Chris Hemsworth Slams Marvel Detractors in New Interview

Australian-born actor Chris Hemsworth has been portraying the God of Thunder, Thor, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for well over a decade now, debuting in 2011’s Thor. Now, after more than 10 years in the role, he’s got some choice words to say to high profile Marvel detractors.

In a new interview with The Times, Hemsworth slapped down negative opinions from Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese about Marvel and the state of cinema. Hemsworth said that it was “an eye-roll” seeing people “bashing the superhero space.”

“It felt harsh, and it bothers me, especially from heroes,” Hemsworth said. “It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space. Those guys had films that didn't work too – we all have. When they talked about what was wrong with superheroes, I thought, cool, tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?”

Hemsworth went on to say that the cinema landscape didn’t change because of the rise of superhero films, but rather because smartphones and social media have changed how people consume media. He claims that superhero films kept people going to the cinema at a time when the future of film was up in the air, saying that superhero films “deserve a little more appreciation.”

He also struck out at actors like Robert Downey Jr who blasted Marvel in a BAFTA acceptance speech earlier this year, who “bash” Marvel films after the fact. He likened it to his years spent on Australian soap opera Home and Away, saying that “humility goes a long way.”

“It used to bother me that actors would later talk about the show with guilt or shame,” Hemsworth said. “Humility goes a long way. One of the older actors on Home and Away said, ‘We don’t get paid to make the good lines sound good, but to make the bad ones work.’ That stuck with me.”

Still, despite that, Hemsworth does seem to have become a little creatively burnt out after having played the same role in the MCU for over a decade.

“I was not bored of the opportunities I’d been given, but it all started to feel familiar. I’d done film upon film that fell into a similar space and I wasn’t stretching myself. If you play a character again and again you owe it to the audience to bring something new and make it fresh for yourself too. We did so with Thor: Ragnarok, but for Love and Thunder it got a bit jokey. Too improv.”

Chris Hemsworth is set to star in Mad Max: Fury Road spinoff/prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, where he plays lead villain Dementus. Make sure you check out everything we know about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ahead of its release later this month, on May 24, 2024.

Related: Chris Hemsworth Reveals Disappointment in Thor Love and Thunder: “I Became a Parody of Myself”