‘Avengers: Endgame’ Writers Explain Why They Didn’t Kill Off Thor

Two main Avengers met their demise in Avengers: Endgame earlier this year, and while Iron Man’s death was somewhat suspected, it was the offing of Black Widow that shocked fans. There was no way all six Avengers were going to survive the film, and many speculated Thor might be one to bite the bullet, but there’s a reason he didn’t. It’s not just because Chris Hemsworth decided to stick with the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward, but it had to do with the character himself. Endgame writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus commented on their choice to leave Thor alive in a recent interview (via CinemaBlend).

According to Markus, killing off the God of Thunder just wouldn’t be fair given everything he had been through since the character debuted in the self-titled Thor in 2011.

“Thor has sacrificed and sacrificed and lost and lost. It’s not a good ending to kill him,” the writer admitted.

It definitely has been a hard road for Thor, and his journey with loss was poked fun at in Avengers: Infinity War when Chris Hemsworth’s character first met Rocket Racoon. Thor has lost his father, his mother, his brother (that he knows of) and was dumped by the potential love of his life. He also lost his sister, which may not have been as detrimental of a blow given that he didn’t know she existed until she showed up and tried to kill him.

Thor also had quite the transformation physically after dealing with depression from the events of Infinity War. The character debuted a brand new gut in Endgame and “Fat Thor” became one of the movie’s funniest themes. Markus also commented on the whole “Fat Thor” discussion and how it all played out behind the scenes.

“By the way… there were some people who were like, ‘No, he has to magically lose weight.’ [Laughs.] That was one of those sobering moments on set where some people were afraid. He’s going to put on the fat suit, and he comes out and basically looks like everybody on the crew. That’s not a fat suit! That’s a normal-person suit! But Thor was resolved. There’s a joy in letting him go off aimlessly into the ends of the universe.”

The God of Thunder is presumably wondering aimlessly as Markus said through the universe with the Guardians of the Galaxy, sans Gamora. The group united at the end of Endgame in Peter Quill’s Benatar jet. It appears as if they’ll be on a quest to find Gamora, but with Thor: Love and Thunder announced for 2022, the team might break up sooner than expected.