A new video shows an impressively-sculpted Chris Hemsworth playfully sparring with his son on the set of Marvel Studios' Thor: Love & Thunder.
The video was posted to Hemsworth's Instagram account, along with a caption reading, "Introducing the next heavy weight champion of the universe." While audiences are used to seeing the actor get extra-ripped whenever he plays the God of Thunder, this clip supports Hemsworth's recent claims that he went even further with Thor: Love & Thunder. "This is probably the fittest and strongest I've been before all the Thors," Hemsworth said. "Having this time at home meant I explored different methods, to see how I can manipulate my body with just the right amount of powerlifting and bodybuilding workouts."
With the superhero genre more popular than ever, a growing number of movie stars have bulked up to play comic book characters in recent years. Case in point: comedic actor/writer Kumail Nanjiani turned heads when he posted images of his muscular physique for Marvel's The Eternals in Dec. 2019. He later admitted he had come to hate his "thirsty shirtless" photos, saying, "you get a weird body dysmorphia when the whole world is concentrating on how you look."
Elsewhere, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently went the extra mile with his training for DC's Black Adam movie, as he documented with videos and photos showing off his massive quadriceps. His costar Aldis Hodge similarly battled "pain and soreness" in order to achieve his shredded physique for playing Hawkman in the film. Even Hemsworth's Thor: Love & Thunder costar Natalie Portman trained to "look like an action figure," in anticipation of her character, Jane Foster, gaining god-like powers of her own in the movie.
In spite of all the hard work and dedication required to create the fantasy of a superhero in live-action, Hemsworth noted these types of body transformations rarely land actors the kind of critical acclaim that others get for dramatically altering their physical appearance. "There's an aesthetic that the role requires," he said. "Bodybuilding is seen as vanity, whereas if I put on a bunch of unhealthy weight, or got unhealthily skinny for a role, I'd probably be called a serious actor."
Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillen as Nebula and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. The film arrives in theaters May 6, 2022.
Source: Instagram