37-year-old Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth has finally opened up about his future at Marvel Studios.
“Avengers: Endgame” marks the final appearances of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America. In the latter’s case, the mantle of Captain America being passed to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon. Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow also appears to be out with the upcoming film about her likely marking her final appearance in the role.
Aside from Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, a role Jackson plans to keep playing for now, that just leaves three of the original Avengers – Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk who is now the entirely CG Professor Hulk, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye whose upcoming Disney+ series is about him passing on his mantle to someone else (and thus likely retiring Renner from the MCU), and Hemsworth’s Thor.
Taika Waititi’s upcoming “Thor: Love and Thunder” will see the return of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster who wields the hammer and becomes Thor for at least a part of the film – a story inspired by a comic storyline in which Thor himself dies.
Hemsworth has previously spoken about dissatisfaction with his role until Waititi came along with “Thor: Ragnarok” and reinvigorated the franchise and character. As part of an interview with Elle Man, Hemsworth quickly denied rumors of his retirement:
“Are you crazy?! I’m not going into any retirement period (laughs). Thor is way too young for that. I’m only 1500 years old! It [Love and Thunder] is definitely not a film that I say goodbye to this brand. At least I hope so.
I’m glad that after all that happened in Avengers: Endgame, I’m still part of the Marvel Universe and we can continue the story of Thor. Of course, I can’t tell you anything about the plot, but to satisfy your curiosity, I’ll say that I had a lot more fun reading the script than on Thor Ragnarok, and that proves something.”
Oscar einner Christian Bale will play the main villain in the film joining Hemsworth, Portman and Tessa Thompson. “Thor: Love and Thunder” will begin filming in Sydney, Australia shortly ahead of a March 25th 2022 release.