Taika Waititi only directed Thor movies for a paycheck

Taika Waititi says he only directed two Thor movies due to the money he received.

The New Zealander has written and directed the last two films in the series - Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder.

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Ragnarok received critical acclaim and was a smash at the box office, while the response to Love and Thunder was more lukewarm. Waititi was credited with breathing new life into the franchise with Ragnarok, but he didn't even want the job in the first place and did not actually want to direct a Marvel movie.

“You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films,” Waititi said on the Smartless podcast.

“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 was still baffled by this character.”

Waititi will not return for Thor 5

Should Thor 5 happen with star Chris Hemsworth, Marvel will need to find a new director.

"I know that I won't be involved…I'm going to concentrate on these other films that I've signed on for," Waititi revealed to Business Insider.

"So that's six, seven years gone. I'd imagine another 'Thor' would be a lot sooner than that…But I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris.

"I would never feel like they are cheating on me," Waititi joked.

"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."

Waititi is currently promoting Next Goal Wins and will soon start serious development on a new Star Wars script.