Hemsworth is loath to bring the hammer down on Thor
LOS ANGELES – Chris Hemsworth has ridden hard into 2018. ❚ The Thor actor lists off a packed schedule going back two years, including production of last November’s hit Thor: Ragnarok. That was followed by his modern horse-soldier adventure 12 Strong before filming back-to-back appearances as Thor in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4.
Hemsworth, 34, shot his last scenes as Thor and jetted to L.A. to talk up 12 Strong (in theaters Friday), based on Doug Stanton’s 2009 best-selling historical account Horse Soldiers.
“Two days I ago, I was in Atlanta finishing Avengers in my Thor garb,” Hemsworth says with a satisfied air as he settles into a seat at the London Hotel. “It’s really been two years of nonstop. I’m exhausted, but good.”
There’s also a sense of savoring the moment as Avengers’ completion marks a possible end of Hemworth’s run as the Norse god he has come to personify onscreen. His Marvel contract is up with Avengers 4’ s release on May 3, 2019.
“Contractually, right now — yeah, this is it. I’m done. I won’t be playing the character again,” he says.
“It’s sort of a scary thought,” he adds. “This really seemed like this never-ending thing. And now it’s potentially finishing.”
It doesn’t feel like a true end with his superhero character on the rise. Hemsworth and director Taika Waititi redefined Thor with Ragnarok’s quirkier comedic sensibilities, even cutting off his famed locks. Audiences and critics loved the new turn as Ragnarok powered to seventh place for 2017 at the box office ($313.1 million to date).
Even Hemsworth was reinvigorated, celebrating New’s Year Eve with Waititi and visualizing a Thor 4.
“We gave cheers ... a few times,” Hemsworth says. “To Thor 3, but it also was like: ‘ What could we do with four? We could do this and this.’ We were throwing ideas around.”
“I felt like we re-invented him,” he adds of the character. “There is a bigger platform now to continue if we want to.”
Hemsworth says he has discussed that with Marvel president Kevin Feige during Avengers filming.
“(Feige) said, ‘ Look, we just have to concentrate on ( Avengers) now,’ ” he says. “So who knows? There are 76 cast members in these two Avengers films. They will be the biggest films of all time, far bigger than my character. It’s a conversation for further down the road, if it was going to happen.”
Hemsworth travels a different path in 12 Strong as a Green Beret captain leading his men into battle on horseback over Afghanistan’s formidable terrain — the remarkable, previously classified true story of the first soldiers on the ground after 9/11.
As effectively as Hemsworth led his fellow soldiers/actors onscreen and off, his 12 Strong and fellow Marvel co-star Michael Peña ( Ant-Man) says he still sees a superhero.
“To be honest with you, it’s hard for (Hemsworth) to not look like Thor,” Peña says. “He’s like 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds of muscle. It’s not like they put prosthetics on him.”
Hemsworth says he’s going to take time off after his 12 Strong promotional push to unwind while contemplating his future:
“I want to slow down for a minute and make some decisions on a rested brain.”