Now Showing: The Hammer of Thor: The Frost War

 

The Hammer of Thor: The Frost War

Genre: Action/Superhero/Fantasy

Director: Roar Uthaug

Writer: Roy Horne

Based on Marvel Comics characters

Cast: Channing Tatum, Sam Riley, Phoebe Dynevor, Mark Hamill, Sophie Lowe, Laurie Davidson, Denis Menochet, Sung Kang, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Caitriona Balfe, Thomas Ian Griffith

Plot: Thor (Channing Tatum) reigns as a legendary Viking king in the village of Heorot. While the people still sing songs of his might and raise cups of mead in his honor, Thor feels the ache of time. The thrill of battle and glory has dulled, and his thoughts drift increasingly toward Johanna—the love he lost. One quiet night beneath the stars, he travels to Asgard and asks Odin (Mark Hamill) for permission to enter the Odinsleep, hoping to be awakened when her soul returns to Midgard. Odin agrees, though with reluctance, and seals Thor in the golden chamber, whispering that the thunder god’s time will come again. 

Centuries later, in the icy realm of Jotunheim, King Laufey (Thomas Ian Griffith) gathers his frost generals in a glacial fortress. He informs them that Odin’s power wanes and now is the time to strike. But to truly seize Asgard, Laufey knows he must sow chaos from within. A swirl of green mist signals the arrival of Amora (Caitriona Balfe) the Enchantress. She proposes a deeper alliance, promising to use her seidr to unlock the seals binding Loki within Yggdrasill itself. In exchange, Laufey must lend his armies and magic to her cause. They clasp hands, sealing the pact. 

In the golden city, Odin’s steps are slower, his breath heavier. Frigga senses his time nearing.  Odin clutches Gungnir tighter, knowing his final days approach. Sensing Laufey’s first waves, Odin leads Lady Sif (Sophie Lowe) and the Warriors Three - Fandral (Laurie Davidson) the Dashing, Volstagg (Denis Menochet) the Valiant, and Hogun (Sung Kang) the Grim - into battle against advancing frost scouts near the cliffs of Vanaheim's border. Frost giants lumber from the mists, hurling spears of ice into the Asgardian lines. Volstagg barrels through the front ranks, swinging his axe, cleaving frost giant limbs that shatter upon impact. Hogun uses a grappling chain to topple a frost behemoth into a crevasse. Fandral sprints ahead, leaping onto a frost giant’s shoulder and driving his blade through its eye, riding the collapsing corpse down. Sif cuts down frost giants trying to breach the line. She ducks under a hammer swing and slashes through a giant’s leg, then impales its throat as it falls. 

In the icy citadel of Jotunheim, King Laufey convenes his frost generals amid a chorus of clashing weapons and stomping feet. Amora emerges from a plume of green mist, her presence drawing a mixture of reverence and suspicion. One particularly defiant general steps forward, voicing doubt about Laufey’s reliance on seidr and accusing him of cowardice. Laufey answers not with words, but with swift execution, summoning a jagged spear of ice that impales the giant, leaving him encased in frozen death. The remaining generals fall silent. Laufey states that this war will be fought with magic, not brute strength, and with Amora by his side, they will bring a new age of winter upon the realms.

Meanwhile, far beneath the heart of the city, Amora creeps through the roots of Yggdrasill, where a shimmering veil of magic holds Loki captive. She draws an ancient, enchanted blade, and plunges it into a know in the Yggdrasill. The roots twist and groan. A pulse of green energy bursts outward as Loki collapses forward. Loki is hurled into a mental abyss of memory and illusion — Odin glaring in disappointment and Frigga turning away with sorrow in her eyes. The tree releases its hold, and Loki awakens on the ground. He rises slowly, brushing sap from his tunic. Loki tells Amora that he never intends on being caged ever again.

Loki does not go straight to the battle. Instead, he slips away into the realm of the frost giants. In Jotunheim, he confronts Laufey, demanding the truth. Laufey reveals the secret of Loki’s bloodline — that he is Laufey’s son, abandoned and left for dead by Odin, who raised him as an Asgardian only to cast him aside. The revelation stirs something deep and cold within Loki. Laufey tells him that he can choose where he truly belongs. Loki does not hesitate, deciding to join Laufey and Amora in the fight against Asgard.

Odin storms forward atop a silver war-steed, blasting enemies with Gungnir. He dismounts and meets Laufey in a clearing surrounded by broken statues and burning trees. Laufey, powered by Amora's enchantments, drives a shard of ice into Odin's side. Odin, weakened from Laufey's strike, turns to see Loki approaching. Loki whispers something in Odin's ear, then plunges a dagger directly into Odin's heart. Odin gasps, then crumples to the ground. The battle continues to rage, now around Odin's fallen body. 

Frigga senses the loss of her husband in her heart. She enters the Odinsleep chamber and awakens Thor. As his eyes open, she tells him that Odin has been slain by Laufey and Loki, and that the frost giants have returned to Jotunheim for now. Amora has vanished - and Asgard mourns. Thor descends upon the battlefield where Odin fell. His father's spear lies shattered. Thor’s knuckles tighten around Mjolnir. The Warriors Three and Lady Sif approach to offer their condolences. Frigga joins her son to mourn the God of Wisdom. She tells her son that he must decide what truly matters to him. Not out of obligation to a throne or a legacy — but from his own heart. Thor nods and says that he must go to Midgard. Frigga lets him go, saying he will find his answer there.

Jane Foster moves through her busy life as a London nurse. At night, Jane wakes in a cold sweat in her London flat, her heart pounding from a vivid dream. She walks to her window to see storm clouds forming unnaturally in the sky. Drawn by an urge she doesn’t understand, she picks up her sketchbook and begins to draw—first the ruins of a village, then a monument bearing her own face beside a man in armor. As she flips through earlier pages, she sees images of the Bifrost, a sea serpent, and a golden city she’s never seen. When a bolt of otherworldly lightning crashes into a remote part of the city, Jane finds herself drawn to the crater — where a figure in armor slowly rises from the smoke - Thor. He follows her through the city, insisting she is someone he once loved. She resists, dismissing him as a lunatic. But when he describes places and memories from dreams she never told anyone about, her skepticism falters. He asks her to come with him to Denmark — to the ruins of a village named Heorot. There, Jane sees a monument - one that bears her own likeness beside Thor's. Her memories begin to stir. Thor tells her the truth: that she is the reincarnation of Johanna, and that fate has brought them together again.

Lady Sif finds Thor and Jane in London. Just as she arrives, frost giants descend upon the city, targeting Thor before he can return to Asgard. Thor channels a burst of lightning that levels the pavement and the giants themselves, confirming everything Jane feared — and hoped — was true. She watches in awe as he becomes the god she’s seen in dreams. Sif warns Thor that Asgard has been gripped in an unnatural winter since his departure. The skies have remained overcast, the ground frozen solid, and the frost giants’ magic lingers everywhere. She tells him Loki and Amora are surely behind it, working with Laufey to poison the realm. Sif pleads with him to return home, insisting that Asgard needs him more than ever. Thor glances at Jane, torn between his destiny and his heart. Jane, sensing the weight of his conflict, steps forward and says she’s coming with him. Thor and Jane step into the Bifrost with Sif, bound for the golden realm.

When they arrive back in Asgard, they find the golden city under an invasion. Great ice pillars have formed across the Rainbow Bridge while Laufey stands at the heart of the invasion, commanding frost giants. Thor, Jane, and Sif step off the Bifrost and quickly rendezvous with the Warriors Three near the shattered gates. The reunion is brief — Fandral grins but nods solemnly toward the battle, while Volstagg clasps Thor’s arm in welcome. Hogun wastes no time updating them on the state of the defenses. Seeing the danger all around them, Thor turns to Jane. He tells her she must stay safe and asks her to go with his mother. Jane hesitates, but Frigga emerges from the shadows, reassuring her. Frigga takes Jane’s hand, and the two disappear into the golden corridors as Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three charge toward the fray. 

Fandral leads a squad of cavalry atop winged beasts. At one point, he leaps from his saddle onto a towering ice golem and slashes its core, bringing it crashing down. Volstagg holds a shattered gate alone, swinging his massive axe through wave after wave of giants. Meanwhile, Sif and Hogun track Amora to the deep forest of Vanaheim. Sif challenges Amora directly. Amora conjures illusions that attack Sif. Hogun fends off the conjurings, allowing Sif to push toward Amora, who blasts magic at Sif, who barely is able to defend herself with a shield. Sif swings her sword - not at Amora, but at Amora's staff, shattering it into pieces. Amora panics. Sif then punches her in the face, knocking her out cold.

Thor ascends the steps of Valaskjalf to confront Laufey, who conjures ice chains, binding Thor to the mountain. Laufey taunts Thor, claiming that Thor cannot begin to comprehend his plan for the future of Asgard. Loki emerges, confronting Laufey, demanding to know if this was ever meant to be a shared rule as Laufey had alluded. Laufey scoffs, telling him that he was never more than a discarded heir, a means to an end. Angered, Loki declares that he’s done with fathers and vanishes in a swirl of emerald flame. Thor breaks free and launches Mjolnir into the heavens. The hammer, supercharged with lightning, crashes into Laufey and shatters him into a thousand frozen shards.

Before the dust can settle, the ground begins to tremble. Frigga realizes that Laufey's death was a catalyst - a sacrifice to summon the Father of All Frost, Ymir. From the chasm of Ginnungagap, a towering being of glacier emerges. Ymir rises from the void, dwarfing the mountains of Asgard. He speaks in ancient tongues, roaring as he steps onto the edge of Asgard. With each movement, he reshapes the realm in ice. Loki, never made aware of the summoning of Ymir, decides to leave the side of Amora and frost giants. 

Thor realizes he cannot defeat Ymir alone. He calls for the heroes to regroup. Volstagg rallies wounded Asgardian warriors to hold the gates. Fandral mounts one final flight with the last of the Valkyrian steeds to distract the behemoth from above. Sif and Hogun return with the unconscious Amora. Sif turns to Frigga, asking for ancient seidr to weaken Ymir’s core. Frigga agrees but needs time to complete the spell. As the chaos of Ymir’s emergence escalates, Loki suddenly appears among the defenders. Thor levels Mjolnir at him, demanding to know why he has returned. Loki simply states that the ice he thought he belonged to now threatens all nine realms, not just Asgard. Thor hesitates. Sif and Volstagg urge caution. But Frigga steps forward and speaks to Loki — not as a queen, but as a mother. She asks both of her sons what Balder would have done. Thor lowers Mjolnir. Loki nods, smirking faintly, and says they’ll settle things after. For now, they will fight side by side.

Thor and Loki soar through the skies, combining thunder and illusion magic to blind Ymir. Frigga opens a golden seidr beam into Ymir’s heart — revealing a crystalline core pulsing with ancient cold. Thor rises high into the sky, calling down the largest storm Asgard has ever known. With one final burst, he hurls himself straight into Ymir’s heart. Mjolnir follows, wrapped in thunder and Loki's magic. The blast shatters the core. Ymir screams once, then collapses into an avalanche of ice. Loki vanishes before anyone can thank — or arrest — him. A folded note is pinned to Gungnir. It reads only: “I kept my word. For now.”

Deep beneath the golden palace, Frigga and Sif descend into the hollowed heart of the World Tree. Amora is bound in glowing chains of siedr. With a word, Frigga awakens the roots of the tree, which wrap around Amora, cocooning her. 

The people of Asgard finally have a moment to properly mourn Odin and hold a grand funeral. Frigga passes Gungnir to Thor. The other gods kneel before Thor. Frigga tells Jane that she may have been Johanna once, she has the chance now to shape her own story. Thor meets Jane at the Bifrost. She tells him that she intends to return to Earth as it is her home. Thor understands. Before she leaves, Jane asks about the woman Thor once loved. He describes Johanna as beautiful and the only soul that ever made him question himself. He then says that he gets the same feeling when he's around Jane. They lean into each other and kiss goodbye - for now.

Back in Midgard, Jane visits the ruins of Heorot. She looks up to the skies. Somewhere beyond the clouds, she knows thunder rolls. Meanwhile in Asgard, Thor takes Odin's place at the throne. All the residents of Asgard kneel before Thor, their new king.

Post-Credits Scene: 

Deep within Muspelheim, a massive horned figure opens its eyes - Surtr. He watches the void left behind by Ymir’s fall and begins forging a massive molten sword.