It’s Time For The MCU To Retire Thor

Marvel fans are awaiting news of when Thor will return to the MCU, but it may be a better idea to retire the God of Thunder. Chris Hemsworth first wielded the might of Mjolnir in 2011’s Thor and really proved himself worthy in 2012’s The Avengers, but the King of Asgard has had a somewhat rockier journey compared to the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. With that and a few other factors at play, Thor’s destiny in the MCU’s future is currently more uncertain than ever.

Chris Hemsworth’s Hates Thor: Love and Thunder

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Chris Hemsworth himself expressed feelings of disappointment in his most recent portrayal of Thor in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder, stating that “I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself”, with Hemsworth also adding “I didn’t stick the landing.”

Hemsworth’s commentary on Taika Waititi‘s Thor: Love and Thunder is hardly isolated, with Love and Thunder proving one of the most divisive MCU movies yet due to its wacky tone and its reliance on comedy far beyond the usual extent of the famously light-hearted franchise.

Thor’s Future In The MCU

While Thor’s future in the MCU remains up in the air, his journey in the franchise makes the case that the time has come for the God of Thunder to leave his life as an Avenger behind.

The mixed bag of Thor’s MCU tenure admittedly tilts heavily in favour of Thor’s role in the Avengers films. Though Thor’s side quest in Avengers: Age of Ultron was admittedly a bit polarizing, he still felt true to the warrior and hero he began as until Thor: Ragnarok shifted him towards a much sillier tone.

Thor’s return in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame reasserted him as the quintessential Avenger, and while his major weight gain in the latter was played for laughs, it also humanized Thor as no other MCU film had, Thor clearly falling into depression and self-destruction for his failure to prevent Thanos’ snap in Infinity War.

Following the Avengers’ triumph in Endgame, Thor took another detour into Batman & Robin-levels of zaniness in Thor: Love and Thunder. Clearly, Thor’s role in the MCU has been a rollercoaster and a tonally inconsistent one.

However, one thing the Avengers films have understood that the Thor movies have only sporadically grasped is that Thor works best as a character and as a hero in his unique perspective on and relationship with humans.

The God of Thunder’s Legacy

As an Asgardian who has lived for thousands of years, Thor grows as much from his relationship with the Avengers as they do from him, Thor coming to see himself in a much more human light by the climactic battle of Endgame. Only the original Thor has managed to portray the God of Thunder through that lens, with the subsequent Thor movies gradually making him more and more of a buffoon and a punchline.

To that point, while Avengers: Endgame was not a definitive finale for the MCU, it undeniably carries with it a feeling of finality as the concluding chapter of the Infinity Saga. This impacts Thor as much as any of the Avengers, with Thor abdicating the throne of New Asgard to Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and departing with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Meanwhile, the heroic sacrifice of Tony Stark and the retirement of the elderly Steve Rogers in Endgame show there’s value in superheroes bowing out when the time is right and passing the torch on to a new generation of successors, further proving that it might be time for Thor to retire as well.

With Thor: Love and Thunder devolving into outright comedy, it’s an indicator that Thor had indeed achieved the same kind of heroic legacy as Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow that would be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate after such an epic showdown as the final battle with Thanos in Endgame. It’s less a matter of Thor overstaying his welcome than the MCU not knowing what to do with him after Endgame and reaching the wrong conclusion.