Chris Hemsworth’s Fat Thor in Avengers: Endgame was a shocking change for the Asgardian God of Thunder, but it was a far better portrayal of Thor than he received in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Thor’s Wild Journey In The MCU
It is probably fair to say that when it comes to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Thor has been portrayed with the least tonal consistency in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor has, at different times, been shown as both the fiercest warrior and the biggest goofball in the franchise, and Thor’s roles in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame both exemplify how wild his MCU journey has been.
In Infinity War, Thor comes close to preventing Thanos (Josh Brolin) from snapping half the universe’s population to dust but ultimately fails, with Thor blaming himself and the fact that he “went for the head” too late to stop trillions of deaths across the universe. This leads Thor to fall into a depression in Avengers: Endgame, with Thor heavily consuming alcohol, obsessively playing video games, and gaining a huge amount of weight.
The sight of Fat Thor left audiences around the world speechless and taken aback, and the decision to have Thor let himself go so much remains a rather divisive story choice in the MCU. However, it served his arc far better than his portrayal in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder.
The Impact Of Thor’s Transformation In Endgame
While the MCU has always been big on comedy, Taika Waititi‘s Thor: Love and Thunder is a full-blown comedy outright and a quite cartoonish one, at that. Love and Thunder going so overboard with its comedic tone has made it one of the most polarizing MCU movies to date, but when it comes to its portrayal of the title character, Love and Thunder really does Thor no favours.
Compared to the headstrong warrior he started out as in the MCU, Love and Thunder significantly dumbs Thor down to a much more slow-witted cartoon character. While this might have been seen as a necessary evil to synch Thor up with the overall tone of Love and Thunder, it nevertheless backfired by going too far and reducing Thor to the equivalent of Fred Flintstone with a lightning hammer. At the same time, Love and Thunder’s disservice to Thor also puts his transformation into Fat Thor in Endgame into a clearer context.
While Endgame certainly mines humour from Thor’s weight gain, it also is a key part of his character arc by showing that, for all his power, Thor is susceptible to feelings of failure, defeat, and depression. Thor’s weight gain could even be read in a symbolic way, with Thor carrying the figurative “weight” of his failure to stop Thanos within him in a literal way. Additionally, Endgame pays off the journey of Fat Thor with his role in collecting the Infinity Stones from the past to undo the snap and his subsequent role in defeating Thanos, Thor emerging from his depression a hero renewed.
The Missed Opportunities In Love And Thunder
Aside from a montage showing Thor getting back into shape, Love and Thunder does nothing comparably significant for Thor and actually takes him back several steps by reducing him to comic relief in his own movie. The much-hyped transformation of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) into Mighty Thor also ended up being surprisingly underwhelming and does nothing for her journey or relationship with Thor since her cancer sub-plot is given little to no narrative impact until her death right at the end of the movie. The movie’s flashbacks to Thor and Jane’s romance between Thor: The Dark World and Love and Thunder also do nothing to enrich or deepen their respective MCU arcs either, the pair’s quiet evenings and couple’s squabbles pulled right out of a bad rom-com rather than a romance of star-crossed lovers from literally different worlds.
Fat Thor brought a lot of shock value to Avengers: Endgame but ended up being one of the most compelling aspects of Thor’s journey in the MCU, showing the God of Thunder emerging from his lowest point after his most bitter defeat. Thor: Love and Thunder, unfortunately, does little more with Thor but make him into a punchline, and in doing so, highlights just how much more riveting the Fat Thor chapter of his story really is.
Tell us, do you think Fat Thor was better than Love & Thunder Thor? Also, read our article on why it’s time to retire the MCU’s Thor.
