Director Taika Waititi breaks down the difference between Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder. The filmmaker first made his MCU splash with 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, which dramatically changed Chris Hemsworth's Thor and his franchise. Given the blockbuster's massive success, it makes sense that Marvel Studios would bring him back for another God of Thunder film, this time in a post-Infinity Saga world.
Marvel Studios is going big with Thor: Love and Thunder. Aside from Hemsworth's return as one of the strongest Avengers, the film will also see Jane Foster back in the franchise after being absent since the events of Thor: The Dark World. In the upcoming sequel, she gets her own superhero persona by becoming Mighty Thor. Valkyrie, Lady Sif, and several members of the Guardians of the Galaxy round out the familiar MCU faces appearing in the project. Meanwhile, franchise newbies Russell Crowe as Zeus and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher - the movie's main antagonist - will make their debuts via the blockbuster.
Speaking with EW, Waititi knows that he needs to offer something new in Thor: Love and Thunder, and not just repeat what worked in Thor: Ragnarok. In the interview, he breaks down the difference between the films, saying that the upcoming MCU movie delves into deeper themes. It isn't exactly a serious flick, but it isn't as light as the 2017 blockbuster. Read his full quote below:
Ragnarok felt a bit like a party. It was quite festive. This one is still fun, and it's got moments of being over the top, but thematically, it's about something a bit deeper than the last film. It's not a serious film, and it's not a drama, but we do deal with ideas that I think a lot of humans deal with — universal themes about love and loss and our place in the world. Everyone sort of asks this question in the film: What is your purpose? What is the reason that you're a hero, and what do you do when you have these powers? It's sort of like a midlife crisis film, really. That's the question we ask everyone: Are we doing the right thing, and are we doing all we can in the world? I think right now, while the world is still healing from this pandemic, it's a good question to ask. It's like, well, are we doing enough to look after each other and to look after ourselves?
In the past, Waititi has already talked about how Love and Thunder will differ from Ragnarok. Most notably, the filmmaker said that the new MCU film will make its prequel seem safer. For context, Thor: Ragnarok significantly revamped the God of Thunder's franchise. Aside from incorporating a more vivid aesthetic reminiscent of Jack Kirby's comic panels, it also gave the Avenger a brand new personality. In the 2017 film, Thor was noticeably more humorous and less stiff, and it resulted in the character's popularity growing, leading to similar stints in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Despite that, there were some critics that didn't like how the film leaned too much on comedy and did not give more weight to some of the story's more emotional components.
With deeper themes to tackle in Thor: Love and Thunder, Waititi may be responding to those criticisms. That being said, this doesn't mean that the Thor: Ragnarok sequel will not have any humor. The film's trailer already disproved that, especially with the involvement of the Guardians of the Galaxy. But between Thor's journey to self-healing and Jane's potential cancer narrative, fans can expect a more mature type of storytelling in the Marvel Studios film. Otherwise, it opens itself up to renewed backlash from Ragnarok's critics.
Source: EW
