Taika Waititi says he only joined Marvel because he needed the money

Many a director would dream of taking the reins of a Marvel movie, and the money would come as an after thought.

Of course, a healthy pay-packet is a bonus and an important part of agreeing to any job, but for Taika Waititi the money played a pretty big role.

The 48-year-old directed the 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok - the third film in the much-loved franchise following the Marvel character.

The movie is one of two Marvel projects Waititi has helmed, including the 2022 follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder. But he explained in a recent podcast how he had no interest in working on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and only did so to financially support his children.

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Speaking on the Smartness podcast, Taika said: "You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films. 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."

The director did not stop there with his admissions, adding: "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."

In the podcast, Waititi also implied his shock that Marvel decided to approach him for the director role, adding the company didn't really know what to do next with the franchise.

"I think there was no place left for them to go with that. I thought, 'Well, they've called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel,'" he explained.

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As you'd probably expect, now he has revealed his true intentions for taking on the roles in the MCU universe, Waititi doesn't expect to be involved in the next Thor project.

Not only that, but Waititi also has a new Star Wars project to be working on, so already has a packed enough schedule as it is.

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