It’s been 15 years since Thor hit theaters. It was just the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has now notched almost 40 entries, and it introduced Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, among other characters who’d continue to resonate throughout the Avengers movies. Back when it was released, one of Thor‘s most intriguing qualities was its director: Kenneth Branagh, who was (and still is) better-known for Shakespeare adaptations than superhero blockbusters.
In a new interview with Business Insider, Branagh reflected back on those early days of the MCU and the contributions he made but also looked ahead to the ending he’d like to see for the characters he helped shape.
After the success of Thor, Branagh said Marvel wanted him to return for the sequel. He declined because he’d found the experience of making a Marvel movie “wildly exciting but super intense,” and he needed a break in the aftermath—especially since the studio wanted to plunge right into a part two.
The sequel, Thor: The Dark World, eventually arrived in 2013 and was directed by Alan Taylor; since then, Taika Waititi has directed two more, 2017’s Ragnarok and 2022’s Love and Thunder.
Still, though Branagh has moved on, he’s still got a fondness for the heroes and villains he worked with 15 years ago. He was a fan of the sequels (“amazing films”) and thought the pivot to a more humorous tone was admirable. However, it sounds like he wouldn’t turn down the chance to revisit the material.
“Part of me would love to finish my relationship with that character,” he said. “I’d always wanted to do more and indeed had a couple of ideas, more in the territory of James Mangold’s brilliant Logan. I would love to see Chris Hemsworth and the others have their own individual final story that takes Thor into a glorious twilight.”
He continued. “And there’s also this unique relationship with a large cinema audience that those characters now have that, for people who have grown up with them and their arc, I think it would be something very beautiful to take those characters into their own particular sunset. It could be a beautiful thing. I would love to see it, for sure.”
Whether or not he fits into Marvel’s massive future plans, however, is a different story.
“That’s a whole other question,” he said when asked if he’d be up for returning. “They are so far deep into the future of the Marvel Universe that I’m sure whatever plans they have for it are already kind of set. All I know is there’s something beautiful to be had out of arriving at a conclusion for that arc of those stories with those characters and those actors.”
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