Chris Hemsworth has played Marvel’s Thor over the course of four solo films, but he thinks it’s time for a “different” take or outright “re-invention” of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hemsworth sat down with a chat with Josh Horowitz on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, where the MCU veteran was asked point-blank where Thor Odinson’s story should go next. In what may be a surprising response to some, Hemsworth wasn’t necessarily about the idea of picking up where his last film, Thor: Love & Thunder left off.
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“I mean you look at Thor one and two, they were quite similar. Ragnarok and Love & Thunder: similar. I think it’s just about re-inventing it,” Hemsworth explained. “And I’ve had such a unique opportunity even with [Avengers] Infinity War and Endgame to do very drastic things with the character; I enjoy that, I like keeping people on their toes, it keeps me on my toes, keeps me invested. And I’ve said this before: when it becomes too familiar, I think there’s a risk of getting lazy I think, like ‘Ah, I know what I’m doing,’ you know? So I don’t know – again, I don’t even know if I’m invited back. But if I was, I think it’d have to be a drastically different version – tone, everything. Just for my own sanity [laughs].”
There’s a lot of meaning to possibly read into that response from Chris Hemsworth. Taika Waititi (in)famously brought the first big change in tone for the Thor franchise, turning the (faux) Shakespearian drama of Thor and Thor: The Dark World on its head, with a subversive comedic romp in Thor: Ragnarok. However, while Ragnarok seemed to re-vitalize the Thor franchise with that new style and tone Waititi provided, lightning definitely did not strike twice with Thor: Love & Thunder. Reaction to Thor 4 made for a fair argument that the franchise has exhausted its zany comedic run – so Chris Hemsworth may indeed be reading the room accurately when he says the next film needs to do something different.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has been more diplomatic, teasing in previous interviews that he and the Marvel creative team have any number of Thor stories they’d love to bring to the MCU:
“I know this: there are many, many other Thor stories in the comics that we talk about a lot,” Feige told Total Film Magazine. “And as we watch Chris Hemsworth continue to grow and evolve as a major acting talent, I would be excited to see how he keeps evolving this complex character.”
Taika Waititi has similarly expressed some low-key existential crisis when it comes to figuring out what he would even do if invited back to direct Thor 5:
“Now, I don’t know what would be next. I would definitely do one, but only if Chris did it,” Waititi previously said in an interview. “But it would need to be something surprising and unexpected for me to want to do it. Like what would be the new take? The battles and all the fighting is fine, but I would want something that feels unexpected when it comes to the story. Like making just a $5 million movie with no fighting at all, just Thor on a road trip. Like [Alexander Payne’s 2013 film] Nebraska.”
Thor 5 has not yet been announced and has no release date.
