Taika Waititi’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ giving way to a ‘more serious’ ‘Thor 5’ might be the first step towards the MCU’s resurgence

Taika Waititi seems to have completed his transformation from Marvel poster boy to pariah with his admission that he had “no interest” in making Thor movies and only agreed to do Ragnarok and Love and Thunder because he was “poor.”

While that’s somewhat surprising to hear about Ragnarok, as the director managed to infuse his first MCU movie with fun and verve, the fact he only did the disappointing Love and Thunder for the paycheck isn’t as shocking. Despite all the hype surrounding it, the 2022 summer blockbuster appeared to turn a lot of people’s minds around on the franchise’s addiction to wacky humor at the expense of character depth and plot development.

So even if Waititi’s comments might feel like a betrayal to some Thor fans — bear in mind, however, that we can’t always take everything that Taika says seriously — the latest intel on Thor 5 suggests the God of Thunder’s mythos might be heading in the right direction. In fact, Marvel’s plans for it could even be a sign that the wider MCU is learning from its recent mistakes.

Social media gossip names Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards as the new director of Thor 5. Take any online rumor with a pinch of salt, but given his previous work Edwards would likely approach the character more seriously if he did get the job. That’d no doubt please Chris Hemsworth, who’s confessed he would only do more Thor if it was less “silly”.

Whether Edwards does Thor 5 or not, this is an extremely encouraging sign that Marvel is listening to its audience and is realizing that its tonal approach to its productions needs to change. On top of Love and Thunder, other breezy and light-hearted (and largely inconsequential) MCU offerings of recent times include Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, both of which massively underperformed. Meanwhile, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which were much more emotionally stimulating, are among the highest-grossing entries in the Multiverse Saga.

Sure, we still want some Marvel comedy in our lives, and that’s not going to go away — not with Deadpool 3 coming next July — but perhaps the franchise’s kneejerk reaction to go for the gags needs to evolve. And if Thor, the MCU’s goofiest franchise, can change then there’s hope for the whole cinematic universe.