Chris Hemsworth trusted Thor was being written out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because of the character’s absence from Captain America: Civil War. Common War saw conflict arise that split MCU characters into Team Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Team Captain America (Chris Evans). Based around disagreements concerning international oversight, the conflict caused a fracture in the Avengers, with the superheroes compelled to pick a side. However the Captain America spin-off saw many returning superheroes in the MCU, one was noticeably absent.
In the new book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (via ComicBook), Hemsworth recalled his conviction that Thor’s absence from Civil War meant his character was being written out of the MCU totally. The actor was on a press tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron and hearing the team talk about Civil War. An uncertain Hemsworth answered, “what’s Civil War?” Concerning his absence from the movie, the actor asked Marvel, “what the hell am I doing?” After an awkward second with the studio, Hemsworth said he thought he was being eliminated from the MCU. Read his full remarks underneath:
“I was on the Age of Ultron press tour, and everyone was talking about Civil War. I resembled, ‘What’s Civil War?’ I asked, ‘Are you doing a side project or something?’ They’re similar to, ‘God help us, Captain America, y’know? The following one is Civil War.’ I’m similar to, ‘Wait… Iron Man’s in that?’ And it resembles, ‘Yeah, however there’s not simply Iron Man. There’s Vision (Paul Bettany). There’s Spider-Man (Tom Holland) … [Marvel] said, ‘You’re doing whatever you might want to do.’ … I thought, ‘This is it. I’m being written out.'”
Fortunately for fans of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor was not written out of the MCU. The character’s absence from Captain America: Civil War was reasonable just because of his huge forces, which could carry his two contradicting companions to peace and understanding, negating the requirement for a whole movie. Nonetheless, the accomplishment of Thor: Ragnarok established Hemsworth’s place as a vital Marvel cast part whose future is certain. The hero will be returning in the impending Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022, and with Waititi once again at the helm, it probably won’t be the last audiences see of Thor.