A filmmaker like Taika Waititi, who built his entire career on irreverent and outlandish humor, was never exactly going to make a straightforward comic book blockbuster, so it was little surprise when Thor: Ragnarok turned out to be one of the most purely entertaining installments in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople director clearly given a long creative leash to inject the Odinson’s threequel with his own signature style.
There are plenty of hilarious moments to be found in the movie, but the Asgardian play might just be the best in terms of sheer ridiculous self-awareness. Never mind the fact that we’ve got Anthony Hopkins playing Tom Hiddleston’s Loki playing Anthony Hopkins’ Odin, but Waititi’s Wilderpeople star Sam Neill as the Allfather in the stage production was the least bizarre thing about the entire scene, with Matt Damon of all people as Loki, and Chris Hemsworth’s brother Luke as Thor in what has to be the single most meta piece of MCU casting there will likely ever be.
There’s been plenty of speculation recently that Damon touched down in Australia to begin his mandatory quarantine before shooting fourth installment Thor: Love and Thunder, and in a new interview, Neill teased that he too might be returning as one of Asgard’s finest local actors.
“I think the odds are reasonably high. I think Taika’s got something up his sleeve. We will see what happens. Travel between New Zealand and Australia is problematic at the moment, but we will see if something can be worked out.”
The cast of Thor: Love and Thunder is already absolutely stacked as it is, without factoring in yet another visit to the local repertory. You’d imagine that Matt Damon heading Down Under would signal he’s got a much larger role the second time around given the current COVID-19 climate, but based on how Ragnarok turned out, there’s no point in even trying to guess how it’s all going to fit together in the end.
