Avengers: Endgame Digital Feature Reveals The Making Of Bro Thor

It took a lot of work to make Chris Hemsworth's Thor look so lazy.

A featurette included with the digital release of Avengers: Endgame pulled back the curtain on the process used to transform the ripped actor into Bro Thor, complete with unkempt beard and beer belly.

In the clip, Hemsworth calls the opportunity to play such a radically different version of his character "hugely liberating and fun" — but, considering everything that he had to go through to achieve the effect of Thor having packed on the pounds and forgotten how to shave, it's hard to see how either of those descriptors fit.

The key to process: a specially-designed prosthetic to (greatly) fatten up Hemsworth's midsection, a piece which the star estimated to weigh "60 or 70 pounds" (according to the filmmakers, it was more like 90). The prosthetic covered his chest, stomach, and both arms, and frankly, we got a little uncomfortable just watching Endgame's makeup artists apply it in the featurette (Hemsworth said that wearing it made him "the hottest [he's] ever been").

Then, there was the matter of that scraggly beard, which had to be painstakingly applied before each day's shoot. The actor also had to deal with inserts designed to puff out his cheeks, which he said "had a little effect on the voice... but probably in a good way. It was a different Thor."

Once Hemsworth's appearance was sufficiently Bro-ed up, it was a matter of adjusting his performance to sell the profound change in the Thunder God. You'll recall that it wasn't for no reason that Thor sat around swilling all of the beer and playing Fortnite for five years; Endgame found him in the throes of a deep depression, the result of his failure to go for the head and stop Thanos from wiping out half of all life in the universe at the conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War. Compounding this failure, the opening act of Endgame saw the Avengers (along with Captain Marvel) hunting Thanos down to his lonely farm planet, where the Mad Titan revealed that he had basically set the Infinity Stones to self-destruct, reducing them to atoms and nearly killing him in the process. Enraged, Thor finally went for the head — decapitating the defenseless Thanos in an act which left a little to be desired in the honor department.

It's well-known that Hemsworth was a bit disenchanted with playing Odinson after Avengers: Age of Ultron, feeling that he had nowhere to go with the character. That all changed when director Taika Waititi delivered the MCU's first buddy comedy in Thor: Ragnarok, giving Hemsworth a chance to lean into the comedic aspects of Thor and renewing his excitement over where the franchise might eventually take the character.

Endgame presented Hemsworth with a heck of a challenge, as he was asked to hit a wide variety of emotional beats, from goofy to forlorn to despairing to vengeful — all of which the actor nailed perfectly. 

The actor's co-stars had a few choice words when describing his performance as Bro Thor in the clip. Said Paul Rudd, who portrays Scott Lang/Ant-Man, "We're shooting a superhero film, and here's one of those recognizable superheroes, but he's just turned into a new character. What Chris does with that character, and how it just kind of has this shift, his excitement [over the change] was really palpable."

Hemsworth's Thor Ragnarok co-star Tessa Thompson, whose Valkyrie also showed up to Endgame's final battle, expressed awe at the actor's ability to handle the transformation. "He's been playing the character for awhile, and really wanted to find something new," she said. "He has such dexterity as a talent, he's incredibly funny... he just [has] a really lovely energy."

Fortunately for all of us, we'll get an opportunity to see what other new and interesting notes Hemsworth can bring to the role of Thor in the future. At the conclusion of Endgame, Odinson was seen departing with the Guardians of the Galaxy to spend a little time off-planet, making it seem likely that when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 eventually rolls around, he may make an appearance (although that flick's writer/director James Gunn has refused to confirm or deny this). Of course, we'll get the four-quel Thor: Love and Thunder in November 2021, well before Guardians 3 is expected to drop; that movie should clue us in as to whether Thor fully embraced his new, portly physique, or decided to slim down during his time roaming the cosmos. 

Suddenly, we're picturing Drax leading Thor, Star-Lord, and the whole gang in a spirited round of aerobics.