Chris Hemsworth Talks Everything Thor In THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON!!! [POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!]

By Erin Parisien

Hello Schmoeville!

It’s hard to put into words how excited I am for the upcoming The Avengers: Age Of Ultron release. Ever since James Spader as the titular Ultron started lecturing about the uselessness of humanity, and being free of strings, in the first trailer, I’ve been so excited for this film, it’s not even funny!

Last summer, Frosty over at Collider had a chance to sit down with the cast on set, and discuss their characters and story arcs for the upcoming film. Since the film is now just over 2 months away (YAY!), the noose has been loosened slightly and journalists are finally able to talk about it. Here are some highlights from the interview with Chris Hemsworth (In case you didn’t see it in the title, this interview could be considered spoilery by some, so you’ve been warned!):

On his reaction when he first got the script:

It was awesome. I mean, coming off of Thor 2 andAvengers, you know, I couldn’t wait to read this. I just loved how it upped it in a way that wasn’t just bigger and flashier. I mean, everything had been amplified, but in an intelligent way. All the stories are relevant to what’s going on in the world, as far as the exponential growth of technology and artificial intelligence and the questions of good versus bad and the AI world. They’re obviously heavily influenced by that tone and that debate. He’s managed to bring all of the Avengers back in and give them a relevant reason to be there and justified sort of conflict. I mean, it’s a tricky balance. I’m glad I’m not the one writing the thing and having to pull that off.

On Thor’s role in the Age Of Ultron:

We pick up with Thor having stayed on Earth from Thor 2, so he’s here, he’s part of the team. This is his home for the moment. The initial kind of threat, the attack from Ultron, is personal because it’s at all the Avengers, and Thor then begins to see a bigger sort of picture here about what this threat could be potentially, and begins to kind of tie-in all of our films. It’s hard to say too much without talking about what I can’t talk about but as I said, it’s a personal loss from the get-go because it’s at him, but I guess he sees a bigger picture.

On something that Thor gets to do in this film that he’s never done before:

He’s loosened up a bit. I think we lost some of the humor and the naïveté, that sort of fish out of water quality of Thor from the first film into the second one. There were things I loved about what we did in the second one too, tonally, but that sense of fun… I would have liked it to be there a bit more, and Joss I think felt the same way. So there’s more humor in Thor or at least because he’s been on Earth, he’s a little more accessible now. He’s off Asgard now so he doesn’t have to be as regal and kingly as he is in that world, which is nice. I enjoy that more. It’s sort of a box, which is tough to step out of on Asgard. You know, that stuff just looks out of place whereas here, he can have a gag with the guys and he can throw away lines and be a party scene with them in civilian clothes, which is nice.

On whether or not we’ll see anymore Thor/Hulk battle scenes:

We’re not as conflicted as we were before, I think. He tags off with someone else though. I think we sort of changed up there, and he has a pretty solid battle with… am I allowed to say? Yeah, with Iron Man in this one, which is cool. It’s a lengthy fight scene of destruction.

On what brings Thor back to the team:

I mean it was just giving him a solid reason to be there, you know? I think all of us. It seems like a pretty simple demand but yeah, it would be easy to fall into, “Oh, they’re all just there because we’re all contracted and look cool if we’re standing in the same room.” (laughs) I mean it was there from the beginning, too, but I just sort of kept saying to Joss, “Okay, what do I bring to the table though, besides kind of Thor being one of his foot soldiers and the muscle in a bunch of fight scenes. What is his knowledge he can bring to it?” And trying to incorporate that he’s from another world because you forget that, too. All of a sudden you’re standing there in these conversations and you go, “Well hang on, he’s from another planet, you know? What’s his thousands of years of existence? What information can that bring?” And so he calls upon some of Asgardian knowledge in this and is able to go into, say, another realm to pull out something that’s hugely useful. Some information that certainly benefits where they’re at at that point.

On Thor’s connection to Asgard at present and whether or not he knows about Loki:

Up until kind of the third act or sort of halfway through he begins to have suspicions about what’s going on here or what this bigger picture is here and who’s involved. He doesn’t know by the end of it but he starts to think something’s not right here. This is all a little too convenient why this has happened, which certainly points his focus back there.

On the effects of the Scarlet Witch and Thor’s inner demons:

I think it certainly creates a conflict. It’s more kind of within their individual selves rather than the team so much. I think they’ll begin to have sort of their fears f held up in front of them, and for Thor, I think it’s a corruption of power. With all of them having this much power and trying to have the understanding that we’re in this sort of endless battle here and when this is going to end and how does it end? That scene is actually being rewritten at the moment, if you want to talk to Joss about it, so it’s hard to even say what it will be in Thor’s dream sequence but it kicks in motion his movement. That’s where he really starts to kind of move through the story. Once that dream occurs he goes, “Oh, I can see what’s coming and my fear could be true” so yeah, it’s a ticking clock.

On the evolution of Thor’s powers in the films, and what we could see now:

I mean in this instance you see it’s hand-to-hand combat because if someone of his equal strength or more so than him, so he can afford to do that. Whereas with the people who were far less capable than him and not as strong, I said, “You know, let’s make sure he’s picking up cars and throwing them and ripping things in half and spending a bit more time up in the air and using the elements as opposed to being stuck kind of in a hand-to-hand sort of fist fight with the bad guys.” So yeah, I think it keeps getting kind of amped up and then the stunts become more elaborate. Yeah, we see him fly a bit more.

I really like what I’m hearing here, Schmoeville, I ain’t gonna lie! I have been anticipating this film since the credits rolled on the first one back in 2012. Just from the trailer alone you know that the stakes are higher and that everything is going to change, one way or another. I have faith that Joss Whedon is going to not only match, but surpass the awesomeness that was the first film and that this is going to go down as one of the best comic book films ever. Marvel has shown that they are willing to make the changes necessary to keep us all on our toes, and this will be no exception. And given the fact that this will be the big tent-pole film before Captain America: Civil War… well, that just increases the stakes, and anticipation, a hundred fold. I am anxiously awaiting the announcement that tickets are going on sale, in order to make sure that I have mine for opening night. I’m sure I’ll see you there!

The film stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany and James Spader and is directed by Joss Whedon. The Avengers: Age Of Ultron is set for release on May 1, 2015.

So, Schmoeville, did you like this interview? Did you not? Are you as intrigued by some of Hemsworth’s comments as I am? Seriously, how excited are you for this film? How epic do you think it’s going to be? Do you think it’s going to beat the box office record the first one set? Comment below and let’s talk about The Avengers: Age Of Ultron!

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