One Mind Blowing Secret From Every MCU Movie

34. Chris Hemsworth's Rejection - Thor

The story of Chris Hemsworth's casting has been touched on many times over the 15 years since the first Thor film released, from Tom Hiddleston going up for the role against Charlie Hunnam and Alexander Skarsgård, to Luke Hemsworth being an early favourite over his brother.

This is something that Thor director Kenneth Branagh has elaborated on during his director's commentary on the movie's home release, and it goes a little bit deeper than just Chris Hemsworth being brought back in and stealing the gig at the last-minute.

According to Branagh, when the eventual Thor first auditioned, he had a terrible cold that affected his performance, and he really didn't impress anybody. However, a couple of months later, with far more of Thor's character, journey, and drastic development throughout the narrative fleshed out, they realised just what range the actor would need, and decided to bring Chris Hemsworth back to read.

This comes back to, particularly in the early days, Marvel Studios' priority of the acting rather than the right look. They could have gotten someone who looked closer to Thor from the comics, since Hemsworth was yet to bulk up for the role at the time, but they decided to go with his acting ability. Luckily, he happened to work himself into the body any deity would be proud of by the time filming began anyway, so those few months of character work really were crucial.