“Thor: Ragnarok” is a vast improvement upon the first two Marvel installments, much of it thanks to director Taika Waititi (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and “What We Do in the Shadows”) who infuses the proceedings with a healthy dose of wacky meta humor. This latest “Thor” movie follows in the footsteps of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Deadpool,” Ant-Man” and, more recently, this past July’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” by not taking itself so damn seriously. The game-changing 2014 “Guardians of the Galaxy” seemed to have sparked a new attitude in Marvel movies — why be so serious about a movie essentially based on a comic book? DC seems to have gotten the memo as well with this year’s entertaining, highly successful and dour-free “Wonder Woman.”
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Waititi isn’t done either. He’s been making the media rounds the last week or so promoting “Ragnarok” and it seems he’s become Marvel’s new golden boy. The 42-year-old New-Zealand-born filmmaker recently spoke about his future with Marvel to io9 and it sounds like the director is open to more MCU. Or at the very least, Waititi sees a lot of comedy potential in a “Black Widow“ movie.
“In all honesty, I reckon I could probably bring something pretty unique to any of the franchises,” he said. “So I’d love to see Black Widow. [I’d like to see] Black Widow as something crazy and a bit funnier than we expect it to be, because we know her story and it’s very sullen and very dark and her history is very dark. But! What’s the funny version of that? What’s the more entertaining version of that?”
In addition to being a kick-ass female character, perfectly played by Scarlett Johansson, who has not been fully explored in the Marvel canon, Waititi is drawn to Black Widow for being underestimated.
“I really go for the underdog,” he explained. “[And] I think there’s a way in with any of the characters. You just have to find it and find what honors what’s already there with the source material but also brings it into a more entertaining form for the audience.”
This all has us very excited about the potential of a visually gifted guy like Waititi continuing his journey with Marvel. Ever since the Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff was introduced to us in 2012’s “The Avengers,” fans have been clamoring for a solo adventure. Her spotlight is way overdue. I’m sure Marvel has kept a close eye on “Wonder Woman” and the success it’s had at the box-office. With Marvel’s first female-led super hero movie on the way in “Captain Marvel,” a “Black Widow” film is a no-brainer decision and we really hope it comes to fruition sooner rather than later.