Chris Hemsworth is defending his superhero team.
The “Thor” actor, 40, spoke out against unnamed Marvel actors who have disparaged the very franchise they’ve starred in.
“It’s, like, ‘They’re films that are successful — put me in one. Oh, mine didn’t work? I’ll bash them,’ ” Hemsworth said in an interview with the Times of London that published May 12.
The Australian star continued, “Look, I grew up on a soap opera. And it used to bother me when actors would later talk about the show with guilt or shame. Humility goes a long way.”
Hemsworth didn’t mention specific Marvel actors, but some of them — including his “Thor” co-stars Christian Bale and Anthony Hopkins — have been open about not enjoying doing superhero films in the past.
Even Hemsworth himself has criticized Marvel. He told GQ last year that 2022’s “Thor: Love & Thunder was “too silly.” Last month, he told Vanity Fair he “became a parody” of himself in his character’s fourth solo film.
In his Times of London interview, Hemsworth also addressed the hate Marvel has gotten from big-time movie directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino.
“It felt harsh, and it bothers me, especially from heroes,” he said. “It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space. Those guys had films that didn’t work too — we all have. When they talked about what was wrong with superheroes, I thought, ‘Cool, tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?’ ”
The “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” star also insisted that superhero films “deserve a little more appreciation” for the impact they’ve had on the movie industry.
“Cinema-going did not change because of superheroes, but because of smartphones and social media,” Hemsworth noted. “Superhero films actually kept people in the cinemas during that transition and now people are coming back.”
Scorsese, 81, first made headlines for his criticism against Marvel in 2019, when he told Empire that he doesn’t watch superhero movies because they are “not cinema.”
“Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks,” the Oscar winner said at the time. “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Scorsese reiterated his anti-Marvel stance to the New York Times later that year. “Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk,” he said.
Coppola, 85, defended Scorsese’s comments while speaking to GQ in 2022.
“There used to be studio films,” Coppola said. “Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.”
Tarantino, meanwhile, dissed Marvel films in 2022, claiming on the “2 Bears, 1 Cave” podcast with Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer that Hollywood’s lack of movie stars can be attributed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is … you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star,” said the “Kill Bill” filmmaker.
He added: “I mean, I’m not the first person to say that, I think that’s been said a zillion times. But it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
Hemsworth previously spoke out against the directors bashing Marvel to GQ in June 2023.
“That’s super depressing when I hear that,” Hemsworth said about Scorsese and Tarantino’s remarks. “There goes two of my heroes I won’t work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me,” he added.
Hemsworth has played Thor in several Marvel movies since 2011. His most recent turn was in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
