Marvel star Chris Hemsworth has confirmed there are plans for him to still play Thor “a couple of times” after this year’s Avengers: Doomsday.
Speaking on the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, Hemsworth suggested audiences would see him portray the fan-favorite Norse god for some time yet.
It’s a surprising revelation, not least because Avengers: Doomsday is expected to be an apocalyptic affair, where the fates of many Marvel characters will likely hang in the balance. But it also serves to reverse the narrative on Hemsworth being ready to hang up his hammer — a narrative Hemsworth initially sparked himself by saying he was “ready to close the book” on the character, before more recently walking that sentiment back.
“It’s been so much fun,” Hemsworth said, via The Playlist, after confirming there were plans for him to return post-Doomsday more than once. “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.”
“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 continued. “And whatever we do next — we’ve got some ideas to do something pretty unique again and hopefully be [different].”
The recent Thor-focused Avengers: Doomsday trailer (that’s not a trailer but actually a piece of narrative information, apparently) featured a somber take on the character, far removed from the wackier version seen in the widely-panned Thor: Love and Thunder. Hemsworth has discussed the failings of that movie before, but doubled down on them again here, acknowledging that it had taken the silliness too far.
“You do need to be careful,” Hemsworth said. “When we made Ragnarök, it was quite a twist, with Taika’s [film]. And it was so fun. There was a huge appreciation for the shift. And then 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.'”
Of course, Thor is expected (but not yet confirmed) to return after Avengers: Doomsday in its forthcoming sequel Avengers: Secret Wars. Marvel has said very little of its plans for films after that, though we know that it is rebooting X-Men and plans to make Black Panther 3. It’s hard to imagine Thor appearing in either of those. Does this mean we’re getting a more grounded Thor 5, then? And what will its story be?
Already, fans are wondering whether this means Hemsworth’s character definitely survives the events of Doomsday and Secret Wars — or not. One storyline could see him fall in battle and end up in Valhalla, which would also reunite him with Jane and Heimdall. There’s also the dangling plot thread of Hercules to resolve — perhaps he ends up in Valhalla also? But these are ideas which we’ll need to wait several years still to see. As a reminder, Avengers: Doomsday lands in theaters on December 18 this year, before Avengers: Secret Wars opens on December 17, 2027.
Image credit: Lisa O’Connor/AFP via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
