“Thor 4” has a title and a release date. “Thor: Love and Thunder” will hit theaters Nov. 2021, Marvel Studios announced during the Marvel Comic-Con panel inside Hall H on Saturday.
What’s more, Natalie Portman will return to play Thor’s erstwhile love interest Jane Foster — and she’ll take up the mantle of Thor, the Goddess of Thunder as she did in the comics from 2014-2018 in Marvel Comics.
Onstage for the announcement was Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, along with Tessa Thompson, whose Valkyrie is the newly-crowned Queen of New Asgard, and Waititi.
Taika Waititi will return to write and direct. The filmmaker directed the third film in the installment, “Thor: Ragnarok,” which was written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher L. Yost. Waititi also portrayed Korg in “Ragnarok” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
The plot remains under wraps, but near the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” two huge things happened with major implications for the Asgardians. First, Thor abdicated the throne and handed it over to Valkyrie (she was pretty much already running things in New Asgard anyway) and then left Earth on a journey to parts unknown with the Guardians of the Galaxy. And second, as they get ready to depart, Thor jokingly refers to the group as the “Asgardians of the Galaxy,” leading to a funny exchange with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) about who really leads the team.
So we know at least where Thor might be when he returns. But during the panel, Thompson provided what appeared to be further crucial information. “First of all, as a new king, she needs to find her queen. So that will be the first order of business,” she told fans in Hall H.
“Thor: Ragnarok” grossed $854 million at the worldwide box office since its debut in November of 2017, and scored rave reviews from critics, achieving a 93 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an “A” CinemaScore.