By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago
Recently, Marvel icon Chris Hemsworth appeared on Smartless, a podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. They talked about many topics, and the conversation inevitably shifted to Marvel movies. At this point, I honestly expected the Thor actor to do some shameless advertising about how good these films are, essentially turning his appearance into a PR stunt for the MCU.
To my surprise, though, he got very frank about his absolute worst Marvel movie: Thor: Love and Thunder. In looking back on this disappointing film, Hemsworth admitted that it was “kind of like a Monty Python sketch” and “we sort of took the piss probably a little too much.” Thor was once one of the most serious heroes in the MCU, and the actor admitted that Love and Thunder left the fandom asking a very blunt question about his godly warrior: “Why is he a goofball?”
A Fumbling Franchise Pivots
It would be one thing if Thor: Love and Thunder were the first Thor film to be very silly. However, that happened earlier in Thor: Ragnarok, an openly comedic film that was a very deliberate tonal shift for the entire franchise. Such a picot was considered necessary because the previous film, Thor: The Dark World, was a critical stinker that many fans consider the worst entry in the entire MCU.
Director Taika Waititi turned Thor: Ragnarok into a kind of cosmic road-trip buddy comedy, and the film became a critical and commercial hit. Chris Hemsworth noted that the movie offered “quite a twist” on what audiences were expecting, thanks in large part to “Taika’s tone.” He noted that the fandom found the movie “fun” specifically because of the pivot to comedy: “there was a huge…appreciation for the shift.”
Too Much Of A Good Thing
In retrospect, Hemsworth believes that Thor: Love and Thunder failed because it leaned too far into comedy, making it feel more “like a Monty Python sketch” than a traditional superhero film. He pointed out that there was “backlash” to returning director Taika Waititi’s humor, with audiences wondering why Thor had become such a “goofball.” This is quite fair, honestly: Ragnarok allowed Hemsworth to show off his considerable comedic chops, but in Love and Thunder, he went from cracking jokes to being a joke.
On paper, Waititi was just giving fans more of the zany humor that they appreciated so much in Ragnarok. But it’s genuinely hard to make a follow-up to a good comedy, which is why so many sequels (like Caddyshack II and Blues Brothers 2000) to hilarious movies are downright terrible. This sequel’s humor was far inferior to Ragnarok, and even when the comedy in Thor: Love and Thunder did work, it felt bizarrely out of place given the dark storylines driving the film.
Were We Supposed To Laugh Or Cry?
Thor: Love and Thunder had some broad comedy beats that fell flat, including those stupid screaming goats. But if you rewatch the movie, more of the jokes land than you likely remember. The essential problem with this movie was that the tonal shifts between comedic and dramatic moments were so severe that they gave you whiplash!
The Big Bad of the movie is motivated to kill all deities in the universe after his daughter starves to death, and he discovers the god he so fervently worships just doesn’t care. Meanwhile, Jane Foster is dying of cancer, and every time she transforms into Thor, it makes her cancer worse. But she is willing to court death itself to save the universe from Gorr, a self-proclaimed God Butcher seeking justice for the little girl he loved more than anything else.
These are intense plots, and they are that much more impactful because Christian Bale and Natalie Portman give such astounding performances. In another director’s hands, this would have been a recipe for a heartbreaking, dramatic film that takes more cues from the Jason Aaron Thor comics they are based on. But Taika Waititi tried to tug on our heartstrings and make us laugh all at once, resulting in a movie that was disjointed at its best and unhinged at its worst.
To Be Or Not To Be (Funny)
The first two Thor movies were downright Shakespearean, with Thor taking himself very seriously. The second two were comedic, with audiences generally preferring Ragnarok and hating Love and Thunder. In retrospect, these movies have a clear pattern: every other Thor film has been a stinker, but the odd-numbered ones are good.
Now, Marvel is at a crossroads and must decide whether to continue making Thor the class clown of the Avengers or return him to his more grounded roots. We’ll know what they’ve decided when Avengers: Doomsday finally hits theaters later this year. Here’s hoping that the MCU stops “taking the piss” (to borrow Hemsworth’s blunt Aussie slang) and helps fans start believing in this god once again.
