Chris Hemsworth

We already know Avengers: Infinity War is going to be huge, with the current MCU arcs building toward a crossover event that promises to be the studio’s biggest yet — even bigger than Captain America: Civil War. According to previous comments made by directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Infinity War will feature dozens of characters from the Marvel universe, including Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. As for the rest of the lineup, we can only make educated guesses, but a new casting call may have spilled the beans.

Late yesterday, Taika Waititi treated Marvel fans to a surprisingly lengthy video from the set of Thor: Ragnarok, which offered our first look at Tessa Thomspon’s Valkyrie makeup (or some of it) and showed off a few of the characters and props we’ll see in the new sequel (among other things). You might have missed a followup to that video over on Instagram, where Chris Hemsworth shared a photo to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe — and revealed his sleek new Thor costume.

Thor: Ragnarok will take us back to Asgard to show us what our favorite God of Thunder and his large green buddy have been up to since Age of Ultron, and with a director like Taika Waititi, we’re willing to bet this could the funniest Marvel movies ever made. Waititi is one of the most talented directors around (if you haven’t seen What We Do in the Shadows, what have you been doing with your life?) and when we heard he’d be directing a Marvel movie we were extremely hopeful that he’d breathe new life into the Avengers saga. With filming on Ragnarok wrapped, the director shared a Facebook Live video of the last day on set.

While I tend to enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve always felt so far that the two Thor movies are the weak link in that particular comic book chain. They’re well-cast for sure, but the plots tend to be underwhelming, the settings and effects aren’t always up to the scale of god beings soaring through the stars, and the villains (apart from Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, of course) have been even more forgettable than the typical Marvel baddies.

Even months before the movie was released, it was pretty obvious that Thor had no real place in Captain America: Civil War. That film was rooted in political intrigue and manipulation of trust; Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is really more of the Mary Poppins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not really worrying so much about the day-to-day and just popping in whenever he’s needed the most. To remain true to the character, there was no scenario in which Thor did not just roll his eyes and head back to Asgard until the whole thing had blown over.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, now in its eighth year, has been known to kickstart a lot of otherwise unknown actors’ careers, and give some their big break while rebooting others’ careers. While Robert Downey Jr. definitely had the biggest name at the start, it wasn’t easy for Jon Favreau to convince the Marvel execs that he was right for Tony Stark, but we’re all so glad he did. Chris Evans’ only other blockbuster credit was as the Human Torch in Fox’s Fantastic Four (2005) and its ill-fated sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), but his chiseled jawline soon landed him the title role in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

Is Chris Hemsworth’s Thor looking for a new primary care physician? Probably not, but he might be looking for a certain doctor.

Thor doesn’t go anywhere without his famous hammer Mjolnir. But did you know the Mjolnir seen in Thor: The Dark World is different than the ones in Thor and The Avengers? It’s 10 percent larger than the first Mjolnir, and it’s design incorporates elements from Thor’s new costume in The Dark World. That’s just one of the Asgardian facts featured in the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

Marvel really delivered the goods at Comic-Con last weekend, and while the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 footage got everyone in Hall H pretty pumped, nothing was as awesome as the short film Taika Waititi made for Thor: Ragnarok. Although that footage hasn’t made its way online (and probably won’t anytime soon), Waititi has shared a couple of pieces from the short, which shows us what Thor was up to while the Avengers were off fighting in their big Civil War.

If you heard a distant rumble of thunder in the distance over the holiday weekend, it might not have been inclement weather on the horizon. Marvel’s Thunder God is back.