Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth has revealed how excited he was for the opportunity to show his butt in the new film. Love and Thunder is the fourth solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature Hemsworth as the Asgardian hero, a role he originated back in 2011’s Thor. The new film will follow him as he debates whether or not he wants to continue being an Avenger before being dragged into a battle against the villain Gorr, the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a fight that will lead him to team up with Korg (voiced by director Taika Waititi), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Jane Foster as The Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman). There will also be a cameo by the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The MCU has never shied away from showing male flesh, though they have generally kept on the safer side of their PG-13 ratings. However, nearly every single film of theirs that features a male lead hero includes a scene of that hero shirtless, a trend that has continued into their recent output, including Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, the Thor: Love and Thunder trailer revealed that they are going to be taking things one step further by including a scene showing Thor’s bare butt.
Hemsworth spoke with Variety during the premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder, which took place at Disney’s El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles on June 23. When the topic turned to his nude scene, he revealed that it has been a “dream” of his to show his butt in a Marvel movie. According to him, this is the fruition of a desire he has had since he first took on the role ten years ago. Read his full quote below:
It was 10 years in the making that scene — kind of a dream of mine. The first time I played Thor I took my shirt off and I thought, “You know what’s gonna sweeten this … a decade from now it’s all gonna come off.”
It is fitting that Thor should be the first Marvel hero to have a scene like this. The trend of gratuitous shirtless scenes in the franchise can largely be traced back to the moment in 2011’s Thor when Jane Foster has an awkward encounter with a shirtless Thor, though it came in tandem with the reveal of Chris Evan’s muscled body after receiving supersoldier serum in the same year’s Captain America: The First Avenger. However, this new scene is so precedent-setting for Marvel that Thor: Love and Thunder is the first MCU film with a partial nudity warning.
It certainly seems like Hemsworth has been getting exactly what he wants with the newest Thor outings. As one of the last remaining original Avengers still working in the MCU, he has been allowed more control over his appearances, including shooting Thor: Ragnarok closer to home in Australia. Fans should certainly be pleased he is getting more control, because if this Thor: Love and Thunder development is anything to go by, all the actor wants to do is have as much fun as possible, which certainly comes across onscreen.
Source: Variety