Chris Hemsworth has never shied away from honest critique of his own work, and his turn as the God Of Thunder has never been immune to his brand of thoughtful candor. In fact, during an interview with GQ just last August he waved off Thor: The Dark World as “meh,” which wasn’t exactly met with a ton of dissent. He continued his streak of honesty in a recent interview with Yahoo, admitting that he arrived to his character’s third solo installment, Thor:Ragnarok, “exhausted” and “underwhelmed” by his previous Thor appearances, which would include both his solo and ensemble work.
“That was no fault of any director or writer,” Hemsworth was sure to clarify, “that was me personally. It felt like I’d put myself in a box with what the character could do.” Handing over directorial duties to Taika Waititi for Ragnarok meant, according to Hemsworth, breaking away from everything familiar to the character and bending some rules, which is exactly what Hemsworth was looking for upon his return.
“That was so liberating and freeing, you know, to sort of break away who the character was prior.” The jolt of fresh energy (and the sharp haircut) did wonders for the hammer-wielding god: Ragnarok ended up being Hemsworth’s highest grossing solo Marvel film with an $854 million global box-office haul, so all’s well that ends well.