At the moment, Marvel is gearing up to launch the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As fans may know, it begins with the release of Black Widow (which sees Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff return home), followed by Eternals (which Oscar winner Chloé Zhao shot on location). And then, Marvel will also release the fourth installment of the Thor films, entitled Thor: Love and Thunder.
While Marvel already announced the film's core cast in the past, further casting information has also trickled in these past few months. This, in a large part, is due to several posts from Thor star Chris Hemsworth himself and the film's director, Taika Waititi. At the same time, eagle-eyed fans have also noted sightings of certain MCU stars, specifically everyone's favorite Guardians of the Galaxy actors. Unfortunately, Marvel hasn't confirmed if they would be in the movie and the actors themselves have refused to say anything for the most part.
What Marvel Has Said About This Upcoming Thor Movie
In 2019, Marvel made headlines when it announced its plans for the MCU’s Phase Four during the San Diego Comic-Con International. At the event, Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced several upcoming Marvel movies and series for Disney Plus. And as expected, it included their plans for the Thor installment following the massive success of Thor: Ragnarok.
This time, Marvel decided to switch things up, with actress Natalie Portman returning to the franchise and wielding the hammer herself. And it turns out, this idea had been in the works even while production on Ragnarok was underway. “[Director Taika Waitit] would flip through and read that run while he was doing 'Ragnarok,’” Feige explained during an interview with CNN. “And I think when he agreed to come back and do another Thor, he was like, 'How do we--?' This is a very big movie that'll be folding in a lot of elements. That is a huge important part of it. He pitched it to us, and we were totally in. We loved it.”
And although there were reports that Portman had no plans to return to the MCU, Feige said they had “been in touch with Natalie” so it was easy to get the ball rolling. “She's part of the MCU family and we put she and Taika together,” Feige recalled. “It took one meeting and she agreed to do it.” In addition, Tessa Thompson also returns in this sequel.
Meanwhile, Marvel Studios later announced that Christian Bale was also joining the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder. The Oscar-winning actor is playing the villain Gorr the God Butcher. In addition, it was also confirmed that Russell Crowe would be in the film. And while Marvel kept Crowe’s role under wraps, the Gladiator star let a little detail slip while speaking on the Melbourne-based podcast JOY Breakfast with The Murphys. Essentially, Crowe said that he was ready for “my last day Zeusing about.”
Aside from these actors, photos taken from the film’s set also showed actress Melissa McCarthy filming some scenes while wearing Hela’s (originally portrayed by Cate Blanchett) costume. McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, had previously posted a Christmas video on Instagram where the couple (almost) pleaded to be cast in the movie. In addition, Hemsworth’s brother, actor Luke Hemsworth, has also reportedly joined the cast.
These Guardians Of The Galaxy Stars Were Spotted During Thor 4's Production
Thor: Love and Thunder started shooting in Australia back in January with Hemsworth documenting a Welcome to Country ceremony, which the actor attended with Waititi. During this period, fans also spotted several popular Marvel stars flying to Australia too. These mainly include the main cast members from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
For instance, Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula in the MCU, confirmed that she had touched down in Sydney when she took a video of her view from the plane. More interestingly, the actress was also spotted arriving at a hotel with fellow MCU stars Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista. That said, only Pratt’s involvement in the upcoming film has been acknowledged so far. Of working with Pratt, Hemsworth even told GQ that his co-star was “wildly impressive with the spontaneity and the humor and the things he comes up with.”
So, Why Won't They Say Anything?
Despite the all the photos and video footage, other MCU actors have remained mum on whether they’ll appear in the new Thor movie. And it seems it’s because they’re not authorized to say anything at the moment. “Yeah, it’s one of those things where I kind of dance around it because I don’t want to piss anybody at Marvel off. I don’t want to piss anybody at Disney off,” Bautista explained while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. “And as far as I’ve heard, they said it’s not OK to confirm that you’re in the film.”
As for the photos surfacing online, Bautista has also acknowledged them but he remains hesitant to say anything more. “But obviously, when all the Guardians are on a Disney jet going to Australia and they photograph us walking into the hotel…,” the actor said. “There are photographs of everybody except for me on set. So because there were no photographs of me as Drax on set, I’ve not come out and said, ‘Yeah, I’m in Thor 4.’” On the other hand, Gillan hasn’t confirmed that she will appear in the movie although she did confirm to a fan that she had cut her hair in preparation for her transformation as Nebula.
Thor: Love and Thunder is slated for release in 2022. Till then, the film’s complete cast will remain a Marvel mystery.
