Marvel Studios is going to try revitalizing one of its first MCU romances in this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder. The upcoming film will pick up after the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and will follow Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as he’s forced to go to war with Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a dangerous being intent on killing every god in the multiverse.
His journey will result in Thor reuniting with a superpowered Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), his ex-girlfriend. Jane and Thor’s relationship hasn’t been truly explored in the MCU since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, but their romance is expected to be the main focus of Love and Thunder.
In fact, it looks like the film’s efforts to put Thor and Jane’s relationship at the center of its story will involve several detours into the past.
Moments of Heartbreak — The Direct reports that the Spring 2022 issue of D23 Magazine includes several quotes from both Hemsworth and Portman about Jane and Thor’s relationship in Thor: Love and Thunder. According to the stars, the new film will fill in some of the biggest gaps in their romance via flashbacks to moments they shared together prior to the events of Love and Thunder.
One moment will apparently be their breakup, which the MCU has only briefly alluded to. Hemsworth told D23 that the ambiguity surrounding Jane and Thor’s relationship meant that he, Portman, and director Taika Waititi had a lot of freedom when they were crafting the film’s flashback sequences.
"There actually wasn't a whole lot of evidence to definitively say, 'This is how they broke up. This is what happened,'” Hemsworth said. “It was left open for interpretation, which was great because it allowed us to go on this fun journey. 'What did their relationship look like when they were together? What did it look like when they were breaking up? Why did they break up?' It's some of the funniest stuff in the film."
Moments of Love — MCU fans have been speculating that Thor: Love and Thunder is going to show Jane and Thor’s breakup ever since set photos from the film’s production leaked last year that appeared to show Portman and Hemsworth filming a flashback sequence together. Now, with only a few weeks to go until Love and Thunder is released, it looks like fans were right.
The reveal that Love and Thunder will fill in some major gaps in Thor and Jane’s relationship isn’t just exciting because it means one of the biggest fan theories surrounding the film is correct. This update also suggests that Thor: Love and Thunder will lean into the rom-com aspects of its story, which should help separate it from the many MCU films and shows that have preceded it.
After all, is a movie really a rom-com if it doesn’t have at least one breakup scene?
The Inverse Analysis — There are a lot of reasons to be excited for Thor: Love and Thunder, but one of the biggest is how unabashedly romantic it seems to be. Marvel has a history of putting as little effort as possible into many of its romances, which is disappointing because when they do put the effort in, like with Steve and Peggy or Wanda and Vision, they tend to get it right.
The MCU is a franchise in desperate need of more romance, which is why Thor: Love and Thunder’s wacky but romantic premise seems so promising. While it remains to be seen just how well the film follows through, the inclusion of these Thor and Jane-centric flashbacks suggests that the movie is going to properly build one of the MCU’s first romances back up again.
Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022.
