Thor's Ragnarok Reboot Saved A 'Dying' Chris Hemsworth
Of all the original superheroes in that first "Avengers" movie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has had perhaps the strangest journey. Whereas the first "Iron Man" movie was a massive success and "Captain America" was well-received, the first "Thor" was merely passable. It felt a bit too much like a generic superhero movie; they managed to mine some humor out of Thor's culture shock of going to Earth, but otherwise, it seemed to take itself a bit too seriously for such an unserious premise. Although nowadays we complain that the MCU doesn't take itself seriously enough, this movie's straightforward approach just came off as bland and disappointing.
Maybe the biggest issue was that Thor was overpowered. Whereas Tony Stark began with a rusty suit and Steve Rogers always had to fight his enemies through risky hand-to-hand combat, Thor is a literal god who could kill any puny human whenever he wants. That means most of his villains have to be God-like beings with absurdly high-stakes schemes. "Thor 2" has a villain who quite literally wants to destroy the universe; it's an inherently boring motive, because obviously, we know he's not going to pull such a feat off any time soon. (There's still a franchise to continue, after all.) The first movie's fish-out-of-water narrative was a good approach to humanize the character and bring him into the Avengers, but having him live on Earth severely limited the amount of stories the writers could tell.
For Hemsworth, a change was definitely needed. "I'm dying here. I feel like I have handcuffs on," Hemsworth pleaded to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, according to the book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios." "Tonally, we've just got to wipe the table ... It has to be funnier; it has to be unpredictable."
A change of pace
Luckily for Hemsworth, Feige was already on the same page. Thor's third movie, "Thor: Ragnarok," was not just funnier and more unpredictable; it basically served as a reboot of the character. It abandoned the supporting cast of Thor's first two films and let Thor traverse through far-away planets, interacting with characters who were fun, exciting, and unlike anything we'd seen in the MCU before. And although the internet seems to have grown tired of writer/director Taika Waititi by this point, back in 2017 his comedic style felt like a breath of fresh air.
Part of what helped Waititi's sense of humor not feel overbearing was that "Ragnarok" was still dark when it needed to be. Thor loses his hammer, his family, his eye, and even his home world. That last one is notable because it's something the first two '"Thor" movies could never do; whereas Earth is too important to be wiped out, Asgard isn't. By taking him off Earth, Waititi was allowed to raise the stakes and take Thor in a more interesting, surprising direction. As Feige put it:
"When we started Hemsworth on Thor, he has blond hair, he has a hammer, he has a cape. These are the things that make Thor. He has now cut his hair, we got rid of his hammer, and it's still him."
It was great news for Hemsworth, as he finally got the change in pace he needed. Sure, he's now on record saying he hopes "Thor 5" has another shift in tone, likely in response to how "Love and Thunder" got a little too silly, but it doesn't feel like too big of an ask anymore. "Ragnarok" proved that Thor, perhaps more than any other MCU leading man, is more than capable of switching things up.