Taika Waititi may have spent his post-“Thor: Ragnarok” success winning a screenplay Oscar for “Jojo Rabbit,” but the writer and director returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with flying colors next month with “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Reuniting with star Chris Hemsworth and with Natalie Portman returning as Jane Foster, hopes are high for this next installment — and if initial reactions out of Thursday night’s LA premiere are any indication, the film does not disappoint.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” puts our hero up against one of his most formidable foes yet: Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) and powerful extraterrestrial hellbent on sending gods into extinction. He faces off with Gorr alongside Portman’s Foster, returning for the first time since 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World,” who also possesses the power of Thor. Tessa Thompson returns as Valkyrie, and the film co-stars “Guardians of the Galaxy” heavyweights Chris Pratt and others.
Hitting theaters on July 7, official reviews are embargoed until July 5, but the audience response from Thursday’s premiere is rather enthusiastic, giving us hope that after critical misfires like “Morbius” and the middling “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,” audiences are in for a treat with “Love and Thunder.”
Catch some of those premiere reactions below.
