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Credit: Marvel StudiosThor: Love and Thunder (2022) might not’ve been the critical darling Marvel Studios expected it to be following the success of Thor: Ragnarok (2017), which is credited with reviving interest in the dying Chris Hemsworth-led superhero franchise. But even though the fourth Thor installment largely missed the mark with audiences, director Taika Waititi recently defended the film, telling critics to look to the source material if they wanted an entirely comic book-accurate story.
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It’s nearly impossible to get everything right when adapting a beloved comic book run like Jason Aaron’s The Mighty Thor or Thor: God of Thunder to the big screen. As the MCU continues to expand, this has become more evident than ever, with plenty of trial and error along the way as the franchise branches into Phases Five and Six.
Considering the unprecedented success of Marvel’s Infinity Saga, the MCU’s Phase Four had some big shoes to fill. While some installments, including Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) fared generally well with fans, other Marvel projects like the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Disney+ miniseries and Chloé Zhao’s Eternals (2021) left viewers fearful for the future of the MCU, and surprisingly, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder was no exception.
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Picking up shortly after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), the fourth Thor movie follows a new and improved God of Thunder freshly returned from his adventures with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Unsure of his place in the world post-Snap, the Asgardian god reunites with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) when a new threat emerges from the shadows: Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale.
Jane’s arc in Thor: Love and Thunder is unusually morbid for a Marvel property, taking the spotlight away from the titular hero for much of the runtime. The astrophysicist is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer toward the beginning of the movie but can magically offset her symptoms thanks to Thor’s trusty hammer, Mjolnir. Jane can wield the powerful weapon as it deems “worthy,” helping her transform into “The Mighty Thor” and giving her health and strength—at least, for a short while.
Thor and Jane rekindle their relationship throughout the film, which took center stage in Thor (2011). But instead of being a lighthearted, romantic romp full of typical MCU antics, the fourth Thor installment admittedly went a little off the rails, resulting in a messy and disjointed story that proved that there could indeed be too much of a good thing, even if all the right ingredients were there.
Waititi’s vision for the film was, perhaps, more heavy-handed with the comedy for a story that tackles tough subjects like death, sacrifice, and moving on, putting traumatic incidents like Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) Snap at the center of some wildly inappropriate jokes. Audiences’ other complaints ranged from its seemingly unfinished VFX (i.e., Axl’s uncanny valley ‘floating head’ scene) to its under-utilization of Christian Bale, all on top of growing sentiments of “superhero fatigue.”
Even Thor himself, longtime Marvel veteran Chris Hemsworth, agreed with fans’ criticisms, admitting it was “too silly” during a June 2023 interview with GQ Magazine. But it seems like Thor: Love and Thunder will always have a fan in director Taika Waititi.
Talking in a newly released Movie Special Book, Waititi acknowledged that it was “very difficult” to find the right tone for a movie like Thor: Love and Thunder, describing his filmmaking process as “an ongoing battle” to strike the right balance between comedy and drama:
It’s an ongoing battle because I want my films to be entertaining, and I want a lot of humor in them—to poke fun not only at the idea of the Space Viking, but also to poke fun at humans. How we bumble our way through life on this planet.
The director then acknowledged author Jason Aaron’s Thor comics, recognizing that Jane’s illness made for “especially tense” storytelling—something Waititi knew was “always going to be difficult” when adapting to a feature-length film:
The comic run is very serious, and Jane’s story is especially tense. And so to try to find humor around that stuff, as well as making it an emotional story, was always going to be difficult. And we struggled with that. We wrestled with it throughout the edit, right up until we finished the film.
Still, even though Waititi struggled with finding the right tone and mood for the MCU’s fourth Thor film, he defended his own creative decisions, telling critics that they should “read the comic” if they were unhappy with his big-screen adaptation:
We did funny scenes about cancer, we did way more tragic scenes about having cancer. Some audiences really loved the humor part of it. Some audiences really wanted it to be just like the comics. But, you know, I always say, if you want it to be exactly like the comics read the comic. You’ve got to change things here and there to make it a film.
Waititi clearly has a good enough head on his shoulders to call out the imperfections of Thor: Love and Thunder, but it seems like he’s still not 100% ready to admit his defeat. And Marvel Studios isn’t prepared to give up on the Oscar-winning filmmaker, either: rumor has it that Waititi has already been tapped to helm the yet-untitled Thor 5, which comes as good news amid Disney+’s ongoing content purge, Marvel’s delayed release schedule, and even the removal of a popular Avengers-centric video game from all digital platforms.
Until then, it’ll be interesting to see how Thor: Love and Thunder ages over the coming years and if Waititi’s ambitious film, which introduced Zeus (Russell Crowe) and Hercules (Brett Goldstein) to the mix, will actually play a more significant part in the Multiverse Saga than initially expected. It could certainly lay the foundation for Thor’s MCU future, but for now, it’s safe to say that Waititi is one of the only people jumping to Thor: Love and Thunder‘s defense.
Did you enjoy Thor: Love and Thunder? Do you agree with Taika Waititi? Share your thoughts in the comments below.