Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi tells Screen Rant that any potential sequel he’s involved with for Marvel Studios would feel less like Thor 4 and more like Thor: Ragnarok 2. Though its domestic release is still a few days out, Thor: Ragnarok has already become a major hit at the international box office and amongst critics, currently holding a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's the best reviewed Marvel Studios production to date. While it remains to be seen how much that influences domestic audiences, current projections have the third installment in the Thor franchise opening at $100 million or more, which would certainly be the best opening yet for a Thor film.
All of this is certainly good news for Marvel Studios, which has struggled to deliver a Thor film that’s on par with other, more popular Marvel Cinematic Universe-set productions. Even more so, it’s good news for director Waititi, who has managed to not only reinvent Chris Hemsworth’s Thor character but bring audiences a smarter version of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk as well. So what would his version of Thor 4 look like? More of the same, according to the man himself.
Related: Thor: Ragnarok Director Wants to Stick With Thor For Future Marvel Movies
Screen Rant recently sat down with Waititi to discuss Thor: Ragnarok and how interested he would be in returning for another installment in the Thor series. While the director was on board with the idea, he revealed that it wouldn’t really feel like doing a fourth film, but rather more like Ragnarok 2. Waititi elaborated further on this point, saying:
"Yeah, people ask me, ‘would you do another one,’ and for sure I’d do another one because it wouldn’t even feel like doing a fourth Thor film, it would just feel like doing the second Ragnarok film. Cuz it does feel like in a way, yeah there’s been this reinvention in an exciting way … So it’s exciting cuz it feels like, if Chris were to do this again it wouldn’t feel like ‘oh it’s the eighth time I’ve done Thor,’ no it will feel like the second or third time I’ve done this character. Same with Mark [Ruffalo]."
Waititi’s reasoning certainly holds up and his motivation to bring a reinvented Thor and Hulk to the MCU is sound when considering the middling response to previous Thor films (especially Thor: The Dark World), and a continuation of those reinvented characters is the logical next step. What’s also compelling, however, is the director’s interest in reinventing the Hulk as a character and teaming him up with Thor. Would Bruce Banner return to that potential Thor 4 film? Obviously there’s no way to definitively say at the moment, but the prospect is intriguing.
Still, with Thor: Ragnarok rumored to be one of the funniest MCU films (the film’s runtime was even extended because of cut jokes that were re-added to the film), some fans who are growing tired of the more comedic Marvel films may not want Waititi to return for any potential Thor 4 film. With how well received Thor: Ragnarok has been thus far, however, it seems more likely than not that Marvel will want to bring Waititi back. Either way, fans will simply have to wait and see.
