Thor: Ragnarok managed to blend laughs with pathos, humor with drama, all draped in vibrant Kirby-like colors and serving as an excellent set-up to the Thor character for his best performance, in the best of the Avengers team-up movies, Avengers: Infinity War. Be in no doubt, Infinity War was Thor’s movie. It was no surprise that Taika Waititi returned for the next Thor movie.
Unfortunately, Thor: Love And Thunder, was much less successful. The humor was jarringly out of place, rubbing up uncomfortably alongside the tragic Jane/cancer storyline. What could have been an interesting rumination on love and loss for a reluctant God, with Oscar-winner Christian Bale in the bad guy role, was drowned out by yucks and guffaws and screaming goats, and continued the MCU post-Endgame malaise.
Now multiple sources are confirming that Thor 5 is in development, and Waititi will not be returning. Marvel Studios are already looking for a new director.
Usual online sources such as Daniel RPK say the director search is underway and the project is coming together now the writer’s strike has ended. YouTuber Grace Randolph’s viewers recently voted Thor: Love And Thunder as the movie that typifies Marvel’s current situation. Her fanbase is usually particularly pro-Marvel so that demonstrates the depth of feeling out there. All of this adds up to a bad outcome for Waititi.
The rumors state that MCU supremo Kevin Feige has recognized that over-the-top goofiness has harmed the recent MCU, and that is trying to get away from this approach. He is said to understand now that while it worked for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Marvel’s best efforts have still retained a degree of gravitas at their core.
Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, was previously on record on this subject in an interview with Variety earlier in the year:
“I think we just had too much fun. It just became too silly,it’s always hard being in the center of it and having any real perspective…I love the process, it’s always a ride. But you just don’t know how people are going to respond. I love the experience, I love the fact that I’ve been able to do something fairly different throughout the process.
Thor 1 and 2 were their own thing, Thor 3 and 4 had a very different feel… and then even Avengers, the Lebowski Thor, the Infinity War Thor, due to different directors, and I think mostly my own need to do something different.”
Which reads as Hemsworth saying he would only come back if they go in a different direction.
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