Thor: Love and Thunder released in the theaters this weekend, marking the next movie in Marvel’s Phase 4 and bringing with it all the cheap and shallow comedy for which both Taika Waititi and the MCU are now known. The film raises some interesting questions but does not carry through on any of them or the other intriguing concepts that could have been the catalysts for an incredible story. Failed potential is the best way to sum up this movie. The battling subplots and ideas could each have created a good film. However, as it stands, these conflicting plotlines are introduced and forgotten or are not connected scene by scene in any way or developed beyond their introduction.
Suppose the film had merely taken one idea, such as Jane Foster’s cancer, and developed it to its conclusion, thoroughly...