Currently in theaters, Thor: Love And Thunder brings together Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, who returns for a thunderous adventure! But where does the Marvel movie fit in the MCU timeline?
Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to have seen Thor: Love And Thunder before continuing to read this article.
Twenty-ninth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love And Thunder is also the fourth feature film dedicated to the adventures of the character played by Chris Hemsworth. The latter will have to face a terrible threat, Gorr the butcher of the Gods, camped by Christian Bale.
To fight this villain, the God of Thunder can count on the help of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) but also Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), his ex-girlfriend, who became Mighty Thor with Mjolnir, Thor’s former hammer!
Where is Thor 4 in the MCU timeline?
Thor: Love And Thunder is mostly set on other planets, aside from a few scenes in New Asgard, and exists quite independently from the MCU. No real easter egg and no convincing connection with other Marvel superheroes – apart from the presence of the Guardians of the Galaxy at the start of the film – allow Thor: Love And Thunder to be precisely located in the Marvel chronology.
Obviously, Thor 4 is set after Avengers: Endgame since the film is part of the MCU’s Phase IV and the God of Thunder teams up at the start of the film with the Guardians, as Avengers: Endgame hinted at the end.
But a clue can give us some information, at least a fork, about Love And Thunder’s place in the MCU timeline. The film indeed returns to the romantic relationship of Thor and Jane Foster on Earth, through a montage of flashbacks, but also to their breakup – “mutual” according to Thor – which we learned in Thor: Ragnarok.
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In the fourth film Thor, which sees the God of Thunder and Jane Foster meet for the first time after their separation, we learn that the two lovebirds have left each other “8 years, 7 months and 6 days ago”. Yes, Thor has been counting the days since breaking up with his beloved Jane Foster.
Even if we do not know the exact date of the separation between Thor and Jane, it should be during the year 2017 since Thor: Ragnarok takes place at the end of the year 2017. If we add the 8 years, 7 months and 6 days counted by the God of Thunder, so Thor: Love And Thunder should take place during the year 2025.
Which would mean that Thor: Love And Thunder is set after the Hawkeye series, which takes place in Christmas 2024, and that it should be set in the same year as the Moon Knight and Ms Marvel series, which also take place in 2025. For the moment, it is not possible to precisely locate Thor: Love And Thunder but we can assume that it takes place in 2025, or even at the beginning of 2026, according to the precise date of rupture between Thor and Jane.
It must be said that it is increasingly difficult to precisely locate recent films and recent series of the MCU as the evolution of phase IV is unclear. We will have to wait for new elements to better understand where this new phase of the Marvel universe is heading.