Thor: Love and Thunder took plenty of heat for turning the God of Thunder into the MCU's class clown. Chris Hemsworth just weighed in on what, in his view, pushed it from breezy to too much.
Quick refresher
- Released in 2022 and directed by Taika Waititi
- Cast: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Christian Bale (Gorr the God Butcher), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), Russell Crowe (Zeus)
- Leans hard into comedy
- Rotten Tomatoes: 63% critics, 76% audience — lower end for Marvel
- Worldwide box office: about $760.9 million
Hemsworth on the backlash
On a recent podcast appearance, Hemsworth acknowledged that the comedic tilt didn’t land for a chunk of the audience. His read on the reaction is blunt.
"People were violently offended... and we were like, 'Oh, we're just having fun or trying to try something different.'"
He compared it to the tonal pivot that made Thor: Ragnarok such a jolt — a shift he says fans largely embraced — but admits Love and Thunder kept pushing the bit.
"When we made Ragnarok, it was quite a twist... And then [with] Love and Thunder, it was kind of like a Monty Python sketch, and we took the piss probably a little much, and then there was some backlash. There was this real kind of, 'Why is he a goofball and why is it like this?'"
Translation: the joke might have run the table.
What’s next for Thor
Hemsworth will suit up again in Avengers: Doomsday, set for U.S. theaters on December 18, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027. Thor: Love and Thunder is currently streaming on Disney+.
We’ll see where the needle lands next time — still fun, maybe just a little less wink.