Taika Waititi confesses directing Thor for money, deeming it "the least popular franchise"

In season 2 episode 10 of "SmartLess" podcast, Taika Waititi declared that he was not interested in becoming a director for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. The filmmaker from New Zealand received a lot of support for Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, but after directing Thor: Love and Thunder, he faced a lot of criticism.

Even though directing Thor: Ragnarok advanced his career, he had not even considered pursuing directing for the MCU when the chance arose. During an open discussion segment on the podcast, Waititi disclosed that his original venture into the Marvel universe was solely motivated by his financial circumstances.

---

Taika Waititi spills the beans on his MCU films

Acclaimed for his films such as Hunt for the Wilderpeople, director Taika Waititi has helmed two MCU productions: Thor: Ragnarok from 2017, which is regarded as one of the finest Marvel pictures, and the divisive Thor: Love and Thunder from 2022.

The Academy Award winner said in a podcast interview on "Smartless" that he first took the Thor: Ragnarok directorial job for financial gain since he had recently given birth to his second kid.

"You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films. It wasn’t on my plan for my career as an auteur. But I was poor and I’d just had a second child, and I thought, ‘You know what, this would be a great opportunity to feed these children.' And Thor, let’s face it — it was probably the least popular franchise. I never read Thor comics as a kid. That was the comic I’d pick up and be like ‘Ugh.’ And then I did some research on it, and I read one Thor comic or 18 pages, or however long they are. I think there was no place left for them to go with that. I thought, ‘Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.'"

The creator of the Thor saga for the MCU acknowledged that he wasn't familiar with any of the Thor comics as a child and even rated the Thor series one of the least successful. He continued by saying that, in order to prepare for the MCU movie, he hardly ever picked up a comic book for reference or research.

Taika Waititi also suggested that Marvel summoned him in during the filming of Thor: Ragnarok, as if they were frantic. Internet users have taken to their X accounts to vent their displeasure at the director for these comments, and they have attacked him harshly.

The acclaimed auteur reaffirmed in another recent interview that he will not be working on the upcoming Thor movie. Even if Taika Waititi doesn't want to participate in what will probably be Chris Hemsworth's last standalone appearance as Thor, the filmmaker isn't ruling out going back to work for Marvel.

“But I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris Hemsworth. We're in an open relationship and it's like, if they want to see other people I'm happy for that. I'd still get back into bed with them one day."

Taika Waititi may not have intended to make a lasting impression when he entered the Marvel scene; rather, he just wanted to perform his job, but there's no denying that his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made an impression.