There’s “getting into shape” and then there’s signing a contract with Marvel and effectively transforming into a Greek god. We’ve seen it a few times over the years, like watching Chris Pratt before the Guardians of the Galaxy is like night and day. Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine also packed on a ton more muscle since joining the comic book universe. But, move over Chrises, funny guy Kumail Nanjiani showed off his jaw-dropping transformation Monday and the internet went berserk. Check it out:
Amidst mind-blown reactions to the Stuber star’s superhero regimen,Abigail Disney, the wealthy granddaughter of Roy Disney, brother to Walt and co-founder of Walt Disney Company, was less than impressed by the year of work Kumail Nanjiani has put in for his role in next year’s Eternals. She responded on Twitter by calling it “just wrong.”
When Abigail Disney received flack for her initial comments, she explained her point further with a thread of tweets beginning with this:
The Disney heiress fired back at praises for Kumail Nanjiani’s jacked new body with some criticism about the health implications of making such a radical change to one’s body. She called the 20 or so pounds of muscle the actor packed on to play an Eternal next to the likes of Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden “obsessive,” “controlling” and “obnoxious” behavior. She explained that the 41-year-old actor should have body fat ranging between 8% and 20%, and he’s below that.
She went on to explain how unrealistic his diet and cardio is, and that transforming your body like this “really puts pressure on adolescents and others” to look like them and represent an unrealistic ideal. Abigail Disney ranted on about how “disappointing” it is to see Kumail Nanjiani also get “sucked into the Hollywood cult of what matters.”
Kumail Nanjiani was the first to explain how unrealistic his new body is when he revealed the shirtless pictures. He opened up about the year he spent working with top-notch trainers and nutritionists paid by the Walt Disney Company. He commented that he understood why he was never able to look this way before, because of all the time and resources necessary for this transformation to occur.
It’s an interesting conversation both Kumail Nanjiani and Abigail Disney have opened up about body image in movies. Considering Nanjiani is playing an immortal being with superpowers, it would make a bit of sense for the character to look superhuman. The nature of many of these Marvel roles are for their characters to be in optimum shape – yet Thor’s most recent appearance in Endgame certainly challenged this notion. Yet, seeing these transformations and also knowing full well how challenging and expensive they are is good to keep in mind!
You can see Kumail Nanjiani's Kingo when The Eternals opens in theaters on November 6, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
