'Thor: Love and Thunder': Chris Hemsworth reflects on 'character's evolution' over sequels

Eight films and over a decade later, Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth says from being an "obvious" comic book superhero, Thor has evolved into a character that embodies a lot of his personality traits. Since 2011's origin story "Thor", Australian actor has appeared as Marvel superhero in " Avengers", "Thor: Dark World", "Avengers: of Ultron", "Thor: Ragnarok" , "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame".

38-year-old actor believes makers had to rely a lot on set "rules and guidelines" while making initial few films, but that changed when filmmaker Taika Waititi came on board to direct "Ragnarok". "re's obviously a familiarity, but he has changed so dramatically over years as I have. And that's what has been kind of fun as character's evolution and my opinions sort of melded in and crossed paths," actor said at a global press conference of “Thor: Love and Thunder”.

" origin story is t easiest but obvious one and re's a sort of set of rules and guidelines. After that challenge is, how do you recreate character? And that's been luxury, working with different directors and different cast and y all bring out something very different in you," he added.

As Hemsworth returns as God of Thunder in upcoming standalone film, actor said Waititi brought out "immature, young adolescent" quality in character which is close to what he is in real life. "Since Taika got involved, he brought out immature, young adolescent quality that I embody and so does Thor w, which he didn't in original films. It was exciting and fresh. It was about having fun. Him (Thor) embodying this place as a child, enjoying and being caught up in wonder and fascination was fun... I feel like character has probably become more me over years and I hope in a fun way," he said.

Waititi, often credited for revitalizing “Thor” franchise by infusing humour and irreverence to character, said it was challenging for him to draw parallels between Thor and Hemsworth.

“When you meet Chris, it is very hard to figure out how to make m relatable. And that was big challenge. His personality, his energy and who he is, is kind of person that I'd want to be on an adventure with. He is someone who you can trust, who will be re to look after you, like a real-life hero. So, I just wanted to tap into those qualities and sort of make Thor more Chris,” writer-director said.

Set after events of “Avengers: Endgame”, "Thor: Love and Thunder" will see Asgardian God in search of inner peace, but he must return to action and recruit Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster, who has become Mighty Thor, to stop Gorr God Butcher from eliminating all gods.

Oscar-winner Natalie Portman is returning as Jane along with Tessa Thompson who reprises her role of Valkyrie. Critically-acclaimed actor Christian Bale is making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with project, starring as antagonist Gorr.

Bale, who has made a career out of essaying complex characters, said it was a pleasure to play villain as Waititi could tap into depth of character without losing on humour.

“re's a great pleasure in playing a villain. It's a lot easier to play a villain than is to play a hero. Chris had a tougher job. Everyone is fascinated with bad guys immediately and n beauty of it is that Taika can make it bloody hilarious and really moving as well in this story,” he added.

Hemsworth said while Gorr may be villain, vulnerability with which Bale has portrayed it on screen is “incredible”.

“re is an empatic quality, re's vulnerability, and you find yourself thinking that what he is doing is wrong, but I get motivation behind it,” actor said.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” is produced by Kevin Feige-led Marvel Studios. It will release in India in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam on July 7.

Im: Twitter/@ErikDavis