Thor: Love and Thunder is going to be a Marvel Studios family affair. We’ve known for a while the film would be a spiritual Avengers 5, and now that principal photography for the Taika Waititi film is underway in Sydney — that’s for certain. Monday morning, photos surfaced from the set showing off some of the character’s new costumes. There’s Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in a totally rad Thunderstrike-inspired costume while Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord stands by in a new jacket.
Then there are Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn). Though we’ve known Nebula would appear in the movie, it’s newsworthy that, as of now, Gunn is appearing as Kraglin, rather than filling in as the on-set Rocket Raccoon motion reference character as previously speculated.
Nebula and Kraglin behind the scenes of Thor: Love and Thunder
(via Daily Mail) pic.twitter.com/2QRDzED5uf
— Thor: Love and Thunder News (@lovethundernews) February 1, 2021
According to Waititi, one major source of inspiration for the upcoming feature is Jason Aaron’s The Mighty Thor, the comic run that features Jane Foster turning into the Goddess of Thunder. Here, it’s been confirmed Natalie Portman will reprise her role as the fan-favorite character from Thor and Thor: The Dark World.
“That comics run was a big inspiration, and was an influence on the first few drafts,” Waititi told Variety. “But at Marvel, we always change everything. I could say one thing right now, and in two years, it will be the complete opposite — or that thing won’t exist. We continue writing even in post-production.”
As to how he convinced Portman to return after sitting out Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi said, “I just said to her, ‘Are you interested in coming back to this thing, but doing something really different?’ Because another thing, no one wants to keep repeating themselves and no one wants to play the same characters all the time. And I think for her, just coming back reprising that character but in this whole fresh new way, is really what I think would interest anyone. Especially, in most of these films, if you’re not a superhero… do you really want to keep doing that? I mean, I wouldn’t. I would want to come back and change things up.”
Thor: Love and Thunder is set for release on February 11, 2022. You can catch up with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise as both movies are now streaming on Disney+.
What other characters do you think will end up appearing in Love and Thunder? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!