Chris Hemsworth does not want to get as ripped as he did for Thor: Love and Thunder whenever he plays Thor next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since taking on the role of the god of thunder, Hemsworth has routinely transformed his body to bring the Asgardian to life. Thor: Love and Thunder included him going to new heights when it came to bulking up. After Thor shed the weight gained in Avengers: Endgame, his fourth solo movie was a true showcase of Hemsworth's dedication to becoming as ripped as possible for the MCU role.
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Hemsworth became bigger than ever before to play Thor in Love and Thunder. This was evident throughout the filming process, as behind-the-scenes photos proved just how ripped he was. Thor: Love and Thunder did not shy away from showing his god-like physique, going so far as to show Hemsworth in the nude from behind. The entire process emphasized the star's commitment to the role and the physicality required for the 39-year-old actor. It now seems that maintaining the new levels of fitness in Thor: Love and Thunder – or even exceeding it – is not something Hemsworth wants to do for Thor's next MCU appearance.
As part of Thor: Love and Thunder's Disney+ release, Marvel Studios released a behind-the-scenes Assembled documentary for the film. It includes insight into the development of the project and interviews with many of the key figures involved. As shared by The Direct, this includes a section where Hemsworth talks about how he bulked up for Thor: Love and Thunder. However, the actor has now admitted that he does not want to get quite as ripped whenever Marvel calls on him to suit up again. Hemsworth says:
Each time I’ve played the character and put the muscle on and put the size on, and then lost it for something else and played another character, there’s muscle memory, and I used to say it sort of got easier each time. This was particularly hard. I think because the target weight we aimed for was quite a ways above where I’d been before. We had 12 months when I was at home, just training and sort of, you know, puppeteering the body and manipulating and trying to like, ’Okay, we could try more swimming now or try more martial arts. It was a really fun exploration, but I don’t know that I wanna get that big again. But I was sort of… It was… Yeah, it was just exhausting. I don’t know, maybe I’m getting old, but things just started to hurt more.
Hemsworth not wanting to get quite as ripped as he did for Thor: Love and Thunder does not mean that Thor will be normal size in his next MCU appearance. The actor is specifically talking about not wanting to take on the challenge of trying to somehow top his physical fitness or even get that big again. It instead points to Hemsworth wanting to scale down Thor's muscles a bit, possibly closer to how he looked in Phase 2 or Phase 3. Furthermore, Hemsworth has now already begun teasing more about Thor's MCU return, even though Marvel Studios has not yet confirmed what Phase 5 or Phase 6 project he will be seen in next.
It is certainly understandable why Hemsworth does not want to get quite as big whenever Thor's MCU return happens. He went from playing the larger-than-life hero to working on several other projects that do not require him to be anywhere close to that physical form. The training and expectations for superhero movie actors are no joke; for example, Hugh Jackman repeatedly talked about the difficulty in maintaining his Wolverine form as he got older. With Hemsworth about to enter his 40s, the easier it is for him to achieve the necessary look for Thor could help extend his MCU future after Thor: Love and Thunder.