Marvel Told One MCU Star They Were Too Muscular For Their Superhero Role

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It's a pretty open secret in Hollywood that actors, when preparing to appear in superhero movies, go on limited regimens of performance enhancing drugs. That's especially true where it concerns the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which frequently features shameless, shirtless beefcake shots of its male leads flaunting their hard-earned abs for an audience of millions. In writers Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards' book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios," one Dr. Todd Schroeder was interviewed about how so many actors get fit so quickly. He posited that the usual means of getting ripped are involved; that is, a protein rich diet and a lot of heavy lifting. But he also quite naturally assumed that 50% to 75% of the actors in question also go on steroids to make sure they're in fighting shape in time for shooting.

This information, incidentally, was presented by Dr. Schroeder without judgment. He felt that if one was only trying to enhance their physique for a limited time, and had a doctor overseeing their steroid intake, then taking drugs would be okay. Under such circumstances, it wouldn't have any lasting negative health effects.

Dr. Schroeder, however, noted that one of the MCU's biggest stars has never gone on performance-enhancing drugs and is simply naturally well-toned. He was referring to Chris Hemsworth, the Australian actor who's played the Norse god Thor in multiple MCU movies to date. Indeed, it's apparently so easy for Hemsworth to increase his muscle mass merely by working out that it's previously become a production issue. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2011, Hemsworth bulked up so much for director Kenneth Branagh's "Thor" that he actually outgrew the costumes that had been designed for him. As a result, he was asked to ease up on the workouts a bit.

The fact that Chris Hemsworth became too muscular may seem unbelievable, given how ripped he actually was in "Thor," but he felt that he needed to be enormous in order to play a non-human, godlike character. In the LA Times article, the actor was quoted as having admitted that he wanted to grow as muscular as possible, saying: 

"I got the part and immediately started looking at the comic books, and the guy is 500 pounds or something, and looks like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger. And I thought, 'Okay I'm not gonna get to that. But I have to get bigger.'"

Hemsworth spent the next few months training and training and training, and he finally reached his desired near-Schwarzeneggerian levels of muscle by the time he was due to report on set for camera tests. When Hemsworth put on the Thor costumes, though, he found that his limbs were being constricted. Specifically, his arms were so thick that the plastic Thor armor cut off his circulation. After only a few minutes, he admitted, his arms even started to get tingly. Shortly after, his costumes were taken away and slightly altered.

It was at this point that Hercule Poirot aficionado Kenneth Branagh pulled Hemsworth aside and told him to maybe cool it on the workouts. He was already in decent shape and didn't need to be as big as he'd thought. So, Hemsworth stopped working out quite as intensely and subsequently fit into his costumes. Also, not to be lascivious about it, but his physique is plenty impressive in "Thor." It was Hemsworth, really, that started the MCU tradition of including a notable beefcake shot in almost every movie. Branagh's "Thor" truly was the point of no return for Marvel Studios.