Thor: Love and Thunder has officially begun filming in Australia. Taking to Instagram, star Chris Hemsworth revealed that the shoot has kicked off with a ceremony with Indigenous Australians welcoming the cast and crew with a special ceremony welcoming them to the country. The actor posted several photos from the event, including one of himself alongside director Taika Waititi and many of the dancers dressed up for the ceremony.

"A beautiful start to our shoot today with a Welcome to Country ceremony from the Gamay dancers of the Gadigal and Bidiagal Nation and performance and karakia by Maori dancers from Te Aranganui," Hemsworth writes in the caption.

He adds, "Indigenous Australians may be just as proud of this country, but many see January 26th as a date signifying the beginning of dispossession, disease epidemics, frontier violence, destruction of culture, exploitation, abuse, separation of families and subjection to policies of extreme social control. Let's begin the healing and stand together in unity and support with our First Nations people with solidarity and compassion. Let's find a date where all Australians can celebrate this beautiful country together."

Waititi also co-wrote the script for Thor: Love and Thunder with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and while we know the movie serves as a sequel to 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, plot details haven't yet been revealed. What's known is that The Dark Knight star Christian Bale has been cast to play the main villain, Gorr the God Butcher. Natalie Portman will also return as Jane to wield Mjolnir to become the Mighty Thor, inspired by the original Marvel Comics storylines. Tessa Thompson is also set to return as Valkyrie and Matt Damon is currently at the set to appear in the movie as well.

We can presume that the characters from James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy will also be featured in the sequel, as many of the cast members have recently been spotted near the set. It was previously announced and confirmed that Chris Pratt will be in the movie as Star-Lord, then it was reported that he would be joined by Jaimie Alexander as Mantis and Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. Sean Gunn, who provides the motion capture for Rocket Raccoon, is also in Australia to presumably serve as a stand-in for Rocket on the set.

Guardians of the Galaxy will also be bringing these characters back for another sequel of their own with James Gunn back at the helm in 2023. Along with Thor 4, both titles serve as a part of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which kicks off in May with the premiere of Black Widow. This year will also see the releases of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, while sequels to other big MCU movies like Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Ant-Man and the Wasp are also in the works.

Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 6, 2022. This news comes to us from Chris Hemsworth on Instagram.