Thor: Love And Thunder Trailer Breakdown: The Story Of The Space Viking
"Thor: Love and Thunder" has cut it rather close with the release of its first full trailer, since the movie is due out in a month and a half, but it is finally here now to build on the anticipation of last month's teaser.
The teaser worked up to the reveal of Natalie Portman in full helmeted Thor regalia with jacked arms. With the new trailer, we get our first look at a couple of other big stars who are joining her and Chris Hemsworth in the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With "Love and Thunder," Thor becomes the first Avenger to get a fourth solo movie. Director Taika Waititi is returning from "Thor: Ragnarok" and will also reprise his role as Thor's rocky space bud, Korg. Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie is along for the ride, as are the Guardians of the Galaxy (at least part of the time). But you already knew that, and I should probably just cut the foreplay and skip to the trailer breakdown.
Get your popcorn out
The mellifluous voice of Korg provides the opening narration for the "Thor: Love and Thunder" trailer, as he and a group of blue-skinned aliens (maybe distant multiversal cousins of the Na'vi from "Avatar: The Way of Water"?), gather round the space campfire for tales of Thor's exploits. They're on a planet with a binary sunset and a tree that looks like something out of "The Lion King," a reminder that "Star Wars," Disney, and Marvel remain all mixed up in the same conglomerate and cultural hegemony. But I digress. Korg says:
"Kids, get your popcorn out. Let me tell you the story of the space viking, Thor Odinson. He was no ordinary man. He was a god."
From dad bod to god bod
As Korg says this, we see the god of thunder dramatically disrobe (more of that later). In his space pirate vest, Thor calls down the lightning on what looks to be the same alien planet. Then, we see a shot of him showing off the back of his bedazzled vest to the Guardians. Korg continues:
"After saving planet Earth for the 500th time, Thor set off on a new journey. He got in shape. He went from dad bod to god bod."
World's strongest god
While Korg narrates, we see some quick cuts of cruise ships docking at the port of New Asgard on Earth, along with Thor next to Korg, calling down the lightning again (and changing his costume in one fell swoop) using his trusty battle ax, Stormbreaker.
We then see the cave with the giant skeleton from the teaser again, where Thor is getting into shape, losing the weight he gained in "Avengers: Endgame" in what can only be termed the miraculous Montage Diet (something that comes all too easy for movie characters like him). Thor does chain exercises, jumping jacks, and even drags the Guardians' spaceship in a "World's Strongest Man"-like show of strength.
The one and only Thor? Not so fast
Korg continues his voice-over narration about Thor, saying, "After all that, he reclaimed his title as the one and only Thor." The scene shifts to a street where Thor is fighting un-helmeted, when suddenly his old mallet, Mjolnir, appears, its broken parts reconstituted into a whole hammer that hovers just out of reach. The hammer quickly sails back to its new owner, the Jane Foster Thor, played by Natalie Portman, and Korg says, "Ohhh, spoke too soon."
A fancy new helmet
Old Thor is surprised to see New Thor summoning Mjolnir. We get another shot of him, now in a fancy new helmet and different context, his jaw dropping, and then a two-shot of them standing across from each other with a burning building collapsing between them. The Marvel Studios logo comes up about 40 seconds into the trailer, while an orchestral version of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" kicks into high gear.
The old ex-girlfriend
My first reaction to Korg's campfire story was, "Wait, is Thor dead?" Korg speaks of Thor's legend in the past tense, saying he was this and that, but I'm undoubtedly reading way too much into that.
A winged horse flies in and Jane drops to the ground, her body electrified. She shows off her flowing blonde locks as Thor commiserates to Korg about "the old ex-girlfriend."
Never forget your first
"What's it been, like three, four years?" Jane says to Thor casually. But he remembers exactly how long it's been: "Eight years, seven months, and six days." That means they haven't seen each other since before Thanos caused half the universe's population to disappear in the Blip.
Jane obviously sat out "Ragnarok," so this is her first time back in Thor's solo movie series since "The Dark World," which actually hit theaters eight years, eight months, to the day before "Love and Thunder," on November 8, 2013. Thor jokes it off to Valkyrie, who visits the floating mountain realm of Pandora Olympus with him and Jane, but it's clear he still harbors feelings for Jane. As he says later, "You never forget your first."
Meet Gorr the God Butcher
About halfway through the trailer, we hear Christian Bale's voice as the new villain, Gorr the God Butcher. The sight of Gorr's chalky, yellow-eyed visage as he throws back his hood in his white robes is the biggest reveal of the new trailer. Gorr reaches in, grabs a sword, and says, "The only ones who gods care about is themselves. So this is my vow: All gods will die." Around this point, we also see the straight-from-the-comics image of the fallen Falligar the Behemoth, as we did in the teaser.
Gorr, part deux
There's another shot of Gorr that comes soon after our first glimpse of him, where he looks cleaner and a little less scary and is making his vow in what could be farm clothes. Gorr seems to undergo a vampiric transformation in the movie, with his mouth leaking black goo as he breaks bad, likely as the result of the All-Black symbiote possessing him and him drinking gods' blood, per his comic book M.O. The look of his mouth in the previous shot reminds me a little of Danny DeVito's Penguin in "Batman Returns."
The goat boat to Olympus
Thor's goat boat, which even has its own LEGO set, rides the rainbow to Olympus, where it appears to crash through the palace window, and where Jane and Thor both appear to tussle with some guards in gold armor. Gorr drives his sword into the ground, and, the way it's edited, it almost looks like he has the power to destroy a planet. Valkyrie is also shown having a one-on-one fight with Gorr, who says to Thor, "You are not like the other gods I've killed."
"Because I have something worth fighting for," retorts Thor. There's a part where Thor and Gorr face off in what looks like the All-Black Necroverse from the comics. Another part shows Nebula and Drax from the Guardians shooting and yelling. However, based on this trailer and the first one, it seems the Guardians exit the movie and are not as much of a presence as Thor's homegrown supporting cast.
Meet Zeus
The trailer's final big reveal is Russell Crowe as Zeus on Olympus. Zeus is the top god in the Greek pantheon, but as you might expect from a Taika Waititi movie, this Zeus doesn't take himself too seriously (not like Gorr). He's surrounded by beautiful women and doing a wacky accent, and with a wave of the hands, he flicks off Thor's "disguise," which leaves the god of thunder standing naked with a pixelated butt.
"You flicked too hard, dammit!" Thor yells. The women all swoon while Jane and Valkyrie sit on the sidelines and contemplate helping Thor "eventually."
A cornucopia of delights
The trailer began with talk of popcorn, and it ends with the women as spectators, eating grapes from a cornucopia. In "Love and Thunder," it looks like Waititi, Hemsworth, and company will bring the same irreverent humor they brought to "Ragnarok," and offer moviegoers a cornucopia of summer blockbuster delights.
With Zeus now entering the MCU, can his son (and Thor's fellow comics Avenger), Hercules, be far behind?
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is in theaters on July 8, 2022.