Thor, the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, came out 10 years ago. At that point, Chris Hemsworth was an unknown in America — outside of a brief cameo in Star Trek as Kirk’s dad, his most prominent role was a recurring part in the Australian soap opera, Home and Away. (Wikipedia tells me that the creator of the series “came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point,” which is very Australian.) Meanwhile, Tom Hiddleston was an award-winning theater actor, but he was hardly the household, Taylor Swift-dating name he would become while playing Loki. To celebrate the anniversary, Hemsworth looked back to when they were both “no-names.”
“This year marks the 10th anniversary of THOR when two unknown lads were given the keys to the kingdom. It’s been a hell of a ride and we clearly haven’t aged a day,” Hemsworth wrote on Instagram, along with a Vulture article from 2009 with the headline, “Marvel Rolls Dice, Casts No-names for Thor.” An excerpt: “Despite rumors that had everyone from Shia LaBeouf to Josh Hartnett being cast in Kenneth Branagh’s version of Thor, two virtual unknowns will instead be handed the keys to the Marvel franchise.”
Two things:
1. As someone who has written many regrettable headlines over the years, I will not disparage another writer for accurately referring to Hemsworth and Hiddleston as “unknowns.”
2. Marvel really dodged a bullet by not casting Shia. Yikes.
Hemsworth also shared a photo of himself and Hiddleston from 10 years ago. It looks like it was taken 30 years ago.
