsworth gets naked and Jane has a sexy new look. Meanwhile, Jane is enduring an arc all about mortality and disease plucked straight from the comic books. Blonde, buff, and clad in Viking armor, Jane is now known as Mighty Thor, and she can kick all kinds of monster butt.

From Matt Damon and Melissa McCarthy to the children of several famous actors, here's who pops up in the fourth Thor film.

We learn in a voiceover that she and Thor together are known as Love and Thunder. We see Thor take her home, make her pancakes, and teach her the ways of the superhero. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Thor gave up his throne as King of Asgard and hitched a ride with the Guardians of the Galaxy into space. At the beginning of Love and Thunder he’s still hanging out with the motley crew. Hemsworth’s two other children also appear in the film. Idris Elba’s Heimdall—the all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian god of the Bifrost Bridge—was Thor’s best friend and ally in all the previous Thor films. In a twist at the end of the film, Thor agrees to adopt Gorr’s daughter as Gorr lies dying. The legendary Greek hero is played by none other than Brett Goldstein, best known as the grumpy, potty-mouthed soccer player Roy Kent in Ted Lasso. Jaimie Alexander, who starred as Thor’s ally Sif in the first two Thor films had disappeared from the franchise. Unfortunately for Erik, he gets brainwashed by Loki and spends most of the Avengers mind-controlled. She briefly appears in Love and Thunder to visit Jane while Jane undergoes chemotherapy. A few old favorite characters from past Thor movies make brief appearances in the film. Thor: Love and Thunder is chock-full of cameos.

Taking over the franchise reins for Marvel's third solo romp with the hunky thunder god, director Taika Waititi injected the 2017 Thor: Ragnarok with impish wit ...

(Scenes featuring Lena Heady, of Game of Thrones, had to be cut, and Christian Bale has said that scenes he did with Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum were likewise excised.) This material will no doubt turn up somewhere down the line in expanded versions of the movie. "Team Jane!") But while Christian Bale is an actor of capacious ability, there's not a lot he can do with Gorr—a character entirely defined by grief and rage (and, okay, a useful ability to summon monsters from the bowels of the Earth). And bringing Russell Crowe into this movie to play Zeus is an idea that must have been hatched during an all-night mead bender. Elsewhere, though, the picture is busily over-designed, and aglow with colors that suggest an explosion in a candy factory. Although her cancer is incurable, Jane thinks there could be a medically restorative power in Thor's magical battle hammer, Mjölnir—now residing, in pieces, in Thor's home world of Asgard (which has become a complete space-tourist trap). Arriving there, she is startled to see the dismantled hammer reassemble itself and make a beeline for her hand—turning her into a new superhero: The Mighty Thor. (Later, checking out her cape and her metal breastplate and her familiar long blond locks, Thor says, "That's my hammer you've got there. We see Thor onboard the Guardians of the Galaxy spaceship with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and the rest of that gang. The last Thor movie was a lot of fun, you'll recall.

Vulture's Alison Willmore reviews Marvel and Disney's 'Thor: Love and Thunder,' directed by Taika Waititi and co-starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie ...

In the opening scene, a sun-blistered Gorr watches helplessly as his daughter dies in his arms out in the desert, and Bale plays the moment quietly, looking down at the girl with a tender despair that’s more devastating than a howl of grief. But he approaches Gorr — an alien with a cursed sword that allows him to wage war against the deities who’ve ignored his prayers for help — with such full-throttle commitment that he finds a genuine core of anguish that dwarfs the film’s supposedly bittersweet central love story. There are a few fresh bits — like a pair of screaming goats and an unexpected homage to Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon — but the overall feeling is that of a film spinning its wheels. With 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi brought a much-needed burst of off-kilter stylistic liberation to the franchise, but Love and Thunder runs similar ideas (a repeated use of Guns N’ Roses songs, Thor’s axe Stormbreaker getting jealous) into the ground. They tremble to life in her presence, and before long, Thor’s returning to Earth to find a female version of himself helping Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, sidelined but still a pleasure) defend the community. You’re constantly cowering in the shadow of epic clashes between gods and increasingly godlike superheroes, forever in danger of having your home knocked over as the passing collateral of some airborne battle, having some character crash down in front of your office and wreck the pavement of the street you take to work, or being held hostage by some powerful being who’s working out her grief by forcing a whole town to playact her sitcom fantasies.

The newest Thor movie is expected to be a hit--who could have guessed?

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on Love and Thunder's box office results. It went on to earn $315 million domestically and $539 million internationally for a global result of $854 million. The superhero movie is projected to bank as much as $300 million worldwide.

Two years ago, movie theaters were suffering through the pandemic and many in Hollywood wondered if going to the movies would become a thing of the past.

? And will "Avatar" still find an audience 13 years later? However, Robbins admitted there isn't "a great deal of built-in audience content slated to open from August to mid-October." Original films have struggled to find a sizable audience in recent years. This year's box office numbers present a "Choose Your Own Adventure" of sorts. That's excellent news for the industry, but should one movie represent that much of the domestic box office? Now, halfway through 2022, the reports of the death of theaters appear to be greatly exaggerated.

Take note. Thor: Love and Thunder's previews are also the fifth biggest for an MCU title behind Avengers: Endgame ($60M), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($50M), ...

In terms of Love and Thunder pre-sales figures, the pic came in at $48M, which though behind Doctor Strange 2‘s $85M (that pic coming off the halo of Spider-Man: No Way Home) is ahead of Jurassic World Dominion‘s $40M, Top Gun: Maverick‘s $38M and The Batman‘s $42M on the Thursday before opening day. Currently, Doctor Strange 2 has the best opening of the year at $187.4M, followed by Jurassic World: Dominion‘s $145M. That latter pic only raked in $18M off combined 4 p.m. Thursday-night and earlier-week previews. Given how the MCU devotees show up on Thursday night, when it comes to a Marvel title, you always have to wait it out to see how frontloaded it is, or whether it’s lassoing another ticket sales stratosphere. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score stands at 85% to Ragnarok‘s 87%. That said, word is fans will still love Love and Thunder and show up. Thursday night audiences made a date with Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder, which took in $29 million from showtimes that began at 3 p.m., making it easily the second-best preview figure in 2022 behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ $36M. And for those studios trying to puff up their preview numbers with Tuesday or Wednesday night showtimes, Thor: Love and Thunder‘s cash is pure Thursday night ticket sales.

If Marvel Studios has problems, they're clearly of the high-class variety. Its last sequel, featuring Doctor Strange, amassed more than $950 million ...

To the extent Disney+ has fueled demand for Marvel titles featuring lower-profile heroes, it seems logical, even inevitable, that those efforts would place greater strain on the theatrical portfolio. into a series format -- Marvel has continued to diligently hammer away on both fronts. Given that the service has raced ahead of subscriber projections to more than 137 million based on the last tally

The new film brings back Chris Hemsworth as Thor and introduces Christian Bale as a villain named Gorr the God Butcher. I'm Glen Weldon. THOMPSON: And I'm ...

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The Thursday opening is the fifth highest for an MCU movie and the 13th highest ever, tied with “Rogue One.” It's also the second biggest Thursday launch of ...

Internationally on Thursday, “Thor: Love and Thunder” has earned $48.6 million, where it’s now playing in 42 markets. The superhero movie, billed as a rom-com between Hemsworth’s Thor and his on-again, off-again love interest Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, is projected to earn between $145 million to $155 million in its opening weekend. An opening in that Asgardian ballpark would give “Thor: Love and Thunder” one of the highest debuts of the year, landing somewhere among The Batman” ($134 million debut), “Jurassic World: Dominion” ($145 million debut) and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($185 million debut). “Love and Thunder” is also on track to rain down more ticket sales than its predecessor, 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” also directed by Taika Waititi. That movie opened to $123 million in the U.S. and went on to gross $315 million domestically and $853 million worldwide.

The latest Thor adventure has two end-credits scenes—here's what happens, and what they both mean.

Credits scene two has to do with Jane Foster. As you see in the movie, Jane is a key part of helping Thor defeat Gorr in battle—but as a result of her using the power of Thor one last time, cancer gets the better of her and she dies in Thor’s arms. She’s not only battling Gorr and his shadows in the film, she’s battling that deadly disease. If you’ve watched Love and Thunder, it’s pretty well established throughout (Thor seeing Sif is one example, Odin dying in the stage production is another, plus there are more) that gods who die in battle are rewarded by going to Valhalla. Jane isn’t a god, she’s a human, but because she died in battle, and turned into the same gold specks we see in other instances, there’s a pretty strong indication of where she went. We’d argue the film’s natural ending is probably a bit more revealing when it comes to the future of Thor, but there are still two scenes in the credits and each has a strong significance. Another note here is that this is the third recent Marvel movie to pull a bit of stunt casting in its end credits sequences. Thor: Love and Thunder is the rare Marvel movie where its end credit scenes aren’t its biggest teases.

Like all MCU movies, Thor 4 has two post-credits scenes and an ending that will have a major impact on the shared universe going forward.

Sif also arrives in town, following a brief injury that cost her her arm, and works to start training the next generation of Asgardian warriors along with Valkyrie. Following a massive showdown, where in both the Asgardian children (deputized as little Thors) and Jane as Thor played massive roles, Gorr was able to open the gate to Eternity but Thor was able to follow him, interrupting his plans to, presumably, wish for the death of all gods. Similar to the comics, Mjolnir gives Jane superpowers and health, but unlike the comics, it doesn't act as a temporary cure for her cancer--she is still actively dying, even when she is empowered, and running on a ticking clock. While this technically isn't the first time Eternity has been mentioned in the MCU (it was, offhandedly, referenced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 during Peter's vision from Ego) it is the first time it's been actively explored--though a lot is left unclear. In fact, the MCU's take on Eternity not only sounds a lot like a much simpler (and less fetch quest oriented) version of the Infinity Gauntlet, it also sounds like the book of Vashanti from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Apparently the MCU is just loosey-goosey with all powerful MacGuffins these days. Gorr (Christian Bale), empowered by the god-killing Necrosword, made it his mission to cut a bloody swath across the universe, killing any and all gods indiscriminately.

Everybody's ready to welcome Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman back to theaters with Thor: Love and Thunder.

Although, when it comes to the sake of your eyes, this is a format you might want to skip; if only for your own sanity. Watching the 3D trailers for Thor: Love and Thunder, I got a good idea of what sort of elements I would be looking for as potential third-dimensional standouts in the Before the Window category. If you’re going to see Thor: Love and Thunder, you’re better off holding out for the IMAX 2D or Dolby experience. The handling of Gorr the God Butcher alone has seen this movie edge past not only the disappointing 3D score for Black Widow, but also the previous low point that was known as the Eternals 3D experience. Love and Thunder has some scenes that feel more blurred than others, which may lead to the inconsistent usage of Before/Beyond the Window thrills. Unfortunately, this is a specific factor that seems to have been let down in Thor: Love and Thunder, especially when it comes to one character in particular. As such, one could expect more of the same flying out of the window and into the laps of the audience in Love and Thunder. As Kevin Feige flat out admitted that it was the first Marvel film in a while that consciously aimed to maximize its third dimensional output, I thought this would be a sign of things to come. However, if you’re ready to see if you’re better off spending the 3D ticket money on a pair of magical screaming goats, this is the place to be. Thor is not only one of the OG franchises in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was also the first Phase 1 movie to bring 3D thrills to the table. Stereo-D is back at it with the conversion efforts for this latest Thor adventure, as they’re pretty much the lab of choice for Marvel’s cinematic efforts. One of the most pressing is, as you’ve already guessed by now, To 3D or Not To 3D?

The latest Marvel movie won't be streaming on Disney Plus for weeks -- maybe months. Here's how long you'll likely have to wait.

The good news is that its last Marvel film arrived on Disney Plus quicker than the ones before it. But for more than a year, Disney has been giving its live-action theatrical releases long stints of exclusivity in theaters before making streaming an option. Disney's streaming strategy for its theatrical releases has been all over the map.

[Editor's note: The following story contains spoilers for “Thor: Love and Thunder.”] Superhero films have a long, fraught history with the depiction of ...

Some might see it as a gimmick merely to manipulate tears (again, in the world of disability tropes, that’s valid). But when the notion of being a superhero is often used to erase disability, “Love and Thunder” doesn’t subscribe to that. The only time a disabled storyline has been the focus, outside of “Love and Thunder” is in the 2018 feature, “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” In that feature, the narrative’s villain, Ava (Hannah John-Kamen) has chronic pain and is determined to stop it by any means necessary. This is where “Love and Thunder” does its best to upend tropes like those seen in “Shazam!” Every time Jane uses the hammer, it literally sucks the power and life out of her. “Thor: Love and Thunder” isn’t going to be a disabled story for the ages. The best recent cinematic comparison then isn’t from another superhero movie, it’s with the lauded 2019 feature “Sound of Metal,” as the film follows Ruben (played by Riz Ahmed), a heavy metal drummer who believes that a cochlear implant will magically fix his deafness. It won’t “fix” anything, only delay her illness and help Jane live the rest of her life in a literally more powerful manner. Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) heart problems were at the center of the first “Iron Man” feature, another example of a magical cure storyline, though it’s not presented as a specifically disabled storyline. Interestingly, in the comics Jane’s demise plays out somewhat similar to the finale of the movie — Mjolnir saps the life out of her and Jane willingly decides to use the hammer one last time to save humanity. She doesn’t feel she’s done with the work she’s pioneered (both in science and, later, as the Mighty Thor) and is willing to take any cure presented to her. “Love and Thunder” condenses a lot of Jane’s cancer journey from the comics. There’s no dearth of these kinds of heroes and villains in comic books: Disabled superheroes have been around since the 1940s, with Doctor Mid-Nite — who can see in the dark but is blind at night — widely considered the first disabled superhero. And when these characters do appear in sprawling movie and TV franchises, they are often played by non-disabled actors (such is the case with “Daredevil” or Professor X in “X-Men.”)

Brett Goldstein (a.k.a. Roy Kent from 'Ted Lasso') makes a surprise appearance in one of two 'Thor: Love and Thunder' post-credits scenes, while the other ...

As the Mighty Thor, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) succumbs to cancer at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder after using the last of her life force to aid Thor in his battle against Gorr (Christian Bale). But she may not be gone for good. In the post-credits scene, Jane is greeted at the gates of Valhalla by Heimdall (Idris Elba), who tells her she is welcome to enter if she chooses. Even without the Thor mantle, Jane remains a superhero, balancing work at the morgue with cosmic adventures concerning life and death alongside her Pegasus, Mr. Horse. Thor and Hercules’s rivalry stretches all the way back to 1965’s Journey Into Mystery Annual No. 1, while their first meeting is fully detailed in the miniseries Thor: Blood Oath (2005). Hercules became a regular guest star in Thor’s adventures throughout the ’60s, and their rivalry turns into a friendship, though not one without its share of competitiveness. While neither delivers jaw-dropping revelations about the future of the MCU, both have big implications for Thor’s future and could set up his next installment or even some spinoffs. He decides that Thor, a god playing a superhero, needs to be brought down.

Chris Hemsworth and his godlike arms in Thor: Love and Thunder. Jasin Boland/Marvel. After the hilarious and action-packed Thor: Ragnarok, ...

But -- and no one is more amazed than me about this -- of the two Marvel movies so far this year, I enjoyed Doctor Strange over Taika Waititi. Love and Thunder is just too flippant. One way to balance that would be to throw in some genuine consequences, and actually hurt some of the lovable supporting characters. I know this is accurate to the comics, but it's still weird. But this same scene makes a joke out of the many times that Loki has died, come back, died again (and repeat). By making a gag of it, the film undermines the point. After the hilarious and action-packed Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder is one of the most eagerly-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. So initially I had a good time watching Love and Thunder, and laughed a bunch. That is a horrifying situation, and something that Asgardian heroes would probably want to deal with as a matter of some urgency. The folks at Marvel continually have their cake and eat it, devastating fans with big emotional moments by killing off much-loved characters -- only to then magic those much-loved (and lucrative) characters back to life so we can have more adventures with them. The shot that sums up this relentless gag-blasting approach comes early on, when Chris Pratt's Star-Lord turns to his fellow Guardians of the Galaxy while talking about looking into the eyes of those you love, only for Thor to poke his head into the frame. They're able to communicate with the children, who are locked in a terrifying spiderlike cage by a possessed child snatcher who looms out of the shadows, and somehow that turns into a gag-fest, too. I love director Taika Waititi's comedy stylings in Our Flag Means Death, What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. And I very much enjoy Chris Hemsworth's increasing opportunities to show off his comic talents. But it's had mixed reviews, and it's easy to see why.

Natalie Portman returns as Jane Foster and as Lady Thor with Chris Hemsworth as Thor in "Thor: Love and Thunder." Marvel's Thor returns to the big screen with " ...

If you haven’t checked out the show, then I urge you to give it a try. The template is the Spider-Man template." "Thor" (2011) and "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) were plodding and just downright bland.

Trying to figure out if there are any Thor: Love and Thunder end credit scenes? Here's a hint, there are and you definitely won't want to miss them!

Thoughts on the Thor: Love and Thunder post credit scenes? We say “scenes” because there is indeed more than one post-credit scene coming your way after the film’s main action concludes! From the very beginning, Marvel has become known for teasing future projects via post-credits sequences that help build towards the next chapter of its ongoing franchise.

Thor becomes the first Marvel superhero to get a four-quel in Thor: Love & Thunder, which finds him battling a villain called Gorr The God Butcher.

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