Chris Hemsworth blessed by Indigenous Australians as 'Thor: Love and Thunder' production begins

Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi have taken part in a traditional ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony on Australia Day as production on Thor: Love and Thunder begins Down Under.

Hemsworth, 37, shared photos of the event on his Instagram account calling the blessing “a beautiful start to our shoot today”. The new comic book film is being filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, which recently played host to Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The Welcome to Country ritual is a formal ceremony, usually performed by a recognised elder, that takes place at many Australian events. It’s used to recognise the cultural significance of the surrounding area to the local Aboriginal clan that are seen as the Traditional Owners of the land.

Hemsworth, returning as Thor for his fourth solo film, shared that the ceremony was from “the Gamay dancers of the Gadigal and Bidiagal Nation” with “performance and karakia by Maori dancers from Te Aranganui.”

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Thor: Love and Thunder will released in UK and US cinemas on May 6, 2022. Hemsworth will star with a script from Taika Waititi, alongside Thor: The Dark World’s Natalie Portman, and Thor: Ragnarok’s Tessa Thompson.

Batman star Christian Bale will join the MCU for the film as the villain Gorr the God Butcher.

A host of Guardians of the Galaxy stars will also appear in the film including Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, with the film picking up Thor’s story from Avengers: Endgame which ended with the God of Thunder joining the Guardians on their adventures.

As recent photos shared by Hemsworth online prove, Thor appears to have got himself back into godlike shape for Love and Thunder.

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