In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor was surprisingly boring. Chris Hemsworth has always given his all in the role, but his underutilization in the generic cookie-cutter story of Thor: The Dark World and the bathtime subplot of Avengers: Age of Ultron made him far less interesting than his cohorts Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Lord only knows how the Marvel team managed to make an interdimensional Norse god with a magical hammer uninteresting, but they did.
Then, Taika Waititi made the God of Thunder hilarious in Thor: Ragnarok and the Russos made him a tragic figure without losing the comedy angle in the third and fourth Avengers movies, reinvigorating interest in this character. So, here are some specific improvements Waititi made to this hero, and here are some that the Russos discovered.
Waititi: Gave Him A Comedic Shot In The Arm
The most obvious way that Taika Waititi improved Thor was making him funny. Taking everything with a grave seriousness is part of what made the God of Thunder feel so bland and unrelatable in his early MCU appearances.
Inspired by Kurt Russell’s zany portrayal of Jack Burton in John Carpenter’s action-packed slapstick comedy Big Trouble in Little China, Waititi rose above the grave seriousness to make Thor a comedy character and took a couple of Monty Python and the Holy Grail-style jabs at Norse mythology in the process.
Russos: Added A Tragic Layer To The Comic Relief
The Russo brothers maintained the comic relief that Taika Waititi brought to Thor in Thor: Ragnarok when they carried him through the next two Avengers movies, but they also added some tragic overtones to their humor.
The Russos did a great job of starting off a Thor scene with a joke to hook in the viewers, and slowly using it to reveal the character’s underlying depression. This can be seen in the “If I’m wrong, then what more could I lose?” scene from Infinity War, or the “I’m totally from the future” scene from Endgame.
Waititi: Brought Thor To (Seemingly) His Lowest Point
In the simplest terms, storytelling is a matter of taking a likable character, bringing them to their lowest point, and letting them fight through the pain to become a hero. In Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi took everything away from Thor.
He killed off his dad, he destroyed his hammer, he sent an evil tyrant to his home, he got him enslaved as a gladiator on a trash planet, and then he had one of his eyes ripped out. And then, inspired by a vision of Odin, he proved his worth once again.
Russos: Dragged Him Even Lower
If Taika Waititi brought Thor to his lowest point, the Russos found a way to drag him even lower. In Infinity War, following the events of Ragnarok and Thanos’ killing of both Loki and Heimdall, Thor sets out to kill the Mad Titan, reasoning that he has nothing left to lose. However, when Thanos succeeds in wiping out half of all life and Thor feels responsible for it, he spirals into a pit of depression and alcoholism.
In Endgame, we see a Thor who is truly reeling from a global trauma that he holds himself accountable for. And by the end of the film, he’s got his groove back and found a new state of happiness.
Waititi: Developed His Relationship With Loki
Thor and Loki’s sibling relationship has always been an interesting part of the MCU, but this has been mostly carried by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston’s chemistry. Some writers were so preoccupied with the idea that these guys are gods that they neglected to humanize them. In Thor: Ragnarok, for the first time, Thor and Loki felt like actual brothers. At the very least, they bickered like actual brothers.
From inside jokes like their “Get help” gambit to sweet, earnest moments like Thor telling Loki that he used to think the world of him, making Loki realize that his brother loves him after all, Waititi gave these two characters a tangible brotherly dynamic for the first time in the MCU.
Russos: Matched Him With A Worthy Villain
The MCU is often criticized for having a “villain problem.” Aside from the occasional exception like Killmonger and Ego, the MCU’s one-and-done villains with their generic evil plans tend to be forgettable and far less developed than the heroes with their multi-movie arcs.
Outside of his rivalry with Loki, Thor had never been given a truly great villain until the Russos brought Thanos to the MCU and the God of Thunder finally met his match. The Mad Titan defeated Thor for the first time in his 1,500-year life.
Waititi: Gave Him A Great Supporting Cast
Every MCU solo franchise has a supporting cast. Tony Stark is backed up by Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, and James Rhodes. Steve Rogers is backed up by Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, and Natasha Romanoff.
In his early solo movies, Thor’s only interesting supporting player was Loki. The Warriors Three were undercooked, while Jane Foster was written as boring at best and redundant at worst. Taika Waititi gave Thor a terrific supporting cast – rounded out by Korg and Valkyrie – in Thor: Ragnarok.
Russos: Teamed Him Up With The Guardians Of The Galaxy
After Thor: Ragnarok made Thor one of the MCU’s funniest characters, the Russos teamed him up with a bunch of the MCU’s other funniest characters in Avengers: Infinity War.
His scenes with the Guardians of the Galaxy, particularly when he challenges Peter Quill’s leadership or bickers with Rocket, are some of the most hilarious in the entire MCU.
Waititi: Gave Chris Hemsworth More Freedom With The Role
Chris Hemsworth has admitted that he realized Thor: The Dark World was a misstep while he was making it. He became disillusioned with the character, and hearing nerd overlord Kevin Smith criticize the Thor movies on a podcast was the final nail in the God of Thunder’s coffin.
Hemsworth’s interest in the role was renewed when Taika Waititi swooped in to helm Thor: Ragnarok and gave him the freedom to improvise dialogue and develop the character himself.
Russos: Humanized A God
While the Marvel movies have had no trouble finding the humanity in Steve Rogers, a man out of his time, or Natasha Romanoff, a spy trying to outrun her past, or Bruce Banner, a Jekyll-and-Hyde figure, the early entries struggled to humanize Thor.
He was essentially a spoiled brat with limitless superpowers and a spotless track record. And his dialogue was so over-the-top Shakespearean that it kept audiences at arm’s length. The Russo brothers brought a real humanity to Thor that Chris Hemsworth capitalized on beautifully.