Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth breaks a Marvel Cinematic Universe record with the upcoming film, but it may not be his alone for much longer.
Speaking to Deadline, executive producer Brian Chapek commented on the fact that Hemsworth is currently the only MCU star with four feature films under his character's name. Then Chapek teased, "Well I would say he's the only person so far to get four movies. That's not necessarily a hint, but it's not a restriction, either."
Thor: Love and Thunder marks Hemsworth's fourth solo starring outing in the MCU's series centered on the titular God of Thunder. Other MCU mainstays have made it to three films in their respective franchises, including Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Chris Evans' Captain America. Evans has previously commented on what returning to the MCU would take, saying, "It just would be scary to, you know, rattle something that is, again, so, so dear to me. You know, that role means so much to me. So to revisit it, it would be a tall order."
Paul Rudd's Ant-Man is also poised to reach the three-film milestone with the upcoming release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Star Evangeline Lilly has already given the film high praise, saying, "Film sets are already impersonal enough, there is so much that goes on and so much that has to get done in a short amount of time, and the intensity level is really, really high." She added, "But I actually think…what we did, the stuff we shot, the material we managed to get, I think it might be the best one yet."
Apart from the return of Hemsworth's God of Thunder, the latest entry into the Thor series is set to see Natalie Portman reprise her role of Jane Foster, this time wielding Mjolnir and all the powers of Thor. Thor: Love and Thunder will also be the live-action debut of the MCU's Greek pantheon as just some of the gods being hunted by Christian Bale's deicidal Gorr the God Butcher. The new villain is already being lauded as one of the MCU's best, with director Taika Waititi saying, "He's also tested the highest out of any villain that Marvel's had."
Hemsworth also remarked on Gorr's place in the film and MCU, as well as the villain's motivation throughout. Hemsworth said, "There's a real complexity to him." He continued, "It's not black and white, what he's doing. He has a truthful motivation, which I think makes for the most interesting kind of villain. You might not agree with how he's going about it, but you understand why he's been tipped over the edge and why he's gone down this path."
Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in theaters on July 8.
Source: Deadline