Any lead character in a major franchise has to undergo some serious development to avoid becoming stale, and when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, very few of the studio’s marquee heroes have been on as extensive a journey as Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, who arguably had the single most interesting arc across the Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame double header.
The God of Thunder’s first two solo movies aren’t exactly regarded as high points of the MCU, with the relatively stoic and one-dimensional Asgardian leading to perfectly acceptable if unspectacular blockbusters. The Dark World in particular is often named as the single worst entry in the long-running series, but Thor underwent a complete reinvention at the hands of Taika Waititi.
Maximizing Hemsworth’s comic talents, Ragnarok was an irreverent intergalactic adventure that re-positioned the title hero as one of the MCU’s most popular figures, but still continued the overarching themes of loss and tragedy that have defined him so far. Sequel Thor: Love and Thunder is set to start shooting in January of next year, and the leading man has now admitted that he’s looking to change things up once more.
“I’m very excited to try to do something different, you know, the last three films we certainly, I think, pushed the envelope and created different versions of the character, and now people expect some dramatic changes,” says Hemsworth. “So we’ve got our work cut out in that sense.”
Love and Thunder sees Thor become the first of the MCU’s big names to get a fourth standalone outing, and based on the wildly enthusiastic reception to Ragnarok, not to mention the hugely exciting additions of Christian Bale and the Guardians of the Galaxy to the ensemble along with a returning Natalie Portman, there’s absolutely no reason to doubt that Hemsworth and Waititi will be able to pull off something even better now that the duo have firmly established the tone and creative approach towards the resurgent superhero.
