Chris Hemsworth opens up about his regrets over portraying Thor: 'I became a parody of myself'
Chris Hemsworth openly talked about some of his regrets over portraying the Marvel superhero character Thor following 2022's Love and Thunder.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the actor shared his feelings about playing Thor and how he grew frustrated with the character in the span of four Marvel films centering around the God of Thunder, as well as additional Avengers movies.
He especially had some ill feelings about Taika Waititi’s Love and Thunder, saying, "I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself. I didn’t stick the landing.
Unlike previous Thor films, Love and Thunder garnered a reputation among critics for being "too silly," which Hemsworth acknowledged in a previous interview with GQ.
Apart from this, the Hollywood star also admitted that portraying the character made him feel like "a security guard for the team."
"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?'" Hemsworth shared.
"Yeah, I’m part of this big thing, but I’m probably pretty replaceable," he added.
But his fomer co-star, Robert Downey Jr., who plays as Iron Man, had a more positive outlook on Thor and Hemsworth's portrayal of him.
"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," Downey Jr. said.
He stressed, "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."
Hemsworth was 25 years old when he was chosen to play the Norse deity for his first film back in 2011. Since then, he has appeared in eight more films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, outlasting some of his original Avengers co-stars such as Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson.
It's unclear whether the now 40-year-old actor will make another appearance in future Marvel films, but he previously told Entertainment Weekly that a fifth Thor movie would need to be "unpredictable" for it to work.
"I don’t want to continue to do it until people are so exhausted that they roll their eyes when they see me come on the screen as that character. If an audience wants to see it, and if there’s something that we believe is exciting and fun, then great," Hemsworth said.