The controversy around Thor’s weight gain in “Avengers: Endgame” has been reignited on social media following the debut of the first “Thor: Love and Thunder” trailer. Chris Hemsworth’s superhero infamously packed on the pounds for “Avengers: Endgame” (the internet dubbed this iteration of the character “Fat Thor”), which led many to wonder how the upcoming “Thor: Love and Thunder” would handle the character’s weight gain. Although Thor has his “Endgame” weight when the trailer begins, it’s not long before there’s a brief training montage (Thor exercising with chains) and then the return of the muscular Thor from the pre-“Endgame” Marvel movies.
“Fat Thor” proved controversial and made headlines for much of summer 2019 during the record-breaking run of “Avengers: Endgame.” While some fans were delighted to see a new side of Thor (and of Hemsworth, especially in that viral video of Hemsworth singing “Hurt” in character), others accused the movie of being fat-phobic since it frequently used Thor’s weight gain as a source of comedic relief. The “Thor: Love and Thunder” trailer confirms the superhero’s weight loss within its first 30 seconds.
“If Marvel had any guts they’d let Thor stay fat,” wrote /Film chief film critic Chris Evangelista on Twitter about the “Thor: Love and Thunder” trailer.
“It would have been nice if we got to keep fat Thor for awhile,” added another fan. “Because it would have been nice to see him learn to love his body and find it valid and worthy.”
“Thor: Love and Thunder” director Taika Waititi told Yahoo Entertainment before filming started on the movie that keeping “Fat Thor” was “an ongoing debate that we’re still having at Marvel,” adding, “We’re trying to figure out how long — how many months or years — this is after ‘Endgame,’ at what point does this take place?”
Hemsworth told Variety after the release of “Endgame” that he liked playing the heavier-set version of his superhero. “I enjoyed that version of Thor,” the actor said. “It was so different than any other way I played the character. And then it took on a life of its own.” Hemsworth went on to defend “Avengers: Endgame” against accusations of fat-phobia.
“He’s making jokes about himself, though, wasn’t he?” Hemsworth said. “I love that version of Thor. There’s a vulnerability to that character and to that version that I think we hadn’t seen before. He was going through some hard times, and that’s his physical expression of that. I think he embodied that. The first time I read the script, I loved the fact that he went, ‘This is who I am, this is how I’m feeling, this is what I’m doing.’ I think it’s fantastic.”
Despite Hemsworth’s love of “Fat Thor” and an “ongoing debate” with Marvel about keeping the character’s weight gain, it appears the creative team behind “Thor: Love and Thunder” settled on the superhero losing weight after all. Amid controversy in 2019, “Avengers: Endgame” screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely defended Thor’s weight gain in an interview with Vulture. Markus said they decided to have Thor gain weight as a result of the “depressive alcoholic” state the character is in following the end of “Thor: Ragnarok,” in which Thor failed to prevent the destruction of Asgard.
“What is the end result of a guy who has lost so much and just blatantly failed?” Markus said. “We wondered, ‘Okay, well, what if he does become a sort of depressive alcoholic?’ And the weight gain was just part and parcel of that state of mind.”
The screenwriters said they deliberately ended “Avengers: Endgame” with Thor still in his heavier state to prove that his weight was inconsequential to his arc in the film. “He’s emotionally resolved. We fix his problem, and it’s not his weight,” Markus said. “I know some people are sensitive about some of the humor that comes from it, which I understand. But our issue that we wanted him to deal with was his emotional state that his mom addresses. And I think he is the ideal Thor at the end of the movie, and he’s carrying some weight.”
Expect to see more of Thor’s weight loss regiment when “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in theaters July 8.
If Marvel had any guts they’d let Thor stay fat.
— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) April 18, 2022
now lets address the elephant in the room, that fat thor is still a thing and they’re gonna workout montage him 🤪 hate it here
— klaudia amenábar (@kaludiasays) April 18, 2022
We did not go through a harrowing round of discourse on Fat Thor after the God of War thing for Marvel to give Thor a #thinspo weight loss montage set to the most boring, played-out dad rock tune ever recorded. https://t.co/0ijDE8ecIk
— GGA | Misha Panarin 🏳️⚧️ 🇦🇷 ☭ (@panarin_misha) April 18, 2022
It would have been nice if we got to keep fat Thor for awhile. Cause it would have been nice to see him learn to love his body and find it valid and worthy.
— Arakki Thottie (@BlckBolex) April 18, 2022
After watching Thor Love and Thunder teaser I am again sure they gonna make Thor a dummy and joker…The movie will be dominated by She Thor and Gorr the God Butcher… After Avengers End game fat Thor humiliation now one more Thor humiliation awaits.
— Sai (@akakrcb6) April 18, 2022
anyway, here are my takeaways.
1. Chris Hemsworth’s fat Thor should have never been a thing, definitely not a punchline.
2. That decision has had lasting harm on fat people.— Blakeley H. Payne (@BlakeleyHPayne) April 18, 2022
From Variety US