Chris Hemsworth Was ‘Underwhelmed’ With Thor Franchise Before Ragnarok

Chris Hemsworth Was ‘Underwhelmed’ With Thor Franchise Before Ragnarok

Thor has been a major player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011, both leading his own film series and being one of the founding Avengers. However, the character received his biggest surge in popularity yet with Thor: Ragnarok in late 2017, and Chris Hemsworth credits the threequel with refreshing his character, as going into it, he wasn’t excited about having to play the God of Thunder again. In Hemsworth’s words:

When we came into Ragnarok, I was sort of exhausted of what I’d been doing and a little sort of underwhelmed by what I was putting out there, you know?

Thus far the Thor film series is the only one where each movie was directed by someone different, with Taika Waititi following in the footsteps of Kenneth Branagh and Alan Taylor for Ragnarok. There’s no question that tonally speaking, Ragnarok was significantly different from its predecessors, but that shift paid off, as it’s the most critically well-received of the Thor movies and made $854 million worldwide.

Chris Hemsworth admitted last year that he found Thor: The Dark World to be “meh” (it’s the lowest-rated of the MCU movies on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer), but in his recent interview with Yahoo, he clarified that his issues with the Thor of it all pre-Ragnarok weren’t due to any of the people he had worked with, but his own dissatisfaction with the character. As he put it:

That was no fault of any director or writer, that was me personally. It felt like I’d put myself in a box with what the character could do. So on Ragnarok, it was about breaking all the rules, and kinda going ‘as soon as it feels familiar, do something different’, and Taika [Waititi] – the director – had the same vision, and the same, I guess, guts to just roll the dice and [do the] ‘anything goes’ kind of thing. That was so liberating and freeing, you know, to sort of break away who the character was prior.

Mission accomplished! Not only did Thor: Ragnarok take full advantage of Chris Hemsworth’s comedic skills, but it also put shook up Thor’s world by killing his father, destroying his hammer, gouging out his eye and annihilating Asgard. Granted, the lost eye isn’t really an issue anymore since he was given a bionic replacement by Rocket Raccoon in Avengers: Infinity War, but otherwise Thor is definitely out of that box Hemsworth was worried about and has arguably hit his stride.

MCU fans can look forward to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor returning next week for Avengers: Endgame, but beyond that, the character’s future is shrouded in secrecy. Hemsworth seems open to playing the Asgardian hero again and Tessa Thompson said that a Taika Waititi-directed Thor 4 has been pitched, but for now, Marvel’s upcoming slate of films is, with the exception of Black Widow, focused around brand-new and more recently established characters.

Should there be any major update concerning Thor’s future in the MCU, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know about it. For now, the next chapter of his journey unfolds with the release of Avengers: Endgame on April 26, and you can browse through our Marvel movies guide to learn what else this superhero franchise has coming down the pipeline.

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The Biggest Way Avengers: Endgame Should Affect Spider-Man: Far From Home

The Biggest Way Avengers: Endgame Should Affect Spider-Man: Far From Home

Major SPOILER warning: The ending of Avengers: Endgame is a big focus of this article. DON'T read this until you've seen the movie. You have been warned!

Avengers: Endgame is here, and while the movie is busy destroying every box office opening record, fans are still recuperating from its massive ending. Tears were shed, laughs were had and the battle was won. The MCU was left unquestionably changed following the events of the film, and the one movie where we could and most definitely should see the repercussions of the finale is Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The Web-Slinger's sequel is the first movie after Avengers: Endgame and it's also the final movie of Phase 3. If there was anywhere we would see the aftermath of Endgame, it's in this movie, because it means that Far From Home will have to address the direct effects of the Snap and where it leaves Peter Parker and all his classmates.

Okay, spoiler time.

In Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers are successfully able to acquire all of the Infinity Stones and build their own Infinity Gauntlet. The Hulk, being the only one who can take the full power of the stones, uses the Gauntlet to bring back everyone who was snapped out of existence at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.

Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, The Guardians of the Galaxy and, of course, Spider-Man are among the people brought back to life, but the catch is that five years have passed since they were dusted. To them, no time has passed at all, but the rest of world had to learn to move on, and that probably includes public school systems.

Endgame hints that the world was in pretty terrible shape, but there's no indication that school was stopped. While Peter Parker was wiped off the face of the Earth, some of his classmates definitely weren't, and so they must have completed high school by the time he was resurrected.

That's why it gets tricky for Far From Home, because now it has to address who was and wasn't snapped, and how school works now that half of all teenagers missed out on an education. If it doesn't address the Snap at all, then that's extremely odd.

Assuming that school went on and kids graduated (the acceptance rate for colleges must have skyrocketed in those five years), Far From Home should have a pretty different cast from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thanks to trailers, I have a pretty decent idea which of Peter's friends were snapped.

There are really only four kids other than Peter who can be considered the main high school cast. Those characters are Ned, Michelle Jones, Flash Thompson, and Betty Brant. Of those, only Betty didn't have that big a part in Homecoming, but it looks like that has changed a bit in Far From Home.

Each of those kids are in Far From Home on the school trip to Europe, so it's probably safe to assume they were all snapped. The trailers don't show any other familiar school kids like the ones on the debate team, so we can guess that they all graduated. I would be surprised if any of these kids were important down the line, but they are all actually real deep-cut Spider-Man references.

For example, one of the kids on the debate team is named Abe Brown. In the comics, this character is actually a vigilante known as Black Tiger, and he's the brother of Hobie Brown, a slightly more well known character who's the original Prowler. Another character, Cindy Moon, was bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers in the comics. She becomes the hero Silk, but there's no indication that happened in the MCU.

Abe, Cindy and the rest of the debate team are either extremely difficult to spot or just aren't in the Far From Home trailer, but I'm thinking they aren't in the movie at all. Maybe they just didn't get to go on the field trip, but it seems like too much of a coincidence that all the tertiary characters have been left out. The Snap would certainly explain the absence.

Otherwise, it would also be extremely weird if Peter's entire class wasn't affected by the Snap. It's mathematically impossible that the whole cast of the Spider-Man movies got off scot free. The events of Infinity War and Endgame are too massive to ignore, and Far From Home is the first movie from the viewpoint of the (mostly) regular citizens. It's a great opportunity to show that Endgame's conclusion has far-reaching effects.

It wouldn't necessarily be that hard a thing to deal with either. The movie just has to explain the status quo in the beginning and then it can get to the summer fun, Elementals and whatever else is going on in Far From Home. Yes, having a whole scene of the group dealing with the fact that they were dead for five years would be great drama to watch, but that's heavier material than I think people are looking for in a Spider-Man movie.

There can just be a scene in the beginning between Peter and Aunt May where they do some light exposition dumping about how Peter and some of his class are still in the same grade after being gone for five years.

Of course, all of this is assuming that Far From Home takes place after Endgame. It could be set before Infinity War and then the Snap won't factor into it all. That's a 'get our of jail free card' if there ever was one, but then whatever the next Spider-Man movie is will have to deal with the issue of the Snap. It's unavoidable, so Marvel might as well just deal with it now and get it over with.

Ultimately, it's a good thing for Far From Home to address the Snap. It helps to explain how the world works now that Thanos has come and gone, and it sets the status quo for Peter moving forward. Marvel likes the high school setting for Spider-Man and it makes sense that it'd want to keep him there for as long as possible. I don't expect Far From Home to dig too deeply into it, but an explanation would certainly be helpful and serve as a great way to show how this universe is moving post in a post-Endgame world.

We'll find out what's happening one way or the other when Spider-Man: Far From Home swings into theaters on July 2.

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Don Cheadle Wants Deadpool To Join The Avengers

Don Cheadle Wants Deadpool To Join The Avengers

Avengers: Endgame has been in theaters for a week, but the conversation regarding the film's contents have only just begun. The Russo Brothers crafted an extremely ambitious blockbuster, which wrapped up the Infinity Saga and even provided a few teases for what's coming next. But with the absence of a credits scene, most of Phase Four is a giant mystery.

One of the biggest questions surrounding Marvel's future is if/when the characters previously owned by 20th Century Fox will be adopted into the massive shared universe. This is perhaps the most relevant to Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool franchise, as Disney has expressed its interest in continuing the R-rated romp. Don Cheadle has played War Machine in the MCU since Iron Man 2, and recently expressed hope that Wade Wilson joins The Avengers, saying:

Yeah, I think that Deadpool would, I think we want to see that.

You tell 'em, Rhodes. The Merc with a Mouth has been noticeably absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and both the fans and cast themselves would love to welcome Deadpool to the fold in a future installment.

Don Cheadle's comments to Variety echo what Marvel fans have been saying since Deadpool first hit theaters in 2016. Ryan Reynolds played the fourth-wall-breaking antihero masterfully, and the character became extremely popular to casual fans overnight. And considering how much the title character references the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the idea of him assembling with Earth's Mightiest Heroes hasn't been far from moviegoers' minds.

And according to Don Cheadle, that also includes the members of the MCU. While Disney's plans for Deadpool and The Avengers is unclear at the moment, it seems like a logical time to bring Wade Wilson into the fold. Endgame marked the end of the OG Marvel actors' contracts, so it's unclear if we'll see the likes of Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man again in the future. As such, Marvel Studios may want to bring new talent to help fill in the ranks.

Enter Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. Bringing Wade Wilson into the MCU would skip the pesky origin story or first introduction, with cinephiles instead following a fully formed character. The Deadpool franchise has made a ton of money at the box office, so even casual moviegoers will have some understanding of the foul mouthed anti-hero. And from all the references, it's clear that Deadpool knows the MCU's denizens well.

Related: Chris Hemsworth Welcomed Deadpool To The MCU In A Great Way

For now, we'll just have to wait and see if/when Deadpool joins the MCU. And he's not the only formerly owned Fox property, as the Fantastic Four and X-Men also have the potential to be adapted by Marvel Studios.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now, and making a ton of money at the box office. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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