Super hero fatigue is real. Keeping up with the MCU can be hard if you’re not a superfan, and some of the plots can seem a little juvenile if you’re not ten. But Marvel, having reached true juggernaut status, is now in a position to take risks. They’re reaching beyond the fandom, courting new viewers, and straying every so slightly from the tried and true formula that has consistently put butts in seats and dollars in pockets. One surprising but welcome MCU twist was that Kevin Feige allowed one of his Avengers to be completely rebranded. Previous Thor films had underwhelmed and underperformed (in a ‘it’s all relative’, millions of dollars kind of way), but it was still a huge risk to hand over the reins to a relatively unknown guy with a funny accent and a filmography comprised solely of quirky indies.
Taika Waititi has been my favourite director for as long as he’s been directing movies. When I met Sean about a decade ago, I made him watch Eagle vs. Shark as a litmus test: was he cool enough and funny enough and subversive enough to be with me? He was. Barely. But he has a big penis so I let it slide.
As you may know, Taika Waititi came on board to direct Thor: Ragnarok and is largely responsible for turning an arrogant god into a thoughtful and affable leader. Thor was transformed. Thor is fun! Plus Waititi gave Thor a haircut and suddenly I was thinking: Thor is hot?
So Thor has since been my favourite Avenger, which is why I was so sad to see his trajectory in Endgame. Thor is suffering from (is it too much to say?) PTSD. He’s been at constant war for years and years, maybe even lifetimes, and has only recently slowed down enough to be crushed by the weight of it all. He blames himself for failing to “aim for the head,” taking responsibility for Thanos’ humanity-shearing snap. Five years later, the movie finds Thor hidden away with his Ragnarok friends Korg and Miek, playing video games and inciting trolls, drinking too much and letting himself go. His physical self reflects his internal turmoil; he isn’t caring for himself anymore. Which is really sad, and surprisingly realistic for Marvel. Thor is a solider returned home from war, and he’s finding that his old life doesn’t fit him anymore. It’s such an honest reflection for how many war vets feel when they attempt to reacclimate to civilian life. But then they ruin the whole thing by playing it for a laugh. As Thor walks into the room, the camera goes straight to his beer-bloated belly. Prompted, the audience laughs. He is shirtless so we can see the extent of his mortification. This man is hurting and Marvel wants us to laugh.
This dilutes the very worthy and valid message about mental health and how we all struggle with it. If we took away the fat suit punch line, we’re left with a deeply conflicted man who is really suffering. He’s lost his family twice now – The Avengers were his family, and not only are half of them turned to dust, but he has exiled himself from the rest. And when he finally does rejoin them, Tony Stark doesn’t ask him how he’s doing, he makes a joke about his appearance. True enough: often even our close friends and family miss the signs of depression. And who would think it of such a strong man? And yet we are all fallible. Pain and trauma are the great equalizers of men.
Let’s remember for a moment that Thor’s other family, his real family, are also dead, but every single one of them – mother, father, brother Loki, that pesky half-sister Hela, even his best pal Heimdall – died before the Snap. So they’re not coming back no matter what happens in Endgame. And he’s lost his home, Asgard, literally blown to smithereens, along with much of the population, which is then halved again during the Snap, which also took Valkyrie, his one remaining link to home and past.
So it’s nice that Thor gets a moment with his mother, who immediately knows that she is being blessed with a visit from a future-version of her son. She doesn’t waste time asking about his appearance or about her own safety, she wants to know about his pain. They talk about the true nature of a hero. She gives him strength. He begins to heal.
Chris Hemsworth brings a lot to a role that he’s had to stretch and adapt over the 8 years that he’s played him. You wouldn’t expect a comic book hero to be the role that shows an actor’s versatility, and yet here we are. Hemsworth has compassion for Thor. Even while the audience is invited to laugh at him, Hemsworth doesn’t want to make him the joke. Thor puts on a show for his friends, unwilling to let the mask slip and show his true vulnerability. But we see it. Sometimes just in the pain that flashes across his eyes, or the defeated slump of his shoulders, formerly so square and erect.
This is a movie, so Thor’s arc movies quickly, as it must. But it’s not shown to be a quick fix, nor complete. These wounds take time to heal but they can heal, even if Thor will never be the cocky god we knew before. Not that we’d want him to be. This new Thor may be fat, but he’s also learned so much. He knows now that other people’s worthiness doesn’t take away from his own. He can share in the heroics comfortably, and even pass the torch. And that’s why I liked the scene as he’s preparing to fight Thanos: he calls on the gods to ready him for battle. They do, but not by restoring him to his former glory. They outfit his new body. They braid his unkempt beard. It is THIS Thor who defeats Thanos when the old one could not, so let’s not laugh at his body, let’s celebrate his accomplishments, let’s shore up his mental health, let’s rejoice in his triumphs and share in his loss. He is finding his way through trauma. Thor is a god, but he’s having a very human response, and I wish ours in turn could be just a little more humane.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Jay you put an entirely new complexion on the Thor character for me. I was thoroughly pissed because Marvel did that to him. But, you made me see that its the inner emotional whirlwind that has him acting and looking like that. I’m still kind of mad that they made him look physically out of shape when it was his emotional fragility that we should have seen.
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You raise some really good points. I thought Hemsworth’s performance was excellent at getting across the tragic aspects of the character and I really appreciated the scene with his mother but maybe they could have walked it back a bit on the comedy. It would be interesting to look at how they handled depression and PTSD and balanced it with crowd pleasing comedy. Like for me for instance Tony and Rocket’s comments didn’t bother me because they were in character and we’ve seen that Rocket especially does care about Thor. But that’s just me and I can understand why it might bother someone else.
Didn’t mean to ramble but I find the topic fascinating and you’ve given me a lot to consider!
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Having not seen the movie, I heard about the fat shaming and PTSD, and I thought I wouldn’t want to see it. But this puts that whole thing in more context.
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Thor I felt had one of the best character arcs in the entire franchise. Starting off as this arrogant god with so much promise to become a king only to then endure humility when he’s stripped from his powers and learn to care more about others than himself. Along the way, he does what he can to help the Avengers and his home while he would then deal with loss and later failure. It’s easy to laugh at what he would become but you also feel sad for him realizing that he is in pain. For anyone that has seen Taika Waititi’s films know that he is a man who understands the idea of comedy and tragedy as a lot of films are about that balance or imbalance of the two. I have to give the Russos some credit for using that template as it relates to Thor. Especially when we see his mother who really understood and I think some credit should go to Rene Russo for that performance as that was the best performance she’s done in the MCU in comparison to her other appearances.
Thor did become my favorite character following Ragnarok and I ended up feeling for him the most. Hopefully, let’s see if there’s one more film involving him just to give the character some closure.
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This touches on one of my main problems with Endgame: on the one hand, it’s quite thoughtful about its main characters’ emotional states and the effects those have had on them; on the other, it feels the need to undercut almost anything serious by throwing gags at it. “Fat Thor” is probably the foremost example of this, for all the reasons you’ve discussed.
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Thanks for this, Jay. I admit, I got caught up in the way Marvel played him off for laughs as well-the comedic approach to his character just seemed like a natural continuation of the fresh way Waititi handled him (which really brought new life to my previously least-favourite MCU character- much like it did for you too!). But all of that said, playing up the humour angle *at the expense* of the actual pain the character was feeling is definitely distasteful, in hindsight. I was too caught up in the comedy to realize what it was covering up. Thanks for these wise words!
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I like your take on Thor’s reaction to Cap’s worthiness.
I didn’t mind the fat suit but I understand some might get offended by it. I think the joke goes hand in hand with the tragedy. It’s like what Whedon did with Captain America in the first two Avengers movie. He made him the butt-end of the jokes to highlight that he’s a man out of time. And I really like Hemsworth’s performance in this movie, probably his best in all his movies. He makes you laugh, and then he pause, say something serious, you see his eyes, and suddenly it’s a lump-in-your-throat moment. You feel the pathos of his character.
And I think Thor s the only character who has a meaningful arc in Endgame. Tony Stark has been waiting to give up his life to save everyone since Age of Ultron. His character arc is pretty much complete by then. Captain America is just same old Cap since his first movie.
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I’m one of those who didn’t like what they did to Thor. It’s got nothing to do with his appearance, but his accomplishments.
Throughout the movie, all I kept thinking was how underpowered he actually was. In Infinity War, Stormbreaker tore through the power of ALL the Infinity Stones and landed in Thanos’ chest, almost killing him. Here, he’s fighting with BOTH Mjolnir AND Stormbreaker, and Thanos has the upper hand, that too without a single stone?
Captain America outshines him here (him wielding Mjolnir was another problem I had with the film). My main problem wasn’t that Thor was depressed, but that unlike in Infinity War, all he did was booze. Captain Marvel is able to withstand Thanks in his full glory. Wanda tackles things amazingly.
Then why is Thor treated as though he was replaceable?
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I saw it last night and said to my friend that I didn’t like what they had done with Thor – not his emotions, but as you say, the physical appearance and the way it was all tied up in comedy (I think depression and PTSD has been handled better in the MCU – Iron Man 3, for example). It was a bit of a blip in what was a really enjoyable flick.
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I was also bothered by the comedic approach to Thor’s struggles.
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You have put this into new perspective for me. I didn’t like the Fat Thor arc, it didn’t suit the movie. The articles bemoaning his weight gain as some deliberate insult on bigger people also felt out of place. Your opinion highlights really well what felt so off about his transformation.
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