WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, in theaters now.
Endgame featured many emotional and physical transformations for Earth's Mightiest Heroes following their defeat at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. However, no transformation was quite as drastic or polarizing as Thor's. When the character returned in the film, he had gained a lot of weight and was suffering from depression. Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have now addressed the controversial transformation.
When asked by the Los Angeles Times if they'd ever considered slimming Thor back down for the movie's climactic battle, McFeely answered: "It came up but we were really adamant about not doing that because I think that would treat it more like a joke. And the idea is that this is who he is now and he's still a hero. And when he calls down the lightning and gets both hammers, all it does is put a suit on him and twist his beard into a braid, it doesn't magically take 200 pounds off."
Markus added, "And I think what his mother tells him, 'Don't be who you're supposed to be, be the best version of who you are,' We didn't want to treat the weight gain like the issue that he needed to get over. Like 'Thor got fat and now he needs to go on a diet.' No, he needs to feel OK about himself no matter who he is."
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo previously explained that Thor's weight gain came from a very real, psychological place -- not comedy.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is in theaters now.