Chris Hemsworth’s Thor has been a staple of the MCU since he debuted in Phase One, in 2011, under the direction of Kenneth Branagh. After teaming with the Avengers in their first movie in 2012, he then returned in Phase Two in Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, followed by Avengers: Age Of Ultron. However, the God of Thunder was noticeably absent from Captain America: Civil War, despite almost every other MCU hero being involved in the superhero extravaganza.
And while we’ve been told in the past that the reason for this was because Thor was off on an important mission, searching the galaxy for those all powerful Infinity Stones, it turns out that that’s not entirely true. Yes, as far as the plot goes, Hemsworth’s fan favorite hero was indeed on a quest to find those aforementioned gems, but according to the actor himself, he simply didn’t want to be in Civil War as he was too busy at the time.
Speaking on CONAN recently, Hemsworth was asked how he felt about being left out of the 2016 pic, with host Conan O’Brien saying that he was benched. In response, the Ragnarok star said:
“Well, that’s what everyone thinks. But I actually chose not to be in it. I was like, nah I’m busy.”
It’s hard to know if Hemsworth is being entirely honest here. From a story perspective, we were given a pretty valid reason for why Thor wasn’t involved in Civil War and frankly, he would have felt a bit out of place in the film anyways, given its more grounded and gritty nature. At the same time, though, the actor may have actually been busy with other projects, making it not too big a deal for him to have to sit this one out.
Wherever the truth lies, it really doesn’t matter, as Captain America: Civil War turned out to be a fantastic film even without the God of Thunder and Thor returned a year later in the equally impressive Ragnarok, before all the heroes met back up for this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Which, in case you haven’t heard, is about to hit the $1 billion mark at the box office.