Why Thor: Love & Thunder Was Harder to Make Than Ragnarok

Taika Waititi explains why Thor: Love and Thunder was a much more difficult prospect than Thor: Ragnarok. Love and Thunder is out in theaters for preview showings starting today, on its way to making an even bigger box-office splash on its opening weekend than Ragnarok. In this film, Thor is facing something of a mid-life crisis as he decides whether he wants to continue being a hero, but when Gorr the God Butcher descends with the intent to murder all the gods, he must reluctantly assemble a new team that includes his old friends Korg (Waititi) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who now wields the hammer Mjölnir as Mighty Thor.

The Thor branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has featured a revolving door of directors, far more than any other hero. While Kenneth Branagh directed the original 2011 Thor, Alan Taylor directed its 2013 sequel, Thor: The Dark World. It wasn't until 2017's Thor: Ragnarok that Waititi, who at that point was fresh off his indie New Zealand comedies What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, was tapped to join the MCU. The director imbued his signature offbeat humor into the project, making Ragnarok both the best-reviewed (it has 93%, which is 16% higher than the second place title, Thor at 77%) and highest-grossing film (it made $854 million worldwide, a significant boost from The Dark World's $644.8 million) in the Thor movie franchise thus far.

During a recent interview with IndieWire, Waititi discusses how it felt diving into Thor: Love and Thunder. The director reveals that he had assumed Thor: Ragnarok would be the final Thor solo-film, because most of the superhero solo-franchises hadn't stretched beyond being a trilogy. As such, he poured all his ideas into Ragnarok, and when Marvel more or less instantly ordered a sequel, he had to figure out "what to do with this character that feels new, satisfies the fans, but also gives Chris [Hemsworth] something interesting to do." Read his full quote below:

It still feels like survival. In some ways it was harder on this one because I put everything into Ragnarok, thinking that Marvel only makes three films per superhero so there wouldn’t be another one. Then they instantly asked us to do another one. That’s when I had to come up with all these new ideas to try and make something as good if not better than the last one. That was harder because it’s like a second novel. Trying to figure out what to do with this character that feels new, satisfies the fans, but also gives Chris [Hemsworth] something interesting to do with the character.

Thor walking through a flame with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Love and Thunder

One other reason that Thor: Love and Thunder was considerably more difficult to arrange is that Waititi has a lot more pieces to move around on the board. In addition to working with the core Thor characters and the ones he introduced in Ragnarok, like Korg and Valkyrie, he must juggle bringing back old characters like Jane Foster and adding new ones like the Guardians of the Galaxy crew. This is the first time that the Guardians have made an appearance outside of the Guardians or Avengers films, so the expectations will be high on Waititi to make sure their signature irreverent humor is executed correctly.

However, if there is one thing that the Thor: Love and Thunder director has proven, it's that he is always full to the brim with ideas. Time will tell if the new film has the same impact as Ragnarok, but the goodwill from that project is already fueling a potentially epic box-office run. If he can capture even a fraction of that film's ability to captivate an audience, he will certainly have succeeded.

Next: Loki Season 2's First Easter Egg Proves Frog Thor Was Nothing

Source: IndieWire