Thor: Love And Thunder: Release Date, Cast, And More

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Chris Hemsworth's Thor is the first founding Avenger to get a fourth solo movie, but he won't be entirely alone in "Thor: Love and Thunder." Like "Thor: Ragnarok," which saw him buddying up with Hulk and leading his own team of off-brand Revengers, "Thor: Love and Thunder" will see the Odinson sharing screen time with the Guardians of the Galaxy. It will also feature the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster.

Here's everything we know about "Thor: Love and Thunder."

The hammer of the gods will drive "Thor: Love and Thunder" to theaters on July 8, 2022.

In 2021, the pandemic led Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the distributor of every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2012, to experiment with a new release model for "Black Widow." It made the movie available through the Premier Access tier on the Disney+ streaming service the same day it hit theaters. With "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," however, it shifted back to the traditional release model, giving the movie a 70-day window of theatrical exclusivity before it hits Disney+.

Things are always subject to change due to the pandemic situation, but we can probably expect "Thor: Love and Thunder" to enjoy a similar window of theatrical exclusivity, anywhere from 45 to 90 days, followed by a streaming rollout on Disney+ and other VOD platforms.

"Love and Thunder" is the fourth "Thor" film and the 29th film overall in the MCU. It's a sequel to "Thor: Ragnarok," which played fast and loose with the god of thunder's movie and comics history, and in doing so, helped revitalize him as a comedic character. It's also a continuation of Thor's story in "Avengers: Endgame," where he made peace with his departed mother, Frigga (Rene Russo), and linked up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hemsworth has teased that "Love and Thunder" will be "crazy off the wall funny and might also pull a heart string or two." Given that it's bringing back the director of "Thor: Ragnarok," expect "Love and Thunder" to lean more into the new Thor and less into the old, slightly more serious hero of MCU films pre-2017.

"Thor: Ragnarok" director Taika Waititi is back in the director's chair for "Thor: Love and Thunder," and now he's taking on the role of co-writer, too, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Naturally, Marvel Studios head honcho, Kevin Feige, is producing.

Todd Hallowell is joining Victoria Alonso and Louis D'Esposito as an executive producer, and Mark Mothersbaugh will provide the music again, as he did in "Ragnarok." This time, Barry Baz Idoine serves as cinematographer. 

"Avengers: Endgame" used leftover footage from previous "Thor" movies to give Natalie Portman a cameo, but other than that, she's been absent from the MCU since "Thor: The Dark World" back in 2013. "Love and Thunder" will imbue her with a different version of Thor's powers, and Portman has been chugging protein shakes and doing weight training to bulk up as the newly super-powered Jane Foster.

Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie will continue her rule over Asgard, and "Love and Thunder" is also bringing back another important woman from Thor's life: namely, Sif, played by Jamie Alexander, who made a special appearance in "Loki," the Disney+ series built around Thor's villainous brother.

Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are joining the cast of "Thor: Love and Thunder" as Gorr the God Butcher and Zeus, respectively. This will be Bale's first superhero movie since retiring as Batman. Waititi is voicing Korg again, and Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and Sean Gunn are all on hand from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies.

Melissa McCarthy is reportedly cameoing as a member of the Asgardian acting troupe populated by Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth, the real-life brother of Chris Hemsworth.