Thor star Chris Hemsworth claps back at Marvel critics

Aussie A-lister Chris Hemsworth has hit back after years of sledging from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Mad Max star Chris Hemsworth is, well, mad at the elite squad of high profile directors who continually dismiss the contribution Marvel has made to cinematography.

While continuing his global publicity tour for new film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the hammer-wielding superhero hit back at directors Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth as Thor: Love and Thunder. Picture: Jasin Boland

The trio have all, at various times in the past five years, sledged the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its plethora of films.

In an interview with The Times, Hemsworth, 40, defended Marvel and the role he has reprised no less than nine times.

Chris Hemsworth is promoting his new film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Picture: Getty Images

“It felt harsh, and it bothers me, especially from heroes. It was an eye-roll for me, people bashing the superhero space,” Hemsworth said.

“Those guys had films that didn’t work too — we all have.

“When they talked about what was wrong with superheroes, I thought, cool, tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?”

Thor is angry. Picture: Jasin Boland

Long running feud dates back to a 2019 interview with Empire magazine when Scorsese was asked his opinion on the Marvel franchise.

“I tried, you know?” he said.

“But that’s not cinema.

“Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.

“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

Scorsese doubled down on the comments in a subsequent op-ed in the New York Times.

Coppola, who last year called his “longtime friend” Scorsese the “world’s greatest living filmmaker” backed up the assessment.

“There used to be studio films,” Coppola said.

“Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.”

For his part, Tarantino suggested on a 2022 podcast episode of 2 Bears 1 Cave that the likes of Hemsworth weren’t stars so much as the characters they portray.

“Part of the Marvel-isation of Hollywood is … you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said.

“But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star.

“I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times … but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”

Originally published as Thor star Chris Hemsworth claps back at Marvel critics