When Will the Trailer for ‘Thor 4’ Release?

I’d say we Thor fans have been very, very patient these past couple of years. Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth movie in the Thor franchise and the second one to be directed by Taika Waititi, AKA the funniest and best director alive, has already been delayed so many times. First, the movie was delayed in 2020 when Covid shut down the film industry. We rejoiced when a new release date of February 2022 was announced, but then the movie was delayed until May. Then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was pushed back to the May slot, and Thor was pushed back to July 8. But at least we have a trailer to pore over, right? NOPE. All we have are some set photos and merchandise. Our patience has been tested enough, Marvel! WHEN IS THE TRAILER COMING?

The new Thor outing will circle back to the God of Thunder after the events of Avengers: Endgame, when he named Valkyrie King of New Asgard and left Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find his destiny and have some sweet space adventures. All we know so far about Thor 4 is that Jane Foster will wield a reconstituted Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor, Zeus will invade New Asgard, and Gorr the God Butcher will make some serious trouble. Presumably the multiverse will also somehow be involved, since that’s the main theme of Marvel’s Phase 4, but that’s mainly conjecture right now.

Waititi has hinted, though, that the new movie is going to be just as wild and fun as his last Marvel movie, Thor: Ragnarok. In a 2021 interview with Empire, Waititi said that “there’ll be far more emotion in this film. And a lot more love. And a lot more thunder.”

We want it so bad! We want that love! We want that thunder! (In a purely cinematic sense, of course.) So when will the first trailer come out? Let’s see if we can find a pattern in Marvel’s teaser release dates.

Some Desperate Augury, Featuring Math

The first thing to remember about Marvel trailer releases is that thanks to Disney Plus and Covid, everything has changed. Movie theaters aren’t pulling in audiences like they used to, and film studios are recalibrating how they market their theatrical releases based on that data. So forget everything you thought you knew before 2020.

Here are some of Marvel’s recent movies, with their teaser trailer release dates.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out on September 3, 2021. Its teaser came out on April 19, almost 5 months beforehand.

Eternals came out on November 5, with a teaser release date of May 24—again, roughly 5 months.

Then Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s release date of December 16 approached, and things got weird. Marvel held on to Spidey’s trailer until November 16—only one lousy month before the premiere! They made it up to us at the end of the movie, though, surprising us with the teaser for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after the credits. (Fun fact: do you know why trailers are called trailers? Because they used to come after the movie. Nostalgia!) That brought Marvel back to its 5 month pattern.

But wait a minute! July 8 is less than 4 months away!

Yep. Unfortunately, there’s an additional complicating factor with Thor, which is that it’s gone back for reshoots with Christian Bale. Reshoots don’t necessarily have to affect the timing of the trailer, since they could be reshooting footage that they don’t need for the trailer, but now Jeff Sneider of The Ankler claims that Thor 4‘s trailer is indeed being held up by the reshoots.

What this means is that we might not see the trailer for another few weeks. There are a few rumors drifting around the Internet that a trailer might drop in mid-April, so if you’re looking for a good time to go on high alert, that may be it.

Plus, Marvel may be establishing a new precedent with its Multiverse of Madness teaser, which means that we would see the Thor 4 trailer on May 6, after the credits. (This is why you never, ever walk out before the credits are over at a Marvel film, people!)

In any case, stay calm! Marvel is still sticking with the July 8 release date for now, even though Waititi joked in an interview that they’ll finish the movie at the end of June, so a trailer can’t be more than a few weeks away.

In the meantime, enjoy these reactions from antsy fans on Twitter! They’ll make you laugh through your tears of frustration.

Do you have any predictions about when the trailer will drop? Let us know in the comments!

(image: Marvel Studios)