Will We See Fat Thor In Love And Thunder?

One of the more interesting developments in Avengers: Endgame was a specific consequence that resulted from the team's failure to stop Thanos from wiping out half of all life in the universe. In the film's opening act, Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) acted with uncharacteristic rage upon the discovery that Evil Grimace had reduced the Infinity Stones to atoms, negating the chance for the Avengers to attempt an Infinity Gauntlet-powered do-over. Thor decapitated the unarmed, defenseless Mad Titan — an honorless, pointless killing that revealed a mindset of pure hopelessness.

After the five-year time jump, however, viewers saw that Thor's hopelessness had manifested itself fully — and in shocking fashion. The formerly shredded thunder god had become portly and unkempt, having spent the entire five years swilling beer and playing Fortnite with his buddy Korg (Taika Waititi). Rather than simply turning "Fat Thor" into a punchline, though, Avengers: Endgame co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely made it clear that Thor was suffering from a profound depression. Actor Chris Hemsworth leaned into his character's anguish, turning in a sympathetic performance quite unlike his previous appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

At the film's conclusion, Thor saddled up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to embark on some intergalactic adventures, leaving New Asgard in the capable hands of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). But, particularly in light of the fact that Thor had retained his rotund physique for the entirety of Endgame, fans have begun to wonder: will Fat Thor (or "Bro Thor," as Marvel creatives have taken to calling him) make a reappearance in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder? Or will he return to his previous ultra-ripped form?

As it turns out, Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has been asked this question on multiple occasions. In October 2019, Waititi hedged his bets as to whether Thor would still be packing a few extra pounds in his next MCU appearance. "This is an ongoing debate that we're still having at Marvel," Waititi told Yahoo! News at that time. "We're trying to figure out how long — how many months or years — this is after Endgame, at what point does this take place?" 

The filmmaker went on to indicate that he wasn't too keen on keeping Thor mired in the status quo: "I think we always want to keep changing it up with Thor. He's so interesting when he's changing all the time.

More recently, Waititi has appeared to come down even harder on the side of moving away from Thor's Endgame portrayal. During a Thor: Ragnarok live-watch party on Instagram, the director was asked the question again, and his response was pretty blunt: "We haven't figured that out, but I feel like that's done" (via CinemaBlend).

Waititi clearly enjoys keeping the thunder god on his toes — which is where we're bound to find him in any event in Thor: Love and Thunder, given that he'll be sharing his mantle with former (and perhaps future) love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who will be picking up Mjolnir to become the Mighty Thor in the film.

For Hemsworth's part, he's spoken positively about the challenge of playing a rounder, more morose version of Thor in Avengers: Endgame. Although he wasn't a fan of the extra hours in the makeup chair or the heavy prosthetic required to transform him into Fat Thor, he said that he "enjoyed that version of Thor," because it was "so different from any other way [he had] played the character" (via Variety).

It's clear, though, that Hemsworth has a great deal of trust in Waititi, who positively reinvigorated the Thor franchise — and the character — with Ragnarok. Recently, while making the promotional rounds for his Netflix original film Extraction, the actor spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer about Love and Thunder; what he had to say should have Marvel fans over the Moon. "[Love and Thunder is] one of the best scripts I've read in years," Hemsworth said. "It's Taika at his most extreme, and at his best. If the version I read is the one we get running with, it's going to be pretty insane."

If fans weren't completely psyched for the flick before, it's time to start counting the days until its release. Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to debut in theaters on February 18, 2022.