While 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok was hailed by many as the best Thor movie, the reception for Thor: Love and Thunder was considerably chillier when it arrived in theaters in 2022. Love and Thunder was financially successful with $760.9 million worldwide, but the reviews for its overly comedic tone were less than kind. Now, Thor star Chris Hemsworth is taking responsibility for Love and Thunder’s shortcomings.
“I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself,” said Hemsworth during a Vanity Fair profile. “I didn’t stick the landing.”
Hemsworth also shared his dissatisfaction with his first few appearances as Thor in the Avengers films.
“Sometimes I felt like a security guard for the team,” related Hemsworth. “I would read everyone else’s lines, and go, ‘Oh, they got way cooler stuff. They’re having more fun. What’s my character doing?’ It was always about, ‘You’ve got the wig on. You’ve got the muscles. You’ve got the costume. Where’s the lighting?’ Yeah, I’m part of this big thing, but I’m probably pretty replaceable.”
Hemsworth’s Avengers co-star, Robert Downey Jr., was also interviewed for the Vanity Fair piece, and he took the opportunity to defend Hemsworth’s performances in the Avengers films.
“First off, Thor as a character was super tricky to adapt–lots of implied limitations–but he and Ken Branagh figured out how to transcend, make him somehow relatable but godlike,” said Downey. “Hemsworth is, in my opinion, the most complex psyche out of all us Avengers. He’s got wit and gravitas, but also such restraint, fire, and gentleness.”
Despite Hemsworth’s feelings about his work, his profile also states that “he also thinks he owes the audience another Thor [movie] after what felt like a whiff with Thor: Love and Thunder.” Marvel doesn’t currently have any additional Thor solo movies on its schedule, but the character is likely to return in Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars on May 1, 2026 and May 7, 2027, respectively.
