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Taiki Waititi sums up ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ as a ‘midlife crisis film’

Turns out even Thunder Gods can have an existential crisis.

Image via Marvel Studios

In the first few minutes of the official trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, we hear the hero say, “I need to figure out exactly who I am,” and it seems that it isn’t just an idle comment. Director Taika Waititi is saying viewers will be seeing Marvel’s Norse God of Thunder experiencing a full-blown midlife crisis.

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While Waititi will still be bringing the same whimsical take on the Avenger’s lord of thunder powerhouse that he brought to the franchise’s previous outing, Thor: Ragnarok, Love and Thunder will be delving deeper into what makes the character tick. “It’s not a serious film, and it’s not a drama, but we do deal with ideas that I think a lot of humans deal with — universal themes about love and loss and our place in the world,” the director told Entertainment Weekly.

Although Thor and his compatriots won the last battle of Avengers: Endgame, that movie definitely saw Thor at one of his nadirs and Waititi was eager to explore those feelings in this newest installment, telling EW:

“It’s sort of like a midlife crisis film, really. That’s the question we ask everyone: Are we doing the right thing, and are we doing all we can in the world? I think right now, while the world is still healing from this pandemic, it’s a good question to ask. It’s like, well, are we doing enough to look after each other and to look after ourselves?”

And so while we will definitely see the superhero shed his heftier frame from Endgame, it looks like he’ll be exploring other, deeper questions about his ultimate purpose as well. This should come in handy when he finds out about his ex’s great new job.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters this summer, July 8.