Thor: Love and Thunder Director Wanted to Make '80s Metal Marvel Movie

There may not be any Metallica in Thor: Love and Thunder, but director Taika Waititi is riding the lightning with his follow-up to Thor: Ragnarok. While Waititi's first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie brought down the hammer of the gods in an Asgardian action sequence set to Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) is rocking with a Guns N' Roses-fueled soundtrack in Love and Thunder. Along with an electrifying score by Marvel's Doctor Strange and Spider-Man: No Way Home composer Michael Giacchino, Love and Thunder features such '80s songs as "Our Last Summer" by ABBA and Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark." 

"You can see some of the influences in Chris' [alternate] Thor costume, with the singlet. That's obviously an homage to Big Trouble in Little China, to [Kurt Russell's] Jack Burton," Waititi told Rolling Stone, referring to Thor's "Ravager outfit" worn during his cosmic adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. "I just wanted the whole thing to feel like an electric-guitar lead break. All the art and everything, it feels like an '80s album cover."

Waititi continued, "Even the title treatment — I wanted it all to feel like something I would draw on my school book in class, when I was perfecting the Metallica [logo]." 

While the soundtrack includes songs from such artists as Ciara, Mary J. Blige, and Enya, Thor: Love and Thunder's retro style is rooted in a number of Guns N' Roses songs: "Welcome to the Jungle," "Paradise City," "November Rain," and "Sweet Child O'Mine," featured in the film's trailer. 

"What I wanted to do, to push it in a different direction, was to make it romantic. They kind of touched a little bit on the romance stuff in the first two films, but they didn't really lean into the love aspect," Waititi said of Thor's romance with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who returns as The Mighty Thor eight years post-off-screen breakup. "And I was like, well, we've seen Thor in that big [Jack] Kirby-esque world of all the color and pop art in Ragnarok. What would the fans least expect? Thor in love! What do the fans not want? Thor in love! What would really piss the fans off? And we're doing that." 

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe as Zeus, Jaimie Alexander as Sif, and Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder opens July 8 in theaters.