The most surprising Marvel Cinematic Universe project announced at the recent Disney Investor Day wasn’t the long-rumored adaptation of Secret Invasion, Riri Williams being set up for her live-action debut in Ironheart or even confirmation that the Fantastic Four reboot had entered active development, but rather the news that James Gunn was bringing The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to Disney Plus.
The filmmaker confirmed that his festive one-shot will be MCU canon, and it’ll be filmed during production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with the Holiday Special arriving in December 2022 before the third installment in the big screen series presumably drops the following summer. Given the team’s irreverent nature and the infamous status of the Star Wars version, Gunn’s standalone adventure has the potential to be something truly bizarre, incredibly exciting and completely unpredictable, and it seems Marvel now wants to extend the idea to other heroes.
Insider Daniel Richtman is claiming the God of Thunder could be up for his own festive one-shot, too, after reporting that Thor might also be getting a Disney Plus special of his own. It probably wouldn’t be focused on Christmas given that there’s no indication that Asgardians even celebrate the holidays, but more Chris Hemsworth in the MCU is far from a bad thing.
While this is entirely speculative for now and there’s no guarantee it’ll even happen, the idea of Taika Waititi handling a theoretical Thor Holiday Special is a tantalizing prospect. He’s no stranger to small screen Disney Plus exclusives having helmed The Mandalorian‘s explosive season 1 finale, while he was also heavily involved in turning his hilarious mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows into an equally funny TV series, and having signed on to direct a Star Wars blockbuster, he’s clearly very highly regarded by the studio executives.
