The Marvel Character Chris Hemsworth Almost Played

Marvel movie fans met Chris Hemsworth in 2011, when the Australian actor graced the silver screen as the God of Thunder in Thor. If things had done another way, viewers would have seen Hemsworth join the world of Marvel much earlier than he did... and play a completely different character. 

Hemsworth recently sat down with Variety for a deep-dive interview about his future plans, current films, and past projects. During the conversation, Hemsworth got to talking about the roles he very nearly scored before landing his career-defining break as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was at this moment that the actor dropped a major bombshell: he almost portrayed Gambit in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine under 20th Century Fox's Marvel Comics film franchise.

"I got very close to Gambit in the Wolverine X-Men movies," said Hemsworth, who admitted he was upset at the time he lost out on the part to Friday Night Live actor Taylor Kitsch because he was having trouble finding roles and was "running out of money."

In the long run, though, everything worked out in Hemsworth's favor. There's a huge upshot to Hemsworth not getting chosen to play Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and missing out on another major movie opportunity to star in 2009's G.I. Joe: he was available to audition for and secure the role of Thor. "If I played either of those characters, I wouldn't have been able to play Thor," the actor said.

Hemsworth's name and likeness has basically become synonymous with Thor's, and he has clearly had the time of his life swinging his hammer around space, saving multiple planets from total destruction, and annihilating baddies like it's his job (which it technically is, but you get the point). And although many bulwarks of the MCU bid their farewells in Avengers: Endgame — including the MCU-starter Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr. — Hemsworth still has room in the franchise to explore. The final moments of Endgame set up another adventure for the God of Thunder, joining the Guardians of the Galaxy on their new mission to locate Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and there have been whisperings of a potential fourth Thor movie happening sometime in the future. That kind of life probably wouldn't have come Hemsworth's way if he was just the Gambit guy.