Although he has really grown into his role as Thor over the course of the last seven years, Chris Hemsworth was actually not immediately chosen for the Marvel Cinematic Universe hero. The folks at the studio searched high and low for The God of Thunder, even looking at Chris' brother Liam Hemsworth for the part at one point. As it turns out, that is when the sibling rivalry kicked into high gear, as Chris Hemsworth apparently used his brother's success as fuel to swoop in and take the role for himself. The Thor: Ragnarok actor explained:
I remember sitting in Vancouver, shooting Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon. Both of them were looking at the trades at this sort of top five guys for Thor and saying, 'Why aren't you in the mix here? What happened?' I said, 'I don't know. I blew my audition I guess.' None of those guys got it. My manager then called up and said, 'You know, he's got an older brother. Can we bring him back in?' So I did an audition in Vancouver in this hotel room with my mum reading Anthony Hopkins' part. She must have nailed it because it got me back in the room and that second audition was a lot different than my first one. I came in kind of with a little, I guess, motivation and maybe frustration that my little brother had gotten further than me. It's a little family, sibling rivalry sort of kicked up in me.
On paper, Chris Hemsworth seemed to have everything necessary to pull off a character like this. However, per the actor's recent comments to W Magazine, he did not nail his initial audition for Kenneth Branagh's Thor, and his brother Liam eventually went on to go much further in the selection process for the original film during Phase 1. Not wanting to be outdone (and with some help from his mother), the elder Hemsworth eventually got a call back while working on Cabin in the Woods and channeled his brother's success as motivation to land the role. A sibling relationship will do that to you, won't it?
Still, Liam Hemsworth has also gone on to experience his own set of successes in recent years. Perhaps most notably, he starred as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games series from 2012 to 2015 and appeared in last year's Independence Day: Resurgence, thus adding two other franchises to the Hemsworth repertoire. Chris gets the superhero action (plus a few comedies, like Ghostbusters and Vacation), but Liam is no slouch in the blockbuster department.
Chris Hemsworth will make his next appearance as The God of Thunder when Thor: Ragnarok debuts in theaters later this year on November 3, 2017. The Asgardian hero will then go on to rejoin Earth's mightiest heroes (not to mention the Guardians of the Galaxy) when The Avengers: Infinity War premieres next year on May 4, 2018. Here's what we know about that flick.
