With many Marvel fans currently occupied with the release ofShang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings, thatSpider-Man: No Way Hometrailer and what it all means forDoctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness, it has been a while since we heard anything new about the other movie that has already wrapped filming and arrives next year:Thor: Love and Thunder. With the movie bringing in theGuardians of The Galaxy, and seeing the once unthinkable return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, the fourth solo outing for the God of Thunder is set to be something pretty big. And it isn’t the only thing that is coming packed, because Natalie Portman had to go through some rigorous training to get in shape for her Marvel return as she revealed in a recent interview.
Speaking toVanity Fairabout her upcoming appearance, which will be her first sinceThor: The Dark Worldin 2013 - if you discount her cleverly worked appearance inAvengers: Endgame- the Oscar winner discussed how afterbuilding her body up for the role, she “feels strong for the first time.”
“It was really fun,“Natalie PortmantoldVanity Fair. “I worked with a trainer, Naomi Pendergast, for, I think it was, four months before shooting, and then obviously all the way through filming. We did a lot of weight training and a lot of protein shakes-heavyweight training that I haven’t ever done before. Of course, I’ve never really aimed to get bulky. It was very physical, so it was a lot of both agility work and also strength work.” She later added, “It definitely helps you get into character, and it’s definitely changed the way I move. You walk differently; you feel different. I mean, it’s so wild to feel strong for the first time in my life.”
It has been a badly kept secret for some time that Portman would be returning to the franchise, to once again appear opposite Chris Hemsworth as Thor, andthe story will see her transform into The Mighty Thor, just like in the comic arc of Jason Aaron. While you may think that the writer who came up with the concept would have just a hint as to how it is all going to look on screen, but when asked about that very thing by a fan on social media, Aaron said, “What little I know makes me even more excited. I have all the faith in the world in Taika.”
Taika Waititi managed to bring Thor back from brink inRagnarok,giving the Norse God an overhauland banishing the ghosts ofThor: The Dark World, which manyMCUfans still hold as their least favorite movie in the franchise. For that reason alone, this Thor movie seems like it couldn’t be in better hands, but if there is more reason needed to get excited, then it should be remembered that there are almost as many returning characters inLove and Thunderas in an Avengers movie.Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan will be all making an appearance, as well as Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Christian Bale makes hisMCUdebut as villain, Gorr The God Butcher, another character direct from Jason Aaron’s comics.Thor: Love and Thunderis currently slated to arrive in cinemas on July 27, 2025.
