Love & Thunder Is Ragnarok 2, Not Thor 4

Thor is the only original MCU character to get a fourth solo film in Phase 4, but Thor: Love & Thunder has been set up much more akin to Ragnarok 2 than a proper Thor 4. Taika Waititi brought a whole new style and tone to the franchise when he came on for Thor: Ragnarok, and by all accounts – including Taika himself – that approach will carry into Love & Thunder. That’s great news for fans given Ragnarok’s critical acclaim and widespread popularity.

Though he was one of the three main characters of the MCU’s Phase 1, Thor struggled to find his footing as the lead of a solo franchise. The first Thor received some praise for Chris Hemsworth’s performance and the fantastical aesthetic of the Asgard scenes, but many viewers criticized it for a dull second half, making it one of the weakest films in Phase 1. The sequel, Thor: The Dark World, is widely seen as the worst film in the entire MCU. In both cases, Marvel struggled to balance the absurdity of “techno space gods” with the epic scale of a fantasy story.

When Taika Waititi entered the picture for Thor: Ragnarok, the whole franchise changed. Ragnarok swapped out the first two film’s extensive collection of forgettable side characters for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, and a supporting role from Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. The film also replaced the early installments’ more generic style with a stunning neo-70s sci-fi/fantasy aesthetic that immediately endeared itself to fans. Finally, the Thor franchise seemed to have found its own unique identity. The announcement of a Thor 4 made more sense than another Iron Man or Captain America would have for that exact reason. While Steve Rogers and Tony Stark both wrapped up their stories cleanly within their trilogies, Thor’s was sort of rebooted in Ragnarok.

The aesthetic, tone, and even the cast were significantly changed, which left the door open for a Ragnarok sequel in the same style – the second film in a second Thor series, rather than the fourth in the original. Taika Waititi even said as much in a 2017 interview with Screen Rant, stating that, “I’d do another one because it wouldn’t even feel like doing a fourth Thor film, it would just feel like doing the second Ragnarok film. Cuz it does feel like in a way, yeah there’s been this reinvention in an exciting way.”

While Thor: Love & Thunder is bringing back characters from the first two films like Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, it still feels more like a sequel to Ragnarok than to Thor or The Dark World. The return of Lady Sif (Jaime Alexander), Jane, and possibly others will likely be more reboot than reprisal – a chance to reimagine those characters who were less liked in the first two films in the brilliant style of Waititi’s Thor universe. That should all be good news for fans and what they can expect from Thor: Love & Thunder.