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12th Apr 2019

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Hemsworth talks about the big changes for Thor in Avengers: Endgame

Rory Cashin

We also had to ask if Korg and Miek survived The Snap!

Looking back over the history of Thor in the MCU, it is clear that he has had the roughest go of it.

We get a sense of that during his heart-to-heart with Rocket in Infinity War, but heading into Avengers: Endgame (get your tickets here), now is as good a time as any to take (SPOILER-Y) stock:

He lost his Mum in The Dark World. He lost his Dad in Ragnarok. His girlfriend (Natalie Portman) broke up with him somewhere in there. His brother died in Infinity War. He had to kill his own sister in Ragnarok too, but not after she took his eye. Also, his entire home planet was destroyed, half of the surviving Asgardians were killed by Thanos, and Thor’s good-but-not-great aim with his new Stormbreaker is how the purple genocidal maniac was able to pop off the “You should’ve aimed for the head!” snark before causing the Snapture.

Compared to all of the other Avengers, it is surprising that Thor has managed to keep it this together for this long.

In the run-up to Endgame, JOE was lucky enough to sit down with Hemsworth to discuss his run as Thor, and how he is in a privileged position to play the same character for FIVE different directors (Kenneth Branagh, Joss Whedon, Alan Taylor, Taika Waititi, and the Russo Brothers, which we’re counting as one).

Hemsworth tells us what that journey has been like, and the changes will continue to come for Thor in Endgame:

“Yeah, it is interesting,” he said.

“The first three, four films, I felt like I completely gave myself over to whatever their vision was. And that had some hugely positive things come from that, but also I think, looking back, I wish I’d spoken up at different times, and by the third Thor, that was really the first time I had a bigger voice.

“I had a bigger confidence in what my creative spin on it would be, and luckily it was in the same lane as what Taika (Waititi, director) had wanted to do with the movie, and also the producers were ready for something new. It was great, and that gave me a greater sense of confidence coming in to Infinity War and this, and I was very protective of this new Thor. And I said ‘I don’t want to go back to the old Thor, I want to keep doing this’, and so on.

“And they said ‘Well, we’ve got something different for you, again.’ And I first I kind of hesitated, because I thought I was going to lose control of him, but I did sort of give in to it, and it became this wonderful collaboration, and I feel like I did something very different in Infinity War, and in this film that what I had done before. It’s always a balance.”

Check out our full interview with Chris Hemsworth below, where we also chat about Endgame’s lack of a wrap party, the safety of Ragnarok scene-stealers Korg and Miek, and the Return Of The King-vibe on set while filming Endgame’s final scenes.

We also chatted to Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) about their roles in the new blockbuster, and they laugh about some of the craziest fan theories they’ve heard so far, and how even they don’t fully know how the movie is going to play out yet.

Check out that interview in full right here.

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