Chris Hemsworth believed ‘Thor’ was being written out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to the character’s absence from ‘Captain America: Civil War’. Civil 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 forced to pick a side. Though the ‘Captain America’ sequel saw many returning superheroes in the MCU, one was noticeably absent.
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Up until the 13th film in the MCU, Hemsworth’s ‘Thor’ had already headlined two movies starring his titular character, as well as two Avengers movies. While part of ‘Marvel’s Phase 1’, he and fellow hero Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) would only warrant mentions in ‘Civil War’, not actual appearances. Serving as part of Marvel’s Phase 3, the film concluded the ‘Captain America’ trilogy, which began with ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ in 2011. ‘Thor’ and ‘Hulk’ would both ultimately return for 2017’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, but that didn’t stop Hemsworth from believing his character's future was in danger.
In the new book ‘The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’, Hemsworth recalled his belief that Thor’s absence from Civil War meant his character was being written out of the MCU entirely. The actor remembers being on a press tour for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and hearing the team talk about ‘Civil War’. An uncertain Hemsworth replied, “what’s Civil War?” Concerning his absence from the movie, the actor asked Marvel, “what the hell am I doing?” After an awkward moment with the studio, Hemsworth said he thought he was being removed from the MCU.
"I remember being on the Age of Ultron press tour, and everyone was talking about Civil War. I was like, 'What's Civil War?' I asked, 'Are you doing a side-project or something?' They're like, 'Oh no, Captain America, y'know? The next one is Civil War.' I'm like, 'Wait... Iron Man's in that?' And it's like, 'Yeah, but there's not just Iron Man. There's Vision (Paul Bettany). There's Spider-Man (Tom Holland) ... [Marvel] said, 'You're doing your own thing.' ... I thought, 'This is it. I'm being written out.'"
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