Thor movies are a total of nine in number. There is still the possibility of many more as Chris Hemsworth, the actor who plays Thor, the hammer-wielding god of thunder, has revealed that Thor is too young to retire yet.
As we await word on when we shall see a new Thor movie, we take a look at all the Thor movies so far and the correct order in which to watch them.
How Many Thor Movies Are There?
There are currently nine Thor movies or feature-length films featuring Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Out of these nine films, Thor is the titular character in four of them, while he joins one of the numerous superheroes that appear in the other five. The four Thor movies that have him as the major character are Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
The other five MCU movies where Thor also puts in a strong appearance are The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019). There were expectations that Thor would appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), given how closely he had worked with the Guardians to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, but this turned out not to be the case. His storyline with the Guardians was tied up in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
The Correct Order of Thor Movies
- Thor (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Thor Movies in Order of Release
Thor (2011)
The very first Thor movie is titled Thor. Released in 2011, it sees Thor go head to head with his brother Loki, who is determined to mount the Asgard throne at all costs, even if it means reigniting long-buried conflicts and getting rid of any person and anything that stands in his way, including Thor.
The first Thor film bore the burden of choosing who could accurately bring the character to life, and Australian actor Chris Hemsworth was finally chosen after much back and forth. The actor put in the hard work, gaining pounds and sculpting it into muscles. He also researched the characters thoroughly in the comics. The result was a wonderful performance which helped the first Thor film to gross $449.3 million on a budget of $150 million.
The Avengers (2012)
The next time that movie lovers see Thor is in 2012’s The Avengers. The Avengers are a group of Marvel superheroes who work together for the greater good. In this particular film, we have the likes of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner/Hulk joining forces to conquer the evil Loki who wants to subjugate the earth.
Aside from Chris Hemsworth, The Avengers featured the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Stellan Skarsgård, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Gwyneth Paltrow, Maximiliano Hernández, Powers Boothe, Jenny Agutter, and Samuel L. Jackson.
British actor Tom Hiddleston also returned to portray Thor’s brother, Loki. The Joss Whedon-directed movie hit the ball out of the park, grossing $1.519 billion on a budget that did not exceed $225 million.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
The third Thor movie is Thor: The Dark World. For once, Thor and his estranged brother, Loki, are not at loggerheads but have to collaborate with each other as well as other persons, including astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster (Thor’s love interest), to battle an ancient being, Dark Elf Malekith, who plans to unleash the evil Aether on the Nine Realms.
Thor: The Dark World was primarily filmed at Bourne Wood, Surrey, England. The movie was released on the 8th of November 2013 and featured the likes of Natalie Portman, Idris Elba, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Christopher Ecclestone, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Tadanobu Asano.
Thor: The Dark World was a mixture of action, humor, and romance and delivered according to the verdict of some critics. Some others, however, had a deem view of the project, and director Alan Taylor had to come out and clarify that the final product had been heavily changed in post-production. Whatever the case, the audiences still loved it as it made $644.8 million worldwide.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The potential dangers that come with AI are one of the hot topics of the present day, but there are several movies that have tackled it, and one of them is Avengers: Age of Ultron. In the fourth Thor movie, the Avengers, including Thor, find themselves going up against Ultron, an artificial intelligence being who believes that the only way to protect the earth is to wipe off the human population.
Avengers: Age of Ultron saw the return of Hemsworth as well as other Hollywood A-listers reprising their Avengers roles. New cast members included the likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Hayley Atwell, Linda Cardellini, and Anthony Mackie, while award-winning American actor James Spader was drafted in to play the villainous Ultron.
Age of Ultron was an extremely expensive project, but it ultimately delivered at the box office with a return of $1.403 billion. The film also scooped up some awards, though they were mostly for visual effects, sound editing, and costume. It was named best film costume design at the 2016 edition of the Saturn Awards.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Doctor Strange focuses on Stephen Strange, a renowned neurosurgeon who, in a bid to regain use of his hands for work, embarks on a study of magic and mystery arts. He, however, ends up waging war against a dark dimension that wants to take over the earth. Thor only appeared in the post-credits of Doctor Strange. He was with his brother Loki as they searched for their missing father.
Doctor Strange was primarily filmed in Nepal as the producers wanted it as realistic as possible. Filming also occurred in New York City, England, and Hong Kong. Benedict Cumberbatch played the titular character, while other cast members were Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benedict Wong, Benjamin Bratt, Mads Mikkelsen, and Scott Adkins etc.
Doctor Strange has an approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, 72 out of 100 on Metacritic, and 91% overall positive score on Postrak. For good measure, it grossed $677.8 million at cinemas worldwide.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok is the 6th Thor movie and the third film in which he is the titular character. In it, we see two catastrophic personalities cancel out each other. Ragnarok is a prophesied apocalypse in which the fire demon Surtur will destroy Asgard. While trying to deal with this, Thor learns of a previously unknown sibling named Hela, who will seek to destroy Asgard. What does he do? He gets his people out of Asgard, and Suture ends up destroying the kingdom with Hela inside.
Thor: Ragnarok was directed by New Zealand filmmaker Taiki Waititi and was primarily filmed in Australia after Hemsworth had lobbied for it to be taken Down Under. The major cast members included Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, and Anthony Hopkins. Mercurial Australian actress and producer Cate Blanchett brought the major villain, Hela, to life.
Critical response to the film varied, ranging from “preposterous” to “the most fun you’ll ever have at a Marvel movie”. Once more, the film justified its $180 million budget by raking in $865 million at the box office.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Thor takes a break from leading the charge to join up with an expanded line of Avengers, which now includes Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Dr. Strange, to stop Thanos’ evil plans to gain all six Infinity Stones and destroy half of all life forms in the universe. Infinity War featured the likes of Zoe Saldana, Danai Gurira, Dave Bautista, Chris Pratt, and Chadwick Boseman, while Josh Brolin played Thanos.
Infinity War was a huge success, grossing $2 billion on a budget of $325 to $400 million. It made history as the 4th film ever to reach the $2 billion mark, joining a select club of movies limited to Titanic (1997), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and Avatar (2009).
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame sees Thor and other Avengers come up with an audacious plan to reverse the destructive act carried out by Thanos by going back in time to stop it from happening. They, of course, have to deal with the fallout of such an action.
Avengers: Endgame was similarly as successful as Infinity War, grossing $2.799 billion on a budget of between $356 million and $400 million. In fact, the film, which was directed by the duo of Anthony and Joe Russo, stands as the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. It is only outperformed by 2009’s Avatar, which grossed $2. 923 billion.
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
While other Thor movies have serious action storylines, Love and Thunder is a much more light-hearted affair. Thor is suffering from a kind of mid-life crisis but is forced to go back into action after receiving a distress call that an individual named Gorr is hunting and killing all the gods after a particular god neglected his cries for help and allowed his daughter to die.
Thor: Love and Thunder featured Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, and Chris Hemsworth. There was also Russell Crowe as Zeus and Christian Bale as Gorr. The Guardians of the Galaxy were also well represented, and as such, fans saw Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, and Vin Diesel.
Thor: Love and Thunder was released on July 8, 2022, in the United States of America and then globally. It earned its budget twice over by making as such as $760 million at the box office.
List of Thor Movies Ranked in Order of Release
- Thor (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
How To Watch Thor Movies in Order
The MCU is a wonderful universe filled with numerous characters, both villains and heroes alike, and complex storylines. As a result, the order in which the movies are released often differs from the chronological flow of the story. Therefore, one has to follow a particular order to watch it.
Luckily, this is not the case with the subset of Thor movies. The chronological order of the Thor movies aligns with the order of release. Therefore, to watch Thor movies in order, simply follow the date on which the movies were released outlined as follows: Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) etc.
When is a New Thor Movie Coming Out?
The next Thor movies that will be coming out are Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2026) and Avengers: Secret War (May 2027). As one can already tell from the title of both movies, they will feature Thor alongside other Avengers and superheroes working together to conquer one type of evil villain or another. Both films are in development, although filming hasn’t started yet.
It will be a while before we will see a movie headlined by Thor. The superhero’s outing in Thor: Love and Thunder was a box office success, grossing $760.9 million on a budget of $250 million. Nevertheless, it was berated by some critics who believed that the whole comedic bent had been taken too far. Even Hemsworth admitted that they were having too much fun that, at some point, it became silly.
Given such a reception, both the stars and director of Thor would do some soul-searching to decide how they move forward. As the director, Taika Waititi, pointed out, they will have to do something that feels like it’s carrying on with the evolution of the character, but still in a very fun way and still giving him things to come up against that feel like they’re building on the obstacles that he has to overcome. They will also have to come up with a much more formidable villain than the one in Love and Thunder, Hela, which he dubbed the weakest so far.
One also has to bear in mind the fact that Marvel is making budget cuts and also wants to reduce superhero fatigue. Therefore, it will be quite long before we see a new movie headlined by Thor. But at least fans can see the character in the upcoming Avengers movies Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2026) and Avengers: Secret War (May 2027).
