Thor: Love And Thunder Will Be Even Bigger Than Ragnarok
In case there was any worry about the God of Thunder going soft in Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waititi wants to assure fans the new chapter in the Thor saga will be "bigger, and louder, and more bombastic" than its predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok.
Waititi recently sat down with Wired to talk about his soon-to-be-released WWII farce Jojo Rabbit and ended up fielding a few Thor 4 questions in the course of the interview. The writer-director revealed that the screenplay for Thor: Love and Thunder is complete, and though Waititi is still playing coy about what exactly is ahead for the man who wields both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, he admitted that the story is "only interesting" to him if it's "doubling down on how nuts Ragnarok was."
That should come as welcome news to Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, as most would agree Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok was the first Thor film that wasn't totally underwhelming. Most would agree Ragnarok satisfied on nearly every front, with Waititi fully embracing the inherent weirdness — and the often outright silliness — of the Thor storylines to deliver a film that was laugh-out-loud funny and emotionally enthralling. That potent mixture of styles and tones — along with a welcome influx of new characters that became instant fan favorites (i.e., Waititi's Korg, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, and Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster) — helped make Thor: Ragnarok the most "nuts" Thor flick yet. (And maybe even the most "nuts" film in the entire MCU.)
The utterly bonkers, anything-goes sort of energy Waititi brought to Thor: Ragnarok didn't just reinvigorate the franchise (and possibly the MCU itself), it also saved it: those fresh new vibes renewed actor Chris Hemsworth's interest in the Thor character. That may have to do with the fact that Waititi was the first Thor director to understand the character is far more interesting when he teams up with other supers (particularly Mark Ruffalo's Hulk). Still, it's likely more in line with the fact that Waititi was the first filmmaker to realize how funny Hemsworth can be, even when he's in tough-guy God of Thunder mode.
Either way, that energy carried over into Hemsworth's work in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. With Thor: Love and Thunder officially in the pipeline, we should all be counting our lucky stars that Waititi is returning to the director's chair, and that he's eager to take Thor to the next level in regards to the over-the-top bombast.
What does this all mean for the Ragnarok gang in Thor 4?
Since Waititi and Marvel executives are keeping the Thor: Love and Thunder storyline on lockdown, there's no saying how exactly the filmmaker plans to make it bigger than Thor: Ragnarok. This opens the door for some speculation.
Before we get into what Waititi's statements might mean for the Ragnarok crew in Thor 4, we should probably take a moment to acknowledge that we'll first be checking in with the God of Thunder in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After all, the final moments of Avengers: Endgame found Thor jetting off into the unknown with Starlord (Chris Pratt) and the gang. It also found Thor looking more like Jerry Garcia – and like he'd become a fan of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream, in fact — than the God of Thunder, so we can only imagine his time with the Guardians might make for a wacky space adventure featuring Thor and Starlord as an oddball buddy couple.
Thor's time with the Guardians may not last forever, though, given that the Guardians are focused on tracking down their missing member Gamora (Zoe Saldana) – who's not actually the same Gamora from the prior GotG flicks because Endgame got crazy with the timelines and such. Thor (who now finds himself sans his family, a few old friends, his throne, and his home world) seemed more a passenger on that journey than anything — one searching for his place in an increasingly vast universe.
One thing we know for certain is that Thor: Love and Thunder will feature the return of Natalie Portman's Jane Foster, which means Thor should find himself back on Earth at some point in the film. We also know Love and Thunder will see Jane becoming the Mighty Thor. While Waititi has remained reticent about whether Thor 4 will include Jane's cancer subplot, which is a key part of the Jane-becomes-Thor narrative in the Marvel comics, it's evident that Jane will indeed become the wielder of Mjolnir when Thor is no longer able to. Exactly how Thor suddenly becomes unworthy is currently one of the biggest X factors for Love and Thunder, but we'd wager that whatever actions lead to that outcome may occur in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
As for what else Waititi has planned for Thor: Love and Thunder, your guess is as good as ours. For now, all we really know is this: Hemsworth's Thor will be on hand for the new adventure, he'll touch base with his old flame Jane, spend time with his old pal Korg, and check in with the reigning King of New Asgard, Valkyrie. And now that an alternate timeline has been established in Avengers: Endgame, Thor might even catch up to the God of Mischief – a.k.a. his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). It was an alt-version of Loki who vanished with the Tesseract in Endgame's botched heist, so it's safe to imagine bringing Thor's impish bro back into the mix would result in a storyline that could be classified as "bigger, louder, and more bombastic" than Thor: Ragnarok.
For now, we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for Thor in Love and Thunder, slated to hit theaters on November 5, 2021.