We’re in the final countdown to Thor: Love and Thunder! The red carpet premiere has happened, advance tickets are on sale, and there are only two weeks left until the movie hits theaters. That means that if you want to see it, but you’re not caught up on your Marvel movies, you don’t have much time left to do your homework. Don’t worry, though—you don’t have to watch the entire Marvel catalog to understand what’s going on. Here are the absolutely essential movies to watch before Thor: Love and Thunder.
Thor: Love and Thunder will see Thor turning his back on the superhero life in order to find out who he truly is. However, when Gorr the God Butcher begins his quest to wipe out all gods in the universe, Thor will have to put together a crack team to stop him: his best friend Korg, the Guardians of the Galaxy, King Valkyrie, and his ex-girlfriend Jane as the Mighty Thor.
Although they’re all interconnected, each Marvel property also more or less stands on its own. If you haven’t seen everything, there will probably be some references and Easter eggs in the new Thor movie that go over your head, but as a fan who came to the MCU gradually and originally saw everything out of order, I can tell you from experience that a few mysterious references won’t ruin your fun. There are really only three movies you should probably watch if you want to make sure you know what’s going on, and of those, only one is really essential.
Thor: Ragnarok
Ragnarok is the third movie in the Thor series, and the first directed by Taika Waititi, who’s also directing Love and Thunder. Returning to Asgard after years of adventuring, Thor discovers that he has a sister, Hela, the Goddess of Death. Hela is hellbent on taking over Asgard and then conquering the universe, and she’ll slaughter anyone who gets in her way. Unfortunately, Thor gets stranded on a far-off planet before he can stop her, and he has to figure out how to get back to Asgard and save his people from Hela’s destruction.
Ragnarok introduces the fan-favorite characters Valkyrie and Korg, and shows us the fate of Odin, Thor’s father and King of Asgard. Plus, it’s the movie that turned the ailing Thor franchise around after the disappointment of Thor: The Dark World. Ragnarok is tons of rollicking good fun, with Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s wayward brother Loki, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, and Jeff Goldblum as the unforgettable Grandmaster.
Avengers: Infinity War
Technically there’s a bunch of stuff you’re supposed to watch before you see Infinity War, since it’s the culmination of years of storytelling, but I know the clock is ticking here. Suffice it to say that there’s a big purple guy named Thanos, and there are also these six magical stones scattered throughout the universe, and he’s collecting them because they’ll make him the most powerful supervillain ever. Every superhero from every previous Marvel movie has to come together to stop him, because his plan for what to do with the stones is really bad news for half the universe. If a character shows up and you have no idea who they are, just assume they’re a Marvel superhero from a movie you haven’t seen and let the story wash over you.
Infinity War is the first of a two-part series in which everyone in the MCU meets each other and teams up for the first time to try and stop Thanos from getting the stones. It takes place immediately after Ragnarok—I mean, like, literally 10 minutes after Ragnarok’s mid-credit scene—and picks up Thor’s story from there. Note that since it’s a huge team-up movie, Thor only appears in maybe a third of it, so if he’s the only one you care about, you can probably go to the kitchen and refill your drink while all the other characters are doing their thing.
Avengers: Endgame
If you want to have some idea of what’s going on in the beginning of Thor: Love and Thunder, but if you only have the time and patience for one movie, then make it this one.
At the beginning of Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor is going to go “from dad bod to god bod” and Valkyrie will be carrying out her duties as King of New Asgard. But how did Thor get a dad bod in the first place? Why is there a Valkyrie on the throne instead of a member of the royal family? All these questions are answered in Avengers: Endgame!
Endgame is the second half of the story begun in Infinity War, so don’t read this paragraph unless you’re okay with Infinity War spoilers. In Endgame, Thanos has collected all six Infinity Stones and used them to erase half of all sentient life in the universe. At first, all hope seems lost, but then the Avengers hatch a last-ditch plan to get the stones back and undo what Thanos has done. Of all the storylines that come together in Endgame, Thor’s struggle with the grief and guilt of having lost his family and failed to stop Thanos is the most moving and interesting to watch (although it does unfortunately contain some fatphobia). If you want to understand why Thor is in the emotional place he’s in when Love and Thunder begins, then Endgame is essential viewing.
What About the First Two Thor Movies?
Watching the first three movies in the Thor series, instead of a duology in which Thor is part of an ensemble cast, might seem like the most logical course of action. But that’s not how the MCU rolls! Although the stuff that happened in Thor and Thor: The Dark World does have lasting effects on Thor and the other characters, the series isn’t one continuous story. Plus, frankly, the first two movies aren’t that good. If you feel like skipping them, just know that Jane is a scientist Thor met and fell in love with when he first came to Earth.
Bonus: Guardians of the Galaxy Volumes 1 and 2
Since the Guardians of the Galaxy also feature in Thor 4, I’ll mention that both of their movies are great, but probably not essential. If you have a spare evening and you enjoy watching the antics of violent talking raccoons, watch the first one.
(image: Marvel)
