Move over, "Fat Thor" everybody's favorite electric Asgardian just got a new, less fat-shamey
moniker.
In advance of the digital and Blu Ray release of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios released
an extensive list of the special features awaiting home viewers and one of those features
is entitled "The Creation of Bro Thor," which is a slightly more charitable nickname.
It's just the latest development in the ongoing saga of… well, we suppose we're calling
him "Bro Thor" now, although we were always partial to Tony Stark's christening of the
Thunder God as "Lebowski."
"Nobody calls me 'Lebowski.'
You've got the wrong guy.
I'm The Dude, man."
In case you somehow weren't aware of the uproar over the character's portly new physique in
Endgame, allow us to recap the madness for you.
In the film's first act, Thor out of sheer rage and frustration unceremoniously decapitated
Thanos after the Avengers and Captain Marvel tracked the Mad Titan down to his farm planet.
It turned out that Thanos had essentially set the Infinity Stones to self-destruct after
using them to complete his mission of wiping out half of all life in the universe.
Without the stones, the Avengers had no way to undo what had been done.
The film then jumped forward five years, a period during which our heroes had adjusted
to post-Decimation life in a variety of ways.
Natasha Romanoff desperately struggled to keep all of Earth's defenders on the same
page in the hope of averting another catastrophe.
Bruce Banner found a way to retain his smarts and personality after Hulking out.
"Eighteen months in the gamma lab.
I put the brains and the brawn together.
And now look at me.
Best of both worlds."
Tony Stark got married and had a precocious daughter who loved him 3000.
As for Thor?
Uhh, well …
"I think I'm having a panic attack."
"Get it together!"
Well, Thor retired to the New Asgard settlement in Norway to play Fortnite with Korg, drink
all of the beer he could possibly get his hands on, and put on just a few pounds.
Recruited by Banner and Rocket to take part in the Avengers' audacious plan to travel
back to various periods in time to secure the Infinity Stones before Thanos could, Odinson
came along only half-willingly.
For a good portion of the film especially during his encounter with his mother Frigga
during a jaunt back to Asgard in 2013 it was obvious that his physical changes were a result
of a deep depression.
At a crucial moment, he had failed his friends and the planet he had sworn to protect by
way of not going for Thanos' head, an oversight which gave the Mad Titan the opportunity to
snap his big purple fingers and make the Avengers' worst fear a reality.
"You should have gone for the head."
"NOOO—"
Now, we should mention that during Endgame, a few tasteless jokes were lobbed Thor's way.
These jokes provoked the ire of a sizable swath of the internet, as many felt that the
character was being fat-shamed, and that his depression was used as a device to make him
the butt of simplistic gags.
Still others, though, read the situation a bit differently.
Sure, Stark had a few snarky things to say about Thor's round waistline; we submit that
this is because he was Tony Stark, and it would've been completely out of character
for him to not lob a few zingers at his friend.
Further, Hemsworth gave an absolutely brilliant performance which managed to hit comedic notes
while being a completely relatable illustration of the realities of depression and don't even
get us started on the fact that, despite sinking to his lowest point, he was still worthy of
wielding his beloved Mjolnir.
"Are you crying?"
"No!
…...Yes."
We're not crying you're crying!
Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have even stated that it was their
intention to use Thor's fragile mental state to humanize the Asgardian to a degree and
in our humble opinion, they pulled that off smashingly.
Well, to no one's surprise, it seems that Marvel Studios must have caught wind of the
whole brouhaha, and made the understandable decision that the "fat" descriptor just wasn't
going to work for official purposes.
We think it's a laudable choice.
How will the ever-polarized internet respond?
All we can do is wait and find out.
Fortunately for Marvel Studios, they make movies that are beloved by you, everybody
you know, everybody they know, and so on.
But even the MCU can't please everybody, and we sincerely doubt that Marvel even feels
pressured to try at this point.
Renaming the stocky Asgardian "Bro Thor" was a thoughtful move, and one that shows that
the House of Ideas isn't into shaming anybody.
Except, of course, for bros.
We can expect an overwhelming wave of indignation from the online bro community at any moment.
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