Marvel Studios Had Doubts That Thor Would Be a Success In ‘The Avengers’

Fans of Marvel Studios have come to love Chris Hemsworth‘s take on Thor over the last seven years and the passion they exhibited turned out pretty well in Marvel’s favor. Thor: Ragnarok was a massive hit this past November, in addition to becoming one of the studio’s most well-reviewed films to date.

It may come as a surprise, but this desire for Thor wasn’t always there, and Marvel had some big concerns about the character heading into the first Avengers in 2012. In fact, they studio actually contemplated giving him a much smaller role in the movie, as well as the MCU going forward.

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his new film, Ready Player One, screenwriter Zak Penn was asked about his work on Marvel’s The Avengers more than six years ago. As THR states, Penn wrote a script for the film and shares a story credit with director Joss Whedon, though Whedon states that he rewrote the movie from scratch after coming aboard.

Penn was first brought on to work on The Avengers before some of the Phase One films had been shot. Some of the core characters, like Thor, hadn’t even been cast at that time. Penn worked with all of the Phase One directors and constantly adjusted his script based on what was happening in the other movies.

It was at this stage in the process, before Hemsworth had landed the role of Thor, that Penn had been actively cutting down the God of Thunder’s part in the movie. However, after seeing Hemsworth walk through the studio for the first time, Penn knew something had to change.

“I remember Chris Hemsworth walking through the Marvel offices and being, ‘Oh, my god, that guy is Thor!’” Penn continued by saying his direction with the character then began to shift. “Originally I was trying to reduce how much Thor was in the movie. Once it was clear that, no, this is going to work and they were excited about it, then I did no [reduce Thor in the script]. I stopped doing that.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Even though Thor: The Dark World was a bit of a disappointment, the character has become a crucial part of the Avengers team as we know it today. As Ragnarok proved just this past year, Thor can bring a hammer down on the box office if you just let him loose.

Thor will soon be seen on the big screen once again on April 27, when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters around the world.