Chris Hemsworth is one of the more unlikely heroes to emerge from the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, as one of the “Big 3,” Hemsworth was the odd man out when compared to big stars like Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr, who anchored the early MCU films. But through his three “Thor” films, and multiple “Avengers” appearances, the actor has cemented himself as a superstar. And with his current status of an A-lister in Hollywood, Hemsworth has gained the ability to look back at his filmography with a more critical eye.
For fans of the MCU, out of the 20 (wow, Marvel Studios is really up to 20?) films in the franchise, “Thor: The Dark World” is often regarded as the worst, or one of the worst entries. The second film in the Thunder God’s trilogy, “Dark World” came from director Alan Taylor and currently holds one of the worst Rotten Tomatoes numbers for any Marvel Studios film at 66%. Before last year’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” which scored big numbers at the box office and firmly planted Thor (and Hemsworth) as one of the most vital parts of the whole MCU, ‘Dark World’ had placed the superhero’s status in the MCU on relatively thin ice. Long story short, Thor was, by far, the least popular of the big Avengers.
Now, in a new interview with GQ, Hemsworth opens up about the first couple ‘Thor’ films and gives his honest assessment, and explains why he knew they needed to change things up for ‘Ragnarok.’ “The first one is good, the second one is meh,” Hemsworth says. “What masculinity was, the classic archetype—it just all starts to feel very familiar. I was so aware that we were right on the edge.”
And it’s that masculinity that was a driving force for change in ‘Ragnarok.’ Filmmaker Taika Waititi, who helmed the third ‘Thor’ film, said in the same profile piece that he wanted to change things up for the character by invoking an actor that is definitely masculine, but also not a macho god. Waititi said his idea for how Thor should be characterized came from watching Kurt Russell films.
“Not to say that Kurt Russell has ever been ‘less masculine’ than contemporary heroes,” Waititi explains. “[His characters were] just more flawed than contemporary heroes.”
Clearly, the sharp turn away from ‘Dark World’ served the franchise well, as ‘Ragnarok’ was a hit with fans and critics alike. Now, as we wait for ‘Avengers 4,’ we’ll finally get to see how/if the story ends for Hemsworth and the MCU, and we can only hope that it firmly pushes the “meh” ‘Dark World’ out of everyone’s mind.
