Things are looking a bit shaky regarding the future of one of the last Avengers left standing in the MCU, after Thor actor Chris Hemsworth showed some reticence in reprising the role for a fifth movie.
Hemsworth has said his stand-alone series would need a complete overhaul if he were to return for another movie, adding that if Thor was to get a fifth film, it would likely be his last. Fans seem to be convinced that this means the actor wasn’t a fan of director Taika Waititi’s vision for Thor: Love and Thunder, which is generally considered one of the worst productions in Marvel’s Phase Four.
To be fair, Hemsworth has already given more of himself and his time to the MCU than any other member of the original six Avengers. Thor is the only hero in the franchise to get four solo movies on top of being a part of every Avengers movie. It’s completely fair for the actor to want to move away from the role at this point of his career.
As sad as it would be to see Hemsworth go, after giving the fans such an iconic rendition of the Asgardian Thunder God, the good news would be that, thanks to the Multiverse, that wouldn’t necessarily have to be the end of Thor in the MCU. Variants like Old Man Thor, Thorlief Golmen, or even Eric Masterson/Thunderstrike could all be solutions to keep the emblematic hero around.
Here at We Got This Covered, we have decided to compile a list of actors that could take on the God of Thunder mantle if Hemsworth decided to close the curtain on that chapter of his life.
Eric Dane
Old Man Thor might be old, but he is still Thor. The character is still super jacked in the comics, and, apart from his grey beard, nothing else about his appearance is telling of his age.
Eric Dane proved he can nail the silver fox look with his role as Carl Jacobs in Euphoria. Dane has also revealed an interest in superhero movies in the past by playing Multiple Man in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Taron Egerton
Taron Egerton is one of the great talents of his generation, so it might be that his schedule is a little too packed for a long-term project like the MCU. However, the British actor is no stranger to action franchises, after his breakout role as Eggsy in the Kingsman series.
Egerton is the MCU fandom’s go-to fan-cast for Wolverine, but with Hugh Jackman confirmed to come back for that role in Deadpool 3, maybe the Rocketman actor could go for Thor instead.
Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Skarsgård’s Nordic roots would make him a perfect Thor, especially after his physical transformation in The Northman, which rivals Hemsworth’s crazy shape in pretty much every Marvel film.
Alexander’s father, Stellan, actually played a pretty important role in the Thor series as astrophysicist Erik Selvig. Surely, his father only has good memories of his time on set and could have passed on the interest to his eldest son.
Tom Hopper
Tom Hopper’s character in The Umbrella Academy, Luther Hargreeves, shares a lot of the same characteristics as Thor. They’re both tall, handsome blonds with super-strength and a true devotion to those they care about.
In The Umbrella Academy comics, Luther actually has a depression storyline involving a struggle with his weight that strongly resembles Thor’s arc in Avengers: Endgame. The writers on the show decided not to include it in the adaptation to avoid comparisons.
Charlie Hunnam
Charlie Hunnam could be a great actor to take on a darker version of Thor like Ultimate Marvel’s Thorlief Golmen. The actor rose to fame as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy and has gone on to play a number of adventure/action films like The Lost City of Z, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Triple Frontier.
Hunnam has definitely got the looks down, and his choice of projects have prepared him for a nitty-gritty, more-human, less-god interpretation of the Marvel Comics character.
Alexander Ludwig
For a while now, the MCU has drifted from the Norse mythology that surrounds Thor both in the comics and in the legends that inspired them. Alexander Ludwig would know how to tap into that side of Thor again, given his work in the History Channel’s Vikings show.
Much like the rest of the actors on this list, Ludwig has shown that he’s got what it takes to undergo the physical transformation that Thor demands in order to stay true to the character’s appearance in the source material; look at his form in the 2021 Starz show, Heels!
All these actors would make great additions to the MCU in either a variance of Thor or a number of other interesting roles from the comics. However, in the end, Chris Hemsworth has defined a generation of pop culture and superhero cinema with his portrayal of the God of Thunder. Whether or not he’s interested in continuing to build it, his legacy has undeniably been cemented as one of the best possible casting choices of an iconic character.