Marvel Studios has had a bit of a roller coaster ride since it first debuted over 30 years ago as Marvel Films. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began with Iron Man (2008), it was a huge success that launched a series of nearly two dozen subsequent films, including Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and Black Panther (2018).
However, lately, the MCU movies have not been performing as well as they once did. There has been much debate over why that is: superhero fatigue, killing off characters, lack of interest in new characters, and multi-verse confusion.
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Taika Waititi Interview
One of the more recent films to not do that well in the past year was Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), directed by Taika Waititi.
Taika Waititi, himself has mixed reviews in the MCU. He first directed Thor: Ragnorak (2017), which many fans loved as it departed from previous Thor movies’ dark and dreary mood and brought a comedic nature to the character and franchise. But his latest installment has been panned by critics and audiences.
On Titan’s upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, The Official Movie Special book, Taika Waititi talks about Thor’s MCU future and what we can expect as fans.
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“What is left to do to him? It’s got to be something that feels like it’s carrying on with the evolution of the character, but still in a very fun way and still giving him things to come up against that feel like they’re building on the obstacles that he has to overcome,” Taika Waititi said. “I don’t think we can have a villain weaker than Hela. I feel like we need to step up from there and add a villain that’s somehow more formidable.”
The director is referring to the character played by Cate Blanchett, the Asgardian goddess of death who destroys Thor’s hammer Mjölnir and takes over Asgard in Thor: Ragnorak (2017)
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He also said he would like to introduce “more and more outlandish and crazy beasts, monsters and aliens.”
Chris Hemsworth Comments
When asked about returning as Thor, Chris Hemsworth told Entertainment Weekly, “I don’t want to continue to do it until people are so exhausted that they roll their eyes when they see me come on the screen as that character. If an audience wants to see it, and if there’s something that we believe is exciting and fun, then great. I’ve loved being able to reinvent that character a few times. I don’t have the answer yet, but I would love to try and [figure out] how we can do that again and keep it a little unpredictable.”
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However, a Thor 5 movie is not currently in production or even being discussed – especially during the current SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in Hollywood. But still, it’s always fun to think about what new films Marvel Studios (or Disney) could have up their sleeves and plan to roll out in the future.