THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Director Taika Waititi Believes Thor's Next Villain Needs To Be Stronger Than Hela

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Director Taika Waititi Believes Thor's Next Villain Needs To Be Stronger Than Hela

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has shared his take on the God of Thunder's MCU future, arguing that his next villain needs to be even more powerful than Hela to keep the hero on his toes.

News
By JoshWilding - Aug 18, 2023 07:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Thor: Love and Thunder
Source: Screen Rant

When it was revealed that Thor: Love and Thunder would pit the hero against Gorr the God Butcher, excitement among fans went through the roof. That was doubly the case when Christian Bale was cast as the villain, but the God-killer proved to be something of a let-down.

Even Chris Hemsworth has expressed disappointment with how the movie turned out, and if and when Thor does return, there's a chance it won't be in another solo outing.

After Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania both failed to live up to critical and commercial expectations, Disney CEO Bob Iger strongly hinted that the days of third or fourth movies for MCU characters might be at an end. 

That could spell doom for Thor 5, but in the newly released Thor: Love and Thunder The Official Movie Special (via Screen Rant), filmmaker Taika Waititi shared his thoughts on the sort of antagonist the Odinson should face next.

"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."

"I don't think we can have a villain that's weaker than Hela. I feel like we need to step up from there and add a villain that's somehow more formidable."

The filmmaker would go on to share his belief that the Thor franchise "lends itself towards big, inventive, colourful creatures and aliens and things from different worlds," adding "there's a fun element to him and he has a casualness and a sort of swagger about him when he visits these worlds and encounters these aliens that I don't think you'd get when it's an earthling travelling through space exploring the universe."

If another Thor movie happens, we find it hard to believe Waititi will be at the helm. 

Just like Thor: Ragnarok served as a fresh start for the hero, we'd bet on the next movie doing the same again. Unfortunately, Thor: Love and Thunder made it clear that Waititi's goofy approach to the character has largely outstayed its welcome. Thor needs to get serious. 

What do you think?

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FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/18/2023, 7:57 AM
Could’ve been Gorr but you already wasted him mf
Rokhorn
Rokhorn - 8/18/2023, 8:24 AM
@PlusUltra - Holy smokesy exact thoughts after reading his needs a stronger villian. Derp e derp YOU HAD THE GOD BUTCHER
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 8/18/2023, 9:37 AM
@PlusUltra -


I know feige wanted directors to have more freedom after endgame but my god😳....



Feige should've stepped in. You need an overseer when it comes to a universe and letting taika just destroy God butcher like that was awful and you got one of the best actors in Hollywood into the MCU and you treat him like that?


To me that's one of Feiges biggest Ls after endgame 🤡😬😐
Origame
Origame - 8/18/2023, 8:00 AM
I mean, if you count the director and writer as more powerful, then you're the biggest Thor villain I've ever seen.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 8/18/2023, 8:02 AM
Yeah? Well, Chris (my buddy) and i think that Thor needs a new direction.

A new director, so go play with Star Wars Taika.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 8/18/2023, 8:05 AM
Taika should not be allowed to talk about the future of Thor. He did great with Ragnarok but Love and Thunder was definitely a downgrade compared to the past 3 Thor movies. It felt like he was making a movie for little kids. Gorr could’ve been so much more and probably was till they edited him out to replace with the slapstick comedy.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 8/18/2023, 9:41 AM
@slickrickdesigns - ''He did great with Ragnarok''

Your comment was good until this part.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 8/18/2023, 9:53 AM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - well you seem optimistic based on your SN. But yeah Ragnarok was a great movie. Just the right amount of everything and comedy wasn’t too over the top. Love and Thunder felt like a parody of a Thor movie.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 8/18/2023, 10:04 AM
@slickrickdesigns - yeah, a great movie in which Thor is suddenly a half-witted buffoon, which has no precent in his prior appearances. Loki went from a genocidal tyrant who can fight Thor one-on-one to a third wheel who gets mocked every step of the way. Odin gets turned to fart dust and gets no proper role. The story of Ragnarok is farcical nonsense with one pivotal plot hole that's so stupid, it wouldn't exist if anyone who was making the movie bothered watching the first one (the whole ''we need to find the sword to open the portal'' BS). The misuse of side characters like Warriors Three and Thor's complete lack of interest in their whereabouts, as well as the absence of Sif, to whose absence Thor's also oblivious. So you get both - the misuse of side characters and titular character's assassination by not having him care for what were his best friends. Instead, we get substitues for them in the face of a drunktard, unlikable slave-trader, a mute CGI bug, and a painfully unfunny self-insert of the director, on top of a poorly done inclusion of the Hulk.

You can like garbage, but at least admit it is garbage.
Spike101
Spike101 - 8/18/2023, 5:45 PM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - I hated Ragnarok too for all the same reasons.
tylerzero
tylerzero - 8/18/2023, 8:06 AM
I feel like another pivot is needed: If there is to be a next Thor movie, it should be in the vein of, say, Extraction...full-on, serious action with Thor going balls-out berserker on everybody.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 8/18/2023, 8:07 AM
Keep putting a hat on a hat, until you jump the shark.. who cares the Texas Chainsaw Massacre game goes live at 10am est!
Skestra
Skestra - 8/18/2023, 8:09 AM
If they did an evil version of the Star Brand, and the movie was done in a serious tone, I think that could work.
Radders
Radders - 8/18/2023, 8:17 AM
Taika is number 1 in the list of peoples opinions that shouldn't be listened too with the Thor franchise
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 8/18/2023, 8:18 AM
This [frick]ing guy wasted Surter in Ragnarok and Gorr in L&T. Dude has no business talking about Thor.
Simonsonrules
Simonsonrules - 8/18/2023, 9:01 AM
@CorndogBurglar - agreed
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 8/18/2023, 9:40 AM
@CorndogBurglar - Ragnajoke wasted Loki, the main villain of Ragnarok story, and wasted Hela, too, since she's supposed to be his daughter and she should give him an army to lead against Asgard.



And that's not to mention how Thor was an emasculated pussy in that whole movie.
marvel72
marvel72 - 8/18/2023, 8:34 AM
Gorr The God Butcher should have been but you f*cked up the whole movie.
Order66
Order66 - 8/18/2023, 8:47 AM
It should have been Gorr dick.
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 8/18/2023, 8:52 AM
They ruined Thor by making him a very stupid joke and when they destroyed Asgard and the characters that lived there, they cut off many great story possibilities. No where great to go with Thor. Few want to see him again.
Simonsonrules
Simonsonrules - 8/18/2023, 9:00 AM
The answer to this is Jormungand, but it will never happen. Thor will be killed by Kang in the new Avengers movies or some such other disappointing outcome if I had to bet. I hate you, Waititi, for the record. And I'm not very fond of you either Feige. You've got a slim chance to redeem yourself but I don't see it happening.
LukeCage2155
LukeCage2155 - 8/18/2023, 1:16 PM
@Simonsonrules -
Jacory
Jacory - 8/18/2023, 5:24 PM
@Simonsonrules - Aside from all the hate, you make a solid point with Jormungandr.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 8/18/2023, 9:07 AM
No, the villain just needs to be well written. Try hiring film real writers and keep Tic Tac away from the director's chair.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/18/2023, 9:09 AM
Love how he did Gorr erasure in this special about the making of the very film lmao

If they make Thor 5, I think Thor being now a father himself and going up against Hercules and that whole pantheon is an interesting direction that even allows for some serious weighty drama that seems like many are seeking in the character. You just need to make sure whoever helms it is committed and doesn't half-ass the thing like Waititi did with L&T. That film didn't lack serious and complex moments and ideas after all, it just didn't bother to flesh them out.

But I think it's more likely Thor just shows up in the Avengers films and most of his fathering and battling Herc will have already happened off screen, which would be a shame, because then lots of potential character work on Herc would also get lost.
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 8/18/2023, 9:21 AM
Hela herself was as compelling as most of the Phase 1 villains.
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 8/18/2023, 9:33 AM
''THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Director Taika Waititi'' needs to shut his damn mouth, admit that he have botched Thor beyond repair, and move the [frick] on, as hopefully us actual fans of Thor will be able to do. If Joel Schumacher can admit he [frick]ed up with Batman, certainly poor-man's Mel Brooks like Waititi can.

Oh, and Hela was a garbage villain. Just like the movie she was a part of. Imagine taking the story as interesting as Ragnarok, taking a character as melancholic and personally connected to Loki as Hela, and turning it all into a nonsensical farce with poop jokes and shitty green screen backgrounds and doing a stupid retcon of her being some estranged daughter of Odin. Her whole point in the comics is to be The Goddess of Death. And this poor-man's version of Hela calls herself that, but that moniker has no meaning. Her only interest in ruling over the world of the living. CB Hela is an ominous character who's neutral to everything - neither good nor evil. Just like physical death does not have favoritism when she claims someone.

One of the best stories with her in the comics is when Thor manages to kill her, but in doing so he erases death from the universe, and thus the worlds begin to crumble due to overpopulation and violence which comes from everyone and everything being immortal, and Thor realizes that death is a necessity without which life can't be what it is. So he brings her back, but in such Hela comes back and claims Thor's life, and only Sif's love for Thor makes Hela reconsider her decision and let Thor live after she sees grieving Sif, making Hela feel empathy for the first time in her existence.




That's good storytelling, and that's from a late 60s comic that was 20-some pages long. Ragnaschlock was a [frick]ign insult to Thor with a plot so stupid, the main villain can't succeed in her plan because the writers and the director forgot to watch the first Thor movie to see that Odin's spear, which lays next to her in the throne room, can also open the portal.

Trash movie.
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