It took a while, but Marvel Studios finally released the first teaser for Thor: Love And Thunder just over a month ago, introducing Thor fans—energized by both his recent team-ups with the Guardians Of The Galaxy and Taika Waititi’s franchise re-defining Thor: Ragnarok—to both the new status quo for the God Of Thunder (he has to reckon with a totally peaceful life where no god-hating villains will ever come to exterminate all gods!) and the mysterious new Thor, who wields a reforged Mjolnir and looks kind of familiar. But... there’s no way she’s Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, right? (Shhh, we’re maintaining a nearly decade-old spoiler for the fans who want to be surprised.)
Marvel has previously teased fans with a series of photos of the film’s characters, most notably some clearer pics of certainly-not-Jane in full Thor regalia. Tonight, Marvel Studios released a new Love And Thunder trailer during the NBA playoffs, showing Thor be forced to reckon with his newly empowered ex, with a wry remark that “You never forget your first.” Meanwhile, we get our first look at the film’s villain, Christian Bale as the very pale Gorr The God Butcher, plus Tessa Thompson doing wingman duty as Valkyrie. Also: Thor gets very naked, after he ends up in the hands of Russell Crowe’s Zeus, who “flicks too hard” when trying to expose the Odinson. And, of course, we get some quality Korg time, as he tells a group of children how our hero went from “dad bod to god bod.”
Thor: Love And Thunder, directed by Waititi (who also returns as Thor’s Fortnite buddy Korg), stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Christian Bale, Matt Damon (as himself?), Russell Crowe (as Zeus), and Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, and Karen Gillan (as the Guardians Of The Galaxy). It’ll be in theaters on July 8.