There's lots to, well, love in Thor: Love and Thunder, but the movie definitely has its fair share of issues. Of course, much of its problems can be attributed to a runtime of less than 2 hours that makes everything feel a little rushed.
We know of at least a few major cameos that were left on the cutting room floor, while star Natalie Portman has hinted that several characters and planets didn't make it into the final movie. Needless to say, we're hoping for a lot of deleted scenes to be released by Marvel Studios down the line.
Director Taika Waititi has indicated that he doesn't want to share them, though it's a decision we have to believe will ultimately be made by Kevin Feige and other executives (then again, seeing as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Blu-ray only includes a few deleted scenes, we're not banking on it).
That sequel was also shorter than expected, and it appears the negative reaction to Eternals has prompted Marvel Studios to make its blockbusters a little less bloated. We don't know for sure whether that's the case, but it appears Thor: Love and Thunder's truncated runtime was a mandate from the studio.
According to Joanna Robinson of The Ringer-Verse podcast (via ComicBook.com), "Taika having a blank check on this is absolutely not the case. He got more leeway than he got with Ragnarok, but there was a mandate to bring this movie in under two hours. This comes in under two hours and they cut a ton of stuff out of this movie."
"Taika is on record as not being in director's cuts. We know Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey [were supposed to appear] and Simon Russell Beale appeared as Dionysus and had like two lines in this movie but has an above-the-line credit, so he was definitely supposed to be in this more. Gorr was supposed to come in and kill a bunch of other people."
It's become commonplace for MCU movies to make sweeping changes during reshoots, while deleted scenes are nothing new. However, given the somewhat mixed response to 2022's Marvel Studios releases, we can't help but think that instead of shorter runtimes, the focus should be on telling stronger stories (Avengers: Endgame was three hours and received rave reviews).
Those of you hoping for a Thor: Love and Thunder Director's Cut, though, are likely to be disappointed.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters!