By EMMITT MURPHY 

After months of patient waiting from fans, the first trailer for Marvel’s highly anticipated “Thor: Love and Thunder” was finally released to the public on April 18, 2022. Directed by Taika Waititi, the movie is to follow Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, as he attempts to find peace and lay down his weapons but is forced to return to battle when the God Butcher Gorr, played by Christian Bale, threatens the extinction of the gods.

An alternate poster for the film showing Natalie Portman as the Mighty Thor (Credit to IGN)

The movie takes heavy influence from Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic’s comic run on “Thor: God of Thunder” due to the scene showing Faligar the Behemoth’s corpse being a one for one recreation of the comic book panel. Gorr also originated from this run, and since then he has been widely regarded as one of the best Thor villains to date due to his incredibly dark nature and his somewhat agreeable stance on the virtue of the gods, which Nick Fury even approved of. 

According to Waititi, this might be the same in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), stating “In my humble opinion, we have probably the best villian that Marvel’s ever had in Christian Bale.” (via The Associated Press)

The movie also takes influence off of another Jason Aaron book simply titled “Thor” which is the introduction of Jane Foster as the titular character. The short eight issue story follows Jane as she becomes worthy of the power of the legendary hammer, Mjolnir, after Thor himself becomes unworthy. Alongside fighting mythical beings, Jane is also fighting an ongoing battle against breast cancer, which is ironically prolonged by Mjolnir due to the fact that the radiation from chemotherapy is constantly wiped from her body because of the hammer’s healing properties. It’s unclear how much of the origin is being lifted from the comics, but considering Marvel’s track record, it’s safe to assume that a good chunk will be adapted from the comics.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is lining up to be a solid entry into the MCU if its inspiration is any indicator and with Waititi at the helm, the movie is set to be fun and wild as any of his other films.