Chris Hemsworth wasn’t a big star at all until Kenneth Branagh took a chance on him with the role of Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Branagh’s Shakespearean take on the material didn’t thrill an awful lot of fans, but Hemsworth maintained the character’s popularity for long enough that fans didn’t truly care about his solo movies until the third one in 2017. The only reason the fans stuck around that long, really, was that they liked Hemsworth. He might be leaving the MCU soon, with Avengers: Endgame looming large as the Phase Three finale. So, here are 8 Great Chris Hemsworth Roles Besides Thor (We All Forgot About).

Owen Chase

Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea is not a great movie – but Chris Hemsworth is great in it. It’s the story of how Herman Melville got the idea to write Moby Dick as a bunch of sailors get attacked by a gigantic whale and struggle for survival. Hemsworth stars as Owen Chase, the first mate on the ship, and he went on a diet of just 500-600 calories a day in order to get the emaciated look needed for the character, and then quickly had to bulk up again to play Thor. That in itself is an impressive feat, but it’s a strong performance, too.

Curt Vaughan

In the same year he’d direct Chris Hemsworth as Thor in The Avengers, Joss Whedon wrote a “loving hate letter” to the horror genre with Drew Goddard, who made his directorial debut with the film. It was a satirical take on horror movies, a little like a surreal Scream, called The Cabin in the Woods.

Hemsworth played Curt Vaughan, a biting depiction of the typical macho jock who saves everyone’s lives in horror movies and protects the cheerleaders from the monster. As he would with all of his later comedic roles, Hemsworth brings a goofy charm to Curt by leaning into the absurdity.

Billy Lee

The worst thing anyone can say about Bad Times at the El Royale is that it’s a little long. The runtime clocks in at just under two and a half hours, so it’s a tad on the long side. But it still deserved to make more at the box office than it did. The movie’s slick neo-noir visuals, awesome soundtrack, intertitles, and gallons of blood make it a fun tribute to the works of Quentin Tarantino. Plus, Chris Hemsworth is an interesting addition to a cast that includes Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, and Jon Hamm, playing the compelling and mysterious cult leader Billy Lee.

Stone Crandall

When the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise was rebooted with Ed Helms as a grown-up family man version of the son from the Chevy Chase originals, Chris Hemsworth was given a small role as his brother-in-law, local weatherman Stone Crandall. Hemsworth played Stone with a brooding Southern charm. He embodied the arrogant, self-centered, traditional, conservative farm boy character, and that made his overuse of faucet metaphors and the weird cannibal diet he gives his cattle even funnier than if a lesser actor had played the role. He’s good at doing the goofy lug and also the straight man, as he plays the scene in which he sprays down a bloodied Ed Helms hilariously straight. Plus, he drags out the bedroom scene with Helms and Christina Applegate to the most cringe-inducing levels of hilarity.

George Kirk

J.J. Abrams’ lens-flaring and ultimately very satisfying Star Trek reboot was actually Chris Hemsworth’s first ever film acting credit. It’s not a bad way to make your big-screen debut. He played George Kirk, the father of protagonist James T. Kirk, in the opening scene.

George stays behind to go down with his ship, while his wife gives birth on the intercom. Hemsworth made such an impression that the Star Trek producers were planning to get him in a lead role in the upcoming fourth film in the series. However, there are now doubts that Star Trek 4 will ever get made, so that remains to be seen.

The Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman proved to be a not-so-popular dark take on the classic fairy tale, but the less-than-popular parts had a lot to do with Kristen Stewart. Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman character actually proved to be so popular that he was given his own sequel, the action-packed The Huntsman: Winter’s War. The sequel only made just enough at the box office to avoid being a bomb, but that’s no comment on Hemsworth’s performance. The studio was trying to force a franchise where there was no franchise. Hemsworth did a good job of acting against a bunch of CGI effects and green-screens.

Kevin Beckman

It might sound like a cruel joke to say that the funniest thing in the all-female Ghostbusters reboot was a male cast member, but it’s true. As great as Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon were in that movie, they were no match for Chris Hemsworth’s turn as the lovable, yet very dim-witted assistant Kevin Beckman. Hemsworth improvised a lot of his dialogue in the movie, including his head-trippy “Mike Hat” speech, and it resulted in the most hilarious character in the movie. Melissa McCarthy summed up the appeal of Kevin perfectly: “We like him, despite his many, many frustrating quirks!”

James Hunt

Some of the best movies are two-handers that focus intensely on the relationship between two people. Real emotions can be drawn out of the actors if their pairing is the center of the whole movie. That is the key to the success Rush, of Ron Howard’s blockbuster telling of the rivalry between racing stars James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. Chris Hemsworth plays Hunt as a charming, hunky British F1 star, while Daniel Bruhl plays Lauda as the dark horse. Both actors play their roles impeccably and have terrific chemistry and the result is a movie that not only looks great; it is great.

  • The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26