It’s hard for an Avenger to retire. Chris Evans is returning as Captain America for “Avengers: Doomsday,” and Robert Downey Jr. is coming back for the epic superhero drama too, albeit this time as the antagonist character Doctor Doom. And there’s been speculation that actors like Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) could be done soon, too. But one of those Avengers, Chris Hemsworth, won’t be hanging up his hammer or axe anytime soon, it seems.
On a recent episode of the Smarteless podcast promoting his new crime thriller “Crime 101,” the Australian star suggested he’ll be sticking around after “Avengers: Doomsday” for a couple more appearances.
SmartLess co-host Sean Hayes marveled that Hemsworth’s ‘Doomsday’ turn would mark his tenth outing as the God of Thunder, which prompted the actor to say there are a “couple more times” still ahead.
“Oh, there’s more??” Hayes asked, excited, and Hemsworth confirmed: “Yeah… it’s wild.”
Of course, one of those appearances will surely be “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but the actor’s comments will still give fans hope for a “Thor 5.”
Hemsworth said the joy of playing Thor has been watching the tone evolve—from the more self-serious “Thor” to the much wackier “Thor: Ragnarok.” He added that he gets bored playing one note, and the MCU has allowed for different versions of the character.
“It’s been so much fun. And what I’ve really enjoyed it—unlike a lot of what the other characters that the [actors] were given, they have had to be pretty consistent— whereas working with Taika Waititi on his films versus Kenneth Branagh with those films and then with the Russos, all [the films] had quite a different sort of tonal opinion,” he explained. “But [the Russos] also let me try different things. It’s the same with my tattoos, I’d be getting really bored [with] the same thing and having a real need to kind of throw [the performance] in different directions.”
The actor also teased a new evolution in store for Thor in ‘Doomsday’ and beyond.
“I was talking to Kevin Feige about it, and he said it’s cool because the audience now expects dramatic turns with the character,” he said. “And whatever we do next—we’ve got some ideas to do something pretty unique again and hopefully be [different].”
Hemsworth also pointed out that even the comic books have plenty of “variations” and takes on the character, so the tonal swings in Thor were simply taking cues from what the source material has already explored. That said, maybe we shouldn’t expect Thor to stay in the comedy lane. Hemsworth, who has commented on this before, still sounds a little stung by the hostile reception to the overdone zaniness of “Thor: Love And Thunder.”
“You do need to be careful,” Hemsworth said, framing it as a cautionary tale about ‘Love And Thunder’ and pushing the comedy beyond the audience’s comfort zone. “When we made ‘Ragnarok,’ it was quite a twist, with Taika’s [film]. And it was so fun. There was a huge appreciation for the shift. And then [with] ‘Love And Thunder,’ it was kind of like a Monty Python sketch, and we took the piss probably a little much, and then there was some backlash. There was this real kind of, ‘Why is he a goofball and why is it like this?’ And, [audiences] violently offended and we were like, ‘Oh, we’re just having fun or trying to try something different.’”
Whether that’s confirmation we’re back to a self-serious Thor is subjective, but it would not surprise us if the Russos rein in the superhero a little bit and veer closer to the mix of tragedy and humor that marked “Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
What the ‘Doomsday’ plot is exactly hasn’t been revealed beyond the mini-trailers teasing another multiversal adventure, but we’ll find out more in the months ahead. “Avengers: Doomsday” opens December 18, 2026.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
