Thor: Love and Thunder had the potential to be one of the best Marvel Studios movies ever. Heavily inspired by Jason Aaron's Thor run and featuring both The Mighty Thor and Gorr the God Butcher, the sequel had heaps going for it, including Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.
The filmmaker had successfully reinvented the God of Thunder in 2017, and fans were excited to see what he'd do next. Unfortunately, he delivered a movie which largely disappointed fans, and even Chris Hemsworth has repeatedly acknowledged that the movie fell short.
Most fans agree that, after running wild with Thor: Love and Thunder and making the franchise too comedic, it's best for Waititi to move on. Extraction director Sam Hargrave has been named as a possible contender to helm Thor 5, and we have another update on the movie today.
According to scooper Daniel Richtman, Thor 5 is now "officially" in development at Marvel Studios. The movie will be part of the next Saga, post-Avengers: Secret Wars, and Waititi definitely isn't returning to direct. Instead, the Odinson will be getting another fresh start.
This feels like the right decision. There are still plenty of characters and storylines worth adapting, and a new movie could kick off another trilogy for the beloved character.
"I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself," Hemsworth previously said of Thor: Love and Thunder. "I didn’t stick the landing."
Reflecting on his tenure as Thor, Hemsworth also admitted that he'd grown frustrated with playing the character before Thor: Ragnarok. "Sometimes I felt like a security guard for the team," he said of Joss Whedon's Avengers movies. "I would read everyone else’s lines, and go, Oh, they got way cooler stuff. They’re having more fun. What’s my character doing?"
"It was always about, 'You’ve got the wig on. You’ve got the muscles. You’ve got the costume. Where’s the lighting?' Yeah, I’m part of this big thing, but I’m probably pretty replaceable."
Since then, Hemsworth has been added to the cast of Avengers: Doomsday. Similar to how Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame reinvented the character, we'd bet on the Russo Brothers doing the same again as they set out to conclude the Multiverse Saga.
It's worth pointing out that with $760.9 million at the worldwide box office, Thor: Love and Thunder wasn't that far behind Thor: Ragnarok's $865 million haul (even a drop of over $100 million was a good result in the post-pandemic era). With that in mind, there's really no reason not to move forward with Thor 5.
As always, keep checking back here for updates as we have them.