‘Dancing With The Stars’ Almost Cost Chris Hemsworth The Thor Role

Shortly before he reached global fame as the Asgardian Avenger Thor, Chris Hemsworth appeared on Australia’s Dancing With The Stars alongside dance partner Abbey Ross — and his time on the reality competition’s dance floor almost kept him out of the Marvel Studios franchise.

“[Marvel Studios president and producer] Kevin Feige said that almost lost me the job,” Hemsworth recalled in an interview with BBC Radio 1. “‘We all saw your audition, we were passing it around the office, and everyone was really into it. And then a few of the girls started Googling your name and up came this dancing video and I thought, oh no, Thor dancing? I don’t know, the fans are gonna eat us alive.’”

“It made me more numble on my feet, I guess,” Hemsworth joked. “I needed to be with the cape. You might see a bit of that Dancing With The Stars quality in Thor.”

All worked out in the end: the then little-known Hemsworth won the role for 2011’s Thor, reprising the role of the lightning-slinging superhero in 2012’s The Avengers, 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and again briefly in the mid-credits scene of 2016’s Doctor Strange. Hemsworth stars again as the golden haired god in Thor: Ragnarok, which currently stands as the highest-rated Marvel movie ever on Rotten Tomatoes. It should come as little surprise the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster is heading towards a thunderous opening weekend when it hits theaters Thursday night.

Ragnarok sees Thor facing his greatest challenge yet as he contends with the arrival of the Asgardian Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett), whose sudden reappearance launches the universe into chaos. The God of Thunder puts together an all-star team to defend the cosmos against the villainess, with fellow Avenger the incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner), the tenacious Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), the wile Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the rocklike Korg (director Taika Waititi) acting as Thor’s “Revengers.”

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Anthony Hopkins and Cate Blanchett, Thor: Ragnarok opens November 3.