Chris Hemsworth covers the new issue of Men’s Health. I have to say, I like him with shorter hair. His long Thor hair doesn’t do much for me, but this is a good haircut. I also enjoy the ARMS, obviously Chris’s best feature. His interview with Men’s Health is in support of The Huntsman: Winter’s War, although he spends more time talking about his general workout regimen and how he lost 20 pounds of Thor-muscle to play The Huntsman. You can read the piece here – it’s pretty boring.
What I really wanted to discuss was the news earlier this week that Natalie Portman is not coming back to the Thor franchise. I was never really a believer in Portman’s involvement with Marvel, although I could see how it could look good on paper. But in reality, Portman and Hemsworth had no chemistry together. I actually think that happens a lot with Portman – she rarely has chemistry with her leading men. So Natalie is out and they’ve just hired Tessa Thompson to play Thor’s new love interest for Thor: Ragnarok. Little is known about her character, but it’s believed she will be some kind of superhero. Considering that Marvel premieres have turned into bro-only sausage parties, it will be kind of nice to see a beautiful woman of color turn up for promotional duties on a Marvel film. It will also be nice to see a woman of color as a love interest in a superhero film. More of this, please.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Men’s Health.
Momma, we made it! 🙂
I hope she’s a fleshed out character/superhero.
LOL! ITA, but Portman’s character was pretty drab. Even Black Widow – an actual superhero- barely gets decent lines.
I think Black Widow is one of the better written characters of the MCU, really.
but among the non-superhero leading ladies, Goop actually does a really good job as Pepper Potts, and I have to give her credit for that – she’s actually watchable. Same with Hayley Atwell in the first Cap movie – Pepper and Peggy are at huge risk of coming off inconsequential or dull, but they don’t. Portman is just beige compared to them. Even Kat Dennings brings more to her role, and she’s just a sidekick.
I loved Hayley Atwell’s Peggy. Great character. Agree about Paltrow as Pepper, too, she does a good job with the role. I won’t miss Natalie Portman, she’s an awful actress; Kat Dennings is a lot more fun. I would have liked to see Thor and Sif get together.
I think she’s supposed to be Valkyrie who’s a pretty baller character.
HAHAHAHA
Ah, it’s going to be HOT!!
LOVE Tessa so this is pretty exciting
But couldn’t they hire a woman of color who is taller than 5’4″?? It wasn’t just that Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth had no chemistry … she was a foot shorter than him as well (Hemsworth is 6’2 1/2″ tall). Tessa Thompson is talented and lovely, but she is only 1-inch taller than Portman’s 5’3″. Who in the world does the casting for the “Thor” franchise?
@Emma – What’s wrong with short women?
My first fiance was almost a foot and a half taller and we had wicked chemistry. (His being 6′ 4″, and my being 5′ 1″ at the time.)
Short women are easy to pick up and push against a wall to kiss passionately, among other things. I need to see Thor do that!
I hope they don’t just have her in the background. She is a good actress and I hope they give her something substantial to work with.
Same here. I hope they actually let her have some room to play there.
Wonder how they will explain away Jane. I hope she died. LOL!
Thor just won’t go to Midgard.
She couldn’t handle the almighty God and chose Ian, the guy she had the lunch date with in Thor: The Dark World.
Actually, Ian was Darcy’s intern. Jane had the lunch date and subsequent phone call with Richard (Chris O’Dowd)
Yes, my bad, him. Though it would have been interesting if Jane ended up with the intern.
Jane/Portman almost ruined the Thor movies for me. It didn’t seem possible that Thor could be interested in such a bland character. I hope the new love interest is spunky.
+1
Natalie Portman = charisma vacuum.
Yes, I’m wondering about this. And will kat dennings and stellar skaarsgard get the boot as well? I actually liked Jane. She was normal. It was nice to have a bit of regular old human in the superhero world.
Stellar shouldn’t have to get the boot though because Thor has been seen with his character without Jane and Darcy. Remember in Age of Ultron Thor went to London to seek help from him.
Jane was a terrible character. Natalie Portman did the best she could I guess but the character was just a bland damsel in distress.
Be nice if this wasn’t even noteworthy, though.
sad but true
I liked Portman’s character even though they had hardly any chemistry and I’m kind of worried about the ‘love interest’ part but otherwise this is really great news. Tessa is gorgeous and totally believable as Valkyrie.
I couldn’t agree more. I actually really liked Jane Foster and the people associated with her (kat dennings and stellan skarsgard) and while Jane and Thor didn’t really have romantic chemistry together, I loved their scenes together. I will miss her, but I also really like Tessa Thompson, so this is sort of exciting. I don’t know why, but the Thors have been my favorite marvel movies. I guess because of all “the flying and the magic” (andy dick’s quote about crouching tiger flying dragon, from old school)
That’s nice but will it be a good movie this time? 😐
LOL…
@Mia4s – Good question. Those films were crap IMO
Tessa’s lovely. She reminds me slightly of Carmen Ejogo
*Hollerssss* I call em Marvel Wig Commercials, cause really It’s just that vapid
But Im elated for Tessa and her upcoming money that will be monumental…as will be the tittyfit of the BroNerds and assorted Baby Men behind this… my popcorn will be ready
I only watch the Thor films for Loki… now I have another reason to watch. I’ve only seen Tessa in a Selma and Creed, but I really liked her work. She’s gorgeous and if she’s cast as a badass superhero AND Thor’s love interest, even better.
Check out Dear White People. She’s the lead.
Will do… Bonus, it’s free on Amazon Prime.
I am so excited! She’s gorgeous and Marvel money is always good, and looks great on a resumé (I mean, she’s not doing fast and furious, you know?).
I like her. yay!
Actually Marvel money is garbage for no names like her but you’re right about the looking good on a CV part. Doesn’t hurt from that perspective but they are cheap as hell on the salary side.
yeah I don’t expect her to make millions, but with the whole controversy with better pay for actresses, i hope/think they won’t just pay her 10 thousand bucks you know? But then again, for this kind of credit, an actress would take the slim paycheck for the exposure, I would assume…
Don’t say no name,, say up and coming. She’s not well known to some but she is known in the how should I say it…um urban community. She was in For Colored Girls, Dear White People, Selma and Creed. Movies I guess a lot of people haven’t seen. She’s also done a lot of television. But I’m hoping she can become mainstream because I think she’s a good actress. She’s also 32 which is unbelievable.
I’ve seen all those films and she’s fantastic.
@Mimz, I think the SAG minimum is $60k. But I hope she makes more than that.
Also 32 is quite young, so what’s unbelievable about that? She looks like a proper grown woman with great genetics.
@jammypants She’s 32 but looks 25, that’s what’s unbelievable. Not everything is a diss, jeez.
She is playing Valkyrie last I heard. Not sure where people got the love interest part from but I definitely hope there more to the character than that, she’s a good actress.
In the comics Valkyrie & Thor are a couple so that’s probably where they got it from. I just wish they wouldn’t say she’s replacing Natalie Portman, & she’s not she has her own role & might be the love interest of Thor.
I though Cate Blanchett was playing Valkyrie? Or is she playing Death or some other character?
Rumors are Blanchett will play Hela.
Hela, who is super scary. Half of her body is withered and decomposing. She’s split down the middle like Two Face in the lore, so I’m curious about how she’d look in a MCU movie.
In some of the comics, Valkyrie is a love interest of Thor and in some she has connections with the Hulk, Hank Pym, and Dr. Strange. At some point, she also works for Hela, Blanchette’s rumored character.
Very pretty girl. Even in a still, you just know she will bring more energy than Portman, just as Mila did in Black Swan, imo anyway,
In other Thor 3 news, I will be playing Loki’s love interest. My scenes may be all off camera so don’t look for me.
nope, that role is MINE!
Also in Thor 3 I will be playing Heimdall’s love interest. Idris Elba & I will like to not further comment on that role. Please respect our privacy & knock on the door before you come into the trailer.
And at the end of the day, he’ll come home to me.
About damn time! I thought they were never going to let a WOC onscreen in a leading role,, now Marvel please prove me wrong!
And I’m glad they got rid of Portman. She doesn’t suit these movies at all – she isn’t funny, has no chemistry with Chemsworth, and really comes off like she’s slumming it by deigning to be in something that isn’t Oscar bait or Oscar bait wannabe*. Hope Tessa Thompson does better.
*seriously even Goop is actually good in Marvel despite being insufferable irl. There’s no excuse for this.
Even Though Zoe was green in her role, she is still a woman of color. And she wasn’t chopped liver IN GOTG.
@V4Real – yikes @me, I can’t believe I forgot Zoe.
Should amend that to ‘let a WOC onscreen in a leading role WITH HER OWN SKIN TONE’, what is with Zoe being the go-to black actress for these movies that then proceed to paint her blue and green?
Claudia Kim played Dr. Cho in Age of Ultron. Her contributions created the Vision.
@teacakes, I’m slightly ok with her playing all these weird characters. How often do women of color get to play such interesting characters that aren’t ridiculous steretypes?
When I opened this article my job dropped and I was blown away by the gorgeousness and I ain’t talking about Thor. She’s stunning!
She’s very beautiful. I don’t watch comic book movies and I haven’t seen her in anything, but I am very happy they are giving other types of beauty a try! This is progress.
Awesome! Loved her in Creed. Was highly jealous of her kissing on MBJ but still think she’s a great actress. Ha!
ETA: The last time I saw Natalie Portman have chemistry with her male co-star it was in The Professional with Jean Reno. Love that movie and both of them in it.
She was great in The Professional, that is hands down her best role ever.
Portman has never had me invested in her characters like I was when she in The Professional. She’s pretty but forgettable to me.
Yeah, I love crappy movies so I always watch Where the Heart Is when it comes on tv (the book was so much better of course). And I think the only other movie I liked her in was V for Vendetta. I seriously can’t recall any other movie she was in that I liked.
it’s sad to think she literally peaked at 12 .
She is gorgeous.
I like Natalie as an actress, but Marvel always seemed like an odd fit for her.
Does anyone else remember Tessa from Veronica Mars? I HATED her character on that show, but I’ve liked her in other things since. Glad to see her getting some nice big roles.
Yes! I hated her character, but I always found her compelling. Good for Tessa!
I remember Tessa from her CW stints ( Veronica Mars, Hidden Palms is the one I still miss). The woman can have chemistry with wet paper bag.
She’s my girl crush so I’m extremely excited about this. This is big. Glad Hollywood is FINALLY noticing Tessa’s talent.
She’s awesome. him-I don’t get it. I mean, I know I’m supposed to get it, and he does have nice arms. but cardboard does more for me. And his acting-nope. Go Tessa!!
Happy dance!
I’m SO ready for this. I still can’t believe she’s only going to be the second WoC with an actual visible role in the Avengers universe.
Spider-Man with Zendya is coming out before this.
True. I tend to forget all things dealing with another Spiderman reboot.
Hope she plays a human. Because hard to imagine black god from ancient Scandinavian mythology. People act bitter about Zoe Saldana skin’s shade, so if we want to be “accurate”, lets be both ways
But Idris Elba plays Heimdahl.
Right?
That was supposed to be a ! not ?
Just because it’s scandanavian mythology doesn’t mean they have to be white…I mean, they’re “gods”, they’re not scandanavian themselves. This is the best opportunity to have poc play these roles.
Well exactly, they’re imaginary gods Marvel pretty loosely based on some white people’s ancient mythology. It really doesn’t matter what color they are, the gods themselves were from another dimension, not Scandanavian. Plus in the films, they exist in a universe that includes blue gods, green monsters, a spider person and a talking raccoon. A few black and Asian people in Asgard isn’t exactly the biggest logical problem. And I notice no one ever complains about the Medieval French guy, so it’s not really about the mythology is it, it’s about the melanin levels.
Anyway, Vikings travelled in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and that comes through in some of the mythology. It’s even thought that some Vikings were Africans or Arab Moors who banded with the Vikings when they came across each other. It’s really not a huge leap to have some POC playing some supporting characters.
Yeah, right. It totally doesn’t matter that Heimdall who is played by Idris Elba, the blackest man out there, is described as the whitest of all gods. I mean, it’s Scandinavian mythology, of course their gods were diverse group of people.
I see nothing wrong with Shaft being portrayed by a white man in the next remake.
You’re all reaching, they are Scandinavian in origin , Point Blank. You wouldn’t be making excuses for Zoe Saldana or anyone else like this would you,? And no two wrongs dont make a right, bad casting again.
She looks a lot like Naomie Harris to me. Hopefully the absence of Jane and the rest of the Earth grew will be explained well, I heard that even the warriors 3 will be missing so I hope it is not jarring. I actually like the Thor films and the supporting cast, expecially Darcy.
It’s offensive that it’s news.
Sad but we clearly live in a world where a woman of color is hardly ever cast as a love interest. Also, we don’t see many interracial relationships onscreen. Let’s celebrate this and hope we see it more on the future. Hopefully one day something like this won’t be news.
Yes!!! I only know her from Creed but like her a whole lot.
That’s GREAT news!
Awesome! I love Tessa and I love this news. And whether it’s accidental or intentional, I like Chris Evans more because he’s usually associated with some more enlightened casting/movie decisions (this, Ghostbusters, etc.).
Evans or do you mean Hemsworth?
Awesome
I’d never heard of her before this, but I’m thrilled nonetheless. Can’t stand Portman/Jane, she has all the chemistry with Thor of water on dry cement. And Tessa Thompson is beautiful, and seems to get great reviews. She can act, it seems, and she’s lovely, and I bet she holds her own with the god of Thunder. Good enough for me. Nice to see some more diversity in the MCU.
SOOOOO happy!
She is a goddess!
But she deserves a lot better than playing love interest to Thor. Chris, while being hot himself, sucks all the heat out of romantic and sex scenes… Everything he does on this front feels perfunctory and wooden. Maybe it would be better if they straight out cast his wife as his movie love interest.
It’s sad that actresses like Tessa have to wait so much for high visibility roles and real influence in the industry.
I’ve had a soft spot for Tessa since Veronica Mars (I didn’t like her character, but she herself was good in the role). And I generally agree about Natalie Portman’s lack of chemistry onscreen with Hemsworth, but have you seen her in Closer in her scenes with Clive Owen? Smoldering.
I wonder what their explanation for Jane Foster’s absence will be?