Taika Waititi was an inspired choice to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the New Zealand filmmaker taking one of the franchise’s marquee characters and completely reinventing them in Thor: Ragnarok. The God of Thunder’s solo films weren’t exactly regarded as high points of the MCU, but in Waititi’s hands Chris Hemsworth was given a new lease of life as the new and improved Thor.
Injecting the series with plenty of improvisation and a heavy dose of slapstick comedy, Ragnarok was the closest that the MCU has come to delivering an out-and-out comedy, and anticipation is sky high for Waititi’s return in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder. In a recent interview, the director claimed that one of the main reasons he agreed to sign on for the fourth installment was the chance to go even bigger and crazier when taking the title character on a new adventure, saying:
“It’s going to be bigger and louder and more bombastic. It’s only interesting to me if we’re doubling down on how nuts Ragnarok was.”
Let’s not forget that Ragnarok features a self-aware play-within-a-play that boasts Sam Neill and Matt Damon in uncredited cameos as Odin and Loki, Jeff Goldblum dialing his shtick up to eleven as the Grandmaster, an intergalactic road trip for Thor and the Hulk, a thumping Led Zeppelin track and a space portal called the Devil’s Anus. If Waititi wants to make Love and Thunder twice as nuts, then we’re already on board.
After all, this is a guy whose latest movie sees him playing Adolf Hitler as a child’s imaginary friend in anti-hate satire Jojo Rabbit, so it would be impossible to even guess just how wild Thor: Love and Thunder is going to get. With Natalie Portman also set to rejoin the franchise after seemingly swearing off the MCU for good, there must be a really good reason she’s returned to the fold to wield Mjolnir.