When does Thor: Love and Thunder take place on the Marvel timeline?

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We break down when Thor 4 is set in the MCU

Thor: Love and Thunder
(Image credit: Marvel/Disney)

Where does Thor: Love and Thunder fit on the Marvel timeline? It's not an easy question to answer, because the exact timeframe of the movie is fairly vague. Still, there are some clues that help pinpoint when the movie might take place in the Marvel line-up. 

The film sees the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, now the Mighty Thor, who teams up with Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, and Taika Waititi's Korg to go up against Christian Bale's terrifying Gorr the God Butcher, who, as the name suggests, intends to kill all of the MCU's gods.  

The most recent Marvel releases, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ms. Marvel, are both set in the same year. So how does Thor: Love and Thunder fit into the chronology? We explain all below… and don't worry, the following is completely spoiler free, so you can read on even if you haven't had a chance to catch the movie just yet. 

When does Thor: Love and Thunder take place on the Marvel timeline?

Director Taika Waititi previously indicated that the movie takes place four years after Avengers: Endgame, which places it in 2027 – for context, Doctor Strange 2 and Ms. Marvel both take place in 2025 (remember, MCU time is a bit ahead of our own due to the Blip). That seems a little too far ahead, then, and potentially a simple misstep from the director as the movie itself offers more clues. 

For one thing, Thor says exactly how long it's been since he and Jane last saw each other: eight years, seven months, and six days. We don't know exactly when the God of Thunder and the astrophysicist parted ways, but the breakup is referenced in Thor: Ragnarok, which is set in 2017/2018. 

Eight years on from then puts Love and Thunder at around 2026, which is just a little further on than Multiverse of Madness and Ms. Marvel. So, depending on when Thor and Jane actually called it quits, the movie could be set anytime from 2025 to 2027, though it's probably safe to pin it between 2025-2026. Narrowing the window down any further is pretty much impossible, because the time of year isn't very obvious in the movie and there aren't any references to the events of other recent MCU films.

Things could become clearer once Guardians of the Galaxy 3 arrives, as those characters appear in Love and Thunder. Until then, though, we'll have to stick with the broader timeframe of somewhere between 2025 and 2026. 

If you want more Marvel after Thor: Love and Thunder, check out our spoiler-filled guides to:

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.