Production on Thor: Love and Thunder is moving to New York for the summer. Thor: Love and Thunder began filming at the start of 2021 in Australia, but the Marvel sequel is reportedly on the move and will film a week's worth of material in The Big Apple sometime this summer. It is currently unknown which characters will feature, or why production needs New York as a backdrop, but it's likely that a specific landmark is needed that cannot be convincingly recreated.

While Marvel has tried their best to keep plot details for the Thor sequel remain under wraps, Natalie Portman has stated several times that her role in the movie will be a big change for her. The actress previously revealed that she will suit up as The Mighty Thor in the movie, even wielding Mjölnir. "She does have powers. It's not exactly the same as Thor. It's her own version of it. And, she's called The Mighty Thor," Portman revealed last year, as well as proclaiming proudly, "I do, I do," in response to being asked whether Foster gets to take the hammer as her own.

It is safe then to assume that Thor: Love and Thunder will be taking inspiration from The Mighty Thor comic book run by writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman, which saw Jane Foster suit up as the Asgardian hero while receiving treatment for breast cancer, with the power of Thor's hammer both restoring her strength and stopping her cancer treatment from working, putting her in an impossible situation.

Aside from major changes to Jane Foster, Thor: Love and Thunder has quickly become a Marvel event, with the movie all set to bring back several familiar faces from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, and even the amateur performers from 2017's Thor:Ragnarok including Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Sam Neill who will be joined by Melissa McCarthy as the fake version of Hela.

If that were not already enough, Oscar-winner and The Dark Knight star Christian Bale is also on board as the villain Gorr the God Butcher, an extra-terrestrial warrior whose hatred of the gods leads him on a revenge mission across time and space. Bale will be joined by fellow Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, who was recently revealed to be playing Zeus, leading to much speculation that Hercules will also feature. Phew. Now, that is a lot for Chris Hemsworth's superhero and director Taika Waititi to contend with.

Waititi at least does not sound too troubled by all of these elements though, with the filmmaker confident that Thor: Love and Thunder will be a standout installment in the Marvel franchise. "We've got four weeks left, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. It might be the best Marvel film ever..." he said. "[Chris Hemsworth] is a funny guy, he's a good friend and he's also someone that you just want to hang out with all the time. And I think that's all you really want from a superhero or a main character in your movie."

Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 6, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. This comes to us from Muprhy's Multiverse.