Chris Hemsworth Thinks Scorsese And Tarantino's Marvel Backlash Is 'Super Depressing'

At this point, every single prestige director has weighed in on whether or not Marvel movies qualify as "art," leading to an endless feedback loop between actors and directors involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and those who aren't. Famously, Martin Scorsese more or less kicked off this debate when he said that the movies were nothing more than theme parks, and recently, Quentin Tarantino felt like he had to enter the chat as well. Now, Thor himself is responding. Original Avenger and MCU mainstay Chris Hemsworth addressed these comments in a recent profile with British GQ, and honestly? He's pretty disappointed. 

"That's super depressing when I hear that," Hemsworth told interviewer Hannah-Rose Yee. "There goes two of my heroes I won't work with. I guess they're not a fan of me." I'm thankful that I have been a part of something that kept people in cinemas. Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don't know." 

He did pivot somewhat, though, saying that he definitely would work with either Scorsese or Tarantino, but fundamentally disagrees with them: "I don't love when we start scrutinising each other when there's so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts as it is... I say that less to the directors who made those comments, who are all, by the way, still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them. But I say it more to the broader opinion around that topic."

Hemsworth is no stranger to criticism over his MCU role, though — especially recently. Released in 2022, "Thor: Love and Thunder" served as the follow-up to the largely beloved "Thor: Ragnarok" and reunited Hemsworth with writer-director Taika Waititi, but to say it wasn't as critically successful as "Ragnarok" is an understatement. According to that same GQ profile, Hemsworth got backlash from an unexpected source over "Love and Thunder" — his kids' friends.

"It's a bunch of eight-year-olds critiquing my film. 'We thought this one had too much humour, the action was cool but the VFX weren't as good,'" he told GQ. "I cringe and laugh equally at it." 

So is it hard for Hemsworth to internalize all of this? "It's always hard being in the centre of it and having any real perspective... I love the process, it's always a ride. But you just don't know how people are going to respond." Perhaps that's why Hemsworth also says that he's open to returning as Thor at some point, but also wants to spread his wings a bit as an actor; though he says he's open to "seeing what they have to offer creatively, if there is something new," he really wants to  "do some other stuff for a while."

Hemsworth has plenty on his plate besides playing Thor, though. Since the first one was released in 2020, he's been appearing in Netflix's "Extraction" franchise, with the second film hitting Netflix on June 16, 2023, and he's also set to lend his voice to "Transformers One" and will feature in the highly anticipated "Mad Max: Fury Road" prequel "Furiosa" alongside Anya Taylor-Joy. Even with all of that, however, he's also taken a step back from acting due to health concerns.

In late 2022, Hemsworth revealed that, due to a genetic predisposition, he's much more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and would take a step back from acting to spend time with his family. He learned this during an episode of the Disney+ series "Limitless," and as a result, he made the announcement that acting would come second to spending valuable moments with his wife and children. During this break, he's posted plenty of happy family memories on social media, including teaching his kids how to snowboard.

If, unlike Scorsese and Tarantino, you're a fan of Marvel movies, all of Hemsworth's are available to stream on Disney+ now.