Taika Waititi Justifies His Character Assassination Of Thor: "That Was For The Greater Good Of The Franchise As A Whole"
Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi justified his character assassination of Thor in those two films claiming it was for “the greater good of the franchise as a whole.”
Speaking to Variety while at the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah, Waititi said, “The stuff that Chris and I did and how we shaped him into that new version… that was for the greater good of the franchise as a whole.”
He didn’t expound on this at all and instead pivoted to expressing his interest in the next Avengers films, “I can’t wait to see these ‘Avengers’ movies. I was just watching ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ two weeks ago. They’re so good. I’m good friends with the Russos and will love to see what they’re doing.”
It is unclear exactly what the phrase “the greater good” means in this context, but Waititi’s Thor films were horrendous. Ragnarok completely undercut the entire first Thor film’s character arc where it shows him maturing and eventually understanding the responsibilities and duties that come with being the king.
Instead of continuing on this idea, Ragnarok turns him into a buffoonish, cartoonish caricature. He’s even mocked and humiliated by the Grandmaster who call him “Sparkles” after repeatedly shocking him with a shock collar. And it’s all done for supposed laughs from the audience. And they are laughing at Thor because he’s being emasculated and humiliated.
Waititi doubled down on this with Thor: Love and Thunder as the juvenile quips undercut any attempts at seriousness. At one point, the character is even stripped naked for “laughs.”
Additionally, the film pushed woke feminism as it has Thor get replaced by Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster.
Even Chris Hemsworth began distancing himself from the film realizing that Waititi’s creative decisions were anything but for the greater good. He told GQ that his kids’ friends thought the movie sucked. “It’s a bunch of eight-year-olds critiquing my film. ‘We thought this one had too much humour, the action was cool but the VFX weren’t as good.’”
He even added, “I cringe and laugh equally at it. I think we just had too much fun. It just became too silly.”
He also told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024, “I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself. I didn’t stick the landing.”
In fact, in 2022 he made clear he was not a fan of the film’s tone when discussing returning for a possible fifth film, “I think it would have to be a drastically different version in tone, everything, just for my own sanity.”
And that is exactly what Waititi said he was going to. He was going to “ruin your mythos in a minute, baby.”
Never trust an anti-White fucking director whose name you can’t pronounce .
Confession: I was a fan of Ragnarok. Hated Love and Thunder. I suspect that Waitiki doesn't have a lot of range when it comes to writing. Everything he makes is really just some version of Ragnarok. I agree that it was not a good way to handle the material. Thor is meant to represent a godlike power, even if he is a Norse mythological figure. Treating him like a joke was the first step toward effectively emasculating him. That was just more obvious in Love and Thunder, but it was already there in Ragnarok.