Taika Waititi says he only directed “Thor: Ragnarok” because 'I was poor'

"It wasn’t on my plan for my career as an auteur," the director says of making superhero films.

Taika Waititi has already made it clear that his time working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to an end, at least for now. In a new interview with the podcast SmartLess, Waititi says that he never wanted to become involved in the massive superhero franchise in the first place — and mainly took the job on 2017's Thor: Ragnarok for financial reasons.

"I had no interest in doing one of those films,” Waititi told SmartLess hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes on the latest episode. “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.'”

Thor: Ragnarok was such a smash success — earning $865 million at the global box office and critical acclaim as one of the best MCU movies — that it made sense for Waititi to continue with the sequel, last year's Thor: Love and Thunder. That one didn't do as well with fans or critics, and now Waititi says he's done.

"I know that I won't be involved," he said of a potential fifth Thor movie in another recent interview.

Waititi's comments are reminiscent of fellow MCU filmmaker Nia DaCosta, who once told the New York Times that she hoped scoring a Marvel movie could help her pay off her student debt — but then clarified in 2021 that she still had debt remaining after taking the job as director of The Marvels.

Waititi's new, non-superhero film Next Goal Wins is in theaters now, and he has several other projects on the horizon. But he did clarify he'd be open to returning to the MCU if the opportunity arose years from now.

“I love Marvel, I love working with them," Waititi said. "I love Chris [Hemsworth]. 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.”

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