Following “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World,” the God of Thunder was at a crossroads. Neither of his two solo films had been particularly well-liked, and although he played well as a member of the Avengers, it seemed as if some sort of reinvention was in order. Enter Taika Waititi, the New Zealand director of “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” who brought his own eccentric sense of absurd humor and a completely different visual style to the “Thor” franchise.

Both Waititi and star Chris Hemsworth wanted to inject more comedy into the proceedings (via EW) following the dour “The Dark World,” and the result was 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok.” The film introduced out-there Marvel characters like Hela, Surtur, and the Grandmaster (not to mention Korg, played by Waititi himself), blended the Hulk and (briefly) Doctor Strange into the mix, and stirred it all into a heady adventure that captured a lot of the crazy energy from classic “Thor” comic book runs that had been missing in the movies. The film’s $854 million worldwide gross proved that Waititi was onto something, with the director invited back for 2022’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” — an unprecedented fourth solo outing for a Marvel superhero.