Thor: Love and Thunder Director Reveals How Close to the Comics the Story Will Be

Thor: Love and Thunder will be faithful to the comic book storylines that inspired it, according to director Taika Waititi. The fourth Thor movie from Marvel Studios draws inspiration from Jason Aaron's seven-year run writing several of Marvel's Thor comics, including Thor: God of Thunder and The Mighty Thor. The latter series cast Jane Foster, Thor's old flame, as the new Thor. Regarding that story, in particular, Waititi hopes to build on the highlights. "We stick pretty closely to Jane's storyline, and what happened to Jane," he tells Total Film, "because that was such an influence on the film. We're trying to take the best parts of that."

Fans got a sense of how close the film is hewing to the comics visually when a shot from the first teaser recreated a specific panel from Thor: God of Thunder. As for Jane's return (possibly after being "blipped" by Thanos), that's going to be something Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) will need some time to wrap his head around.

"It's been about eight years," Waititi previously told Empire Magazine. "She's had a whole other life, and then the love of your life comes back on the scene, and is now dressed like you. It's a real mindfuck for Thor. I didn't know we were going to use the storyline of the Mighty Thor character until we started working out the actual story. I was writing and it was like, 'Wouldn't it be kind of cool to bring Jane back into the storyline?' You don't want Natalie coming back and playing that same character who's walking around with science equipment. You know, while Thor's flying around, she's left on Earth, tapping her foot going, 'When's he going to be back?' That's boring. You want her to be part of the adventure."

According to Marvel Studios' official film synopsis, "Thor: Love and Thunder finds the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he's ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But Thor's retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor's surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, 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."

Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi returns to direct the sequel. Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum are producing. Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on July 8th.