Thor: Ragnarok Won’t Take Itself Too Seriously, Says Director

It’s no secret that Thor’s had a bit of a tough time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His first two films failed to excite audiences and are often considered to be amongst the weakest efforts that the studio’s produced. At least, as far as the MCU goes. But then Thor: Ragnarok came along and all of the sudden, the God of Thunder is all that anyone can talk about, with his upcoming threequel shaping up to be one of the most exciting releases of the year.

After two thrilling trailers, the most recent of which dropped back at San Diego Comic-Con, it seems like everyone’s fully on board now with the Taika Waititi-directed blockbuster, and given its wacky tone, boatload of humor and what looks to be a roller coaster ride of an adventure, we have every reason to believe that Ragnarok will be the film that brings redemption to the hero and washes the poor taste left by Thor and Thor: The Dark World from our mouths.

If you’re worried that the threequel might play things too seriously though, fear not, as Waititi has now allayed those concerns. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times in a recent interview, the filmmaker explained how he made sure that the cast and crew always knew what type of movie they were making.

“If we were taking things a little too seriously,” he said, “I would say, ‘Never forget that we’re making a cosmic adventure with a space Viking.’ That sort of captures it all. We’ve got the Incredible Hulk, and a giant woman with antlers. We’ve got aliens and spaceships. It’s almost like a bunch of kids were asked what they wanted to put into a movie, and then we just did that.”

If nothing else, these comments from the director are yet another reminder that Thor: Ragnarok is shaping up to be one of the most wacky and unique entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, and may even dethrone Civil War for its A-list cast. After all, not only does the threequel bring together MCU stalwarts in the vein of Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Hiddleston as the meddling God of Mischief, but there are also big-name additions like Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban and Jeff Goldblum to look forward to. Dressed in regal clothing and featuring bright blue face paint, we know the latter plays the all-wise Grandmaster in Taika Waititi’s space opera.

After impressing viewers the world over with What We Do in the Shadows and last year’s ruddy brilliant Hunt for the Wilderpeople – for the record, its breakout star Julian Dennison has since landed a key role in Deadpool 2 – Waititi’s next directorial effort will be on our screens on November 3rd. The New Zealand director has a knack for cameos, too, so keep your peepers peeled for him (and Stan Lee!) when Ragnarok hits theaters.