The first teaser for Thor: Love and Thunder, starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, and the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok is finally here. And not a moment too soon.

For Marvel movies, we usually get a teaser almost a year in advance. For whatever reason, Marvel Studios didn’t do that with Thor: Love and Thunder. Instead, we get the first teaser just three months out from the release of the film itself.

In this new film, Thor finds himself on a journey unlike any he’s ever undertaken. With Thanos, the Mad Titan, finally defeated and the universe snapped back into some semblance of order, there are no epic wars to fight, no entire planes of existence hanging in the balance. It’s time for introspection and repurposing.

The trailer sets up the situation, showing us some of the threads in the tapestry of the life of the God of Thunder. Thor has been working off that beer gut, getting back into shape and traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy,

Thor’s quest for inner peace is interrupted by a new threat (there always is one)calling himself Gorr the God Butcher, who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who — to Thor’s surprise — inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjølnir, as the Mighty Thor.

Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

With Natalie Portman returning as Jane Foster and becoming the new Thor, it indicates that Love and Thunder will be heavily influenced by writer Jason Aaron’s The Mighty Thor run of comics, drawn by Russell Dauterman. During this several-year arc, we saw Jane wield mighty hammer Mjölnir. Somehow there doesn’t seem to be room for Foster’s story arc in which she is battling breast cancer while serving as Thor, with the complication that each time she transforms, her body is purged of the chemotherapy that is holding her life threatening disease at bay. In the comics, it eventually kills her.

Do yourself a huge favor and watch the whole teaser. Marvel Studios isn’t pulling any punches. We get to see Natalie Portman as the new Thor in full regalia, wielding the legendary hammer.

However, this is just the teaser, and it is yet three months until the release of Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8th. This could unfold before us.

Thor: Love and Thunder is slated to hit theaters on July 8th, 2022.

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