Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi didn’t want to please Thor fans with his second film about the Asgardian god. In fact, he wanted to make a film they wouldn’t want.
During an interview with Associated Press, the 46-year-old filmmaker explained that he wanted to make the Thor sequel into a love story.
“I wanted to show him in a light that most Thor fans wouldn’t really want if you were to tell them,” said Waititi. “If you were to say them: ‘Yeah, I’m going to make Thor in love,’ it’s probably the last thing that a Thor fan really wants to hear.”
Thor: Love and Thunder sees the return of Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman – Thor’s love interest from the first movie, who has been absent since her appearance in Thor: The Dark World back in 2013.
Now she’s back, and Mjolnir has turned her into the Mighty Thor, imbuing her with its powers. Where does that leave Thor? Well, he’s not exactly his usual, mighty self…
“For me, it’s good to give the fans something they don’t know that they want,” said Waititi. “With Ragnarok especially, when I signed on, a lot of fans were freaked out by that. They were like, ‘Who is this guy? He’s going to take our precious Thor and ruin it.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah. Exactly. That’s exactly my intention. And I’m going to make it better, you just don’t know it yet.’”
IGN’s own review said that Thor: Love and Thunder is “the MCU’s first romantic comedy, and it plays with those tropes in delightful ways.”
With the addition of new gods and a wider cosmic pantheon than we’ve seen before, it looks as though Thor: Love and Thunder will broaden the MCU like never before. But will Thor become the Thor fans want to see by the end of the movie? You’ll have to watch to find out.
Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, and Russel Crowe. Taika Waititi directed the film based on a script he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.