Thor: Love and Thunder Trailer Reveals Russell Crowe as Marvel's Zeus
Russell Crowe thunders into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder. The Man of Steel and Oscar-winning Gladiator actor plays the Olympian god Zeus, who will ride the lightning and feel the thunder in director Taika Waititi's '80s throwback sequel to Thor: Ragnarok. The trailer, which reveals Jane Foster's (Natalie Portman) electrifying entrance as the Mjolnir-wielding mighty Thor, teases a team up with the retired Thor (Chris Hemsworth) when Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) seeks the extinction of the gods. See the first look at Crowe's Zeus below.
"Now, I'm gonna get on my bicycle, I'm gonna ride up to Disney-Fox studios... and round about 9:15, I shall be Zeus in Thor 4," Crowe revealed on an Australian radio show last year. "It's my last day of Zeus-ing about."
Crowe cameos as part of a cast that includes Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie of New Asgard, Taika Waititi as Korg, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, and the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon.
Waititi's sequel to 2017's Ragnarok is "the craziest film I've ever done," the What We Do in the Shadows and Jojo Rabbit director told Empire Magazine about his return to the MCU. "If you wrote down all the elements of this film, it shouldn't make sense. It's almost like it shouldn't be made. If you walked into a room and said, 'I want this and this and this.' Who's in it? These people. What are you going to call it? Love And Thunder. I mean, you'd never work again. Maybe I won't after this."
The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he's ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his 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: Love and Thunder is playing only in theaters July 8.