After finally kickstarting its promotional tour on April 18, Thor: Love and Thunder pushes toward its July 8 release date with exciting new updates at every turn. The first trailer gave fans a look at a back in shape God of Thunder alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy, Korg, and Valkyrie, finishing off with a glimpse at Natalie Portman as the Mighty Thor.
While Portman didn't get any dialogue and saw less than five seconds of screentime, her return will have a key impact on the story that Thor 4 will add to the ever-expanding MCU. Confirmed to take on Jane's comic storyline when she's stricken with cancer, fans look forward to finding out how she comes into possession of a put-back-together Mjolnir as the mighty hammer returns to glory.
Following that trailer, the MCU faithful have gotten a couple of full looks at Portman's revamped hero, with one shot showing her decked out in full armor and another placing her in a meeting of the Gods alongside Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.
Now, with a second trailer finally out to the public during Game 4 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals, Marvel Studios provided the best look yet at the MCU's newest power player.
Natalie Portman Shines in Thor 4 Trailer
During the second full trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel Studios showed new footage of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/The Mighty Thor.
Early in the trailer, Marvel reused the shot of Portman from the first teaser as the footage expanded further into the fight. She then removes her helmet as she sees her ex-boyfriend in his upgraded costume, with Thor shocked to see her wielding Mjolnir as a building topples over next to them:
Thor and Jane walk down the streets of Olympus in front of Korg and Valkyrie in a shot that gives the best look yet at Portman's full Mighty Thor costume. Her new blonde hair flows under her comic-accurate helmet as Thor's new blue-and-yellow suit shines in the sun:
Portman got her first true opportunity to shine in this new footage with action sequences, wielding Mjolnir against oncoming bad guys as she reunited with Thor. Right before the title card, she holds Mjolnir high above her head and calls down a storm of lightning into the hammer, showing off her jacked new muscles as she uses her new powers:
The full trailer can be seen below:
"8 Years, 7 Months, and 6 Days..."
Natalie Portman is back, and she is not messing around in her first true MCU appearance since 2013.
Reports had shared how much time Portman spent in the gym working out to make sure she had the physique to embody the new Goddess of Thunder, especially coming back alongside a buffer Chris Hemsworth than ever. It's safe to say that this trailer alone showed how much that work paid off, letting her new superhero form shine as she wields Mjolnir and lays the smackdown on whoever stands in her way.
With Thor and Jane having broken up before the events of 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, much of the sequel's runtime will likely focus on their reunion as they try to figure out where they stand with one another. Throw in Jane's new powers after "eight years, seven months, and six days...give or take" apart from each other, and it adds a fun new dynamic for Thor to deal with as his supporting cast grows even bigger.
All things considered, Marvel is intent on bringing Portman back into the spotlight as she becomes a fully formed hero for the first time in her third full MCU movie (fourth when counting Avengers: Endgame). Her story will be one that adds plenty of intrigue to the plot as a whole, and there is no doubt that she'll be one of the franchise's most powerful new characters upon her return.
Thor: Love and Thunder will debut in theaters on July 8.
