Chris Hemsworth Once Felt as if He Was ‘Ruined for the Rest of My Career’ After Starring in ‘The Avengers’
Chris Hemsworth made a name for himself by becoming one of the founding members of The Avengers. After starring in the Marvel property, the actor saw a significant boost in his profile that made him a superstar. But at one point, Hemsworth actually wondered if the success of The Avengers might do more harm than good. At least when it came to the box office.
Chris Hemsworth was about to quit acting before ‘Thor’
Before featuring in a few blockbuster films, including Thor, Hemsworth was doing his best to further his career. He got his first big break featuring in JJ Abrams’ 2009 film Star Trek. But after that, the opportunities cooled off, which concerned Hemsworth to the point where he considered walking away from Hollywood.
“I was about to quit. I always wanted to act, and one of the first things I wanted to do when I got any money was pay my parents’ house off,” Hemsworth told Men’s Health. I’d asked Dad once when he thought he’d pay it off and he said, ‘Honestly, probably never.’ Most people are in that boat and I wanted to change that.”
Hemsworth tried to stick to his guns and advance further in his career through auditions. But he just couldn’t catch a lucky break.
“I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t nervous before auditions rather than grabbing hold of it and going, ‘Use it, raise up your awareness here, sharpen your focus.’ And then my mentality changed, which came from being at a point where I was like, ‘I’m going to go back to Australia,’” he continued.
But fortunately, Hemsworth changed his mindstate a bit before taking on what could’ve been his final audition ever.
“I had one more audition where I was like, ‘Do this for his house. Think about reasons other than yourself.’ That was for The Cabin in the Woods, and I got that job, and from there I got Red Dawn. And then I got Thor,” he confided.
Chris Hemsworth wondered if ‘The Avengers’ would ruin the rest of his box-office career
As big as Thor was, The Avengers was even bigger. At the time, the superhero team-up film broke several cinematic records and scored $1.5 billion at the box office. Hemsworth figured Avengers might be a success, but even he didn’t predict the film would’ve taken off as it did.
“I think everyone there knew the potential of what it could be, but at the same time felt as ridiculous as everyone else,” Hemsworth told Empire (via Female First). “Because we’re all standing around in these wacky costumes. It’s the most impractical thing in the world. It’s like, why would you ever put [a cape] on?”
The Extraction star reflected on the incredible earnings that Avengers brought in. In terms of box-office success, he quipped that the movie’s accomplishments could have possibly doomed his career in the future.
“Jesus, I don’t think anything will ever come close… Probably Avengers 2, but it will be pretty hard to hit that again. It’s almost as if I’ve been ruined for the rest of my career regarding box-office expectations,” he added.
Chris Hemsworth once thought that Thor was being written out of the MCU
Ironically, Hemsworth’s Thor is one of the few remaining active Avengers left. But there was a point where the actor thought he was prematurely written out of the MCU.
“I remember being on the Age of Ultron press tour, and everyone was talking about Civil War,” Hemsworth said in the book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (via Comic book). “I was like, ‘What’s Civil War?’ I asked, ‘Are you doing a side-project or something?’ They’re like, ‘Oh no, Captain America, y’know? The next one is Civil War.’ I’m like, ‘Wait… Iron Man’s in that?’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, but there’s not just Iron Man. There’s Vision (Paul Bettany). There’s Spider-Man (Tom Holland)…’”
Because of this, Hemsworth inquired what his role in the next movie would be. When Marvel told him his Thor would be doing something else, Hemsworth briefly worried he might be out of the MCU.
“I thought, ‘This is it. I’m being written out,’” he said.
He also learned that Ruffalo’s Hulk wouldn’t be in Civil War either, which had Hemsworth even more curious. But Marvel would later answer Hemsworth’s question in the short film directed by Taika Waititi.
“They had this great idea to just have Thor on a holiday, taking some time out here in Australia, just wanting to do some regular things and hang out with some regular folk,” Hemsworth said.
