Chris Hemsworth’s Best Roles: ‘Thor,’ ‘Furiosa,’ ‘Bad Times at El Royale,’ and More

When it comes to epic new character challenges for Chris Hemsworth, the question isn’t “Can he do it?” The question is “Does he have it in him… to make it epic?”

From “The Avengers” and “Blackhat” to more Avengers and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Hemsworth has been chewing through action roles since he was first cast as Captain Kirk’s dad in the 2009 “Star Trek” reboot that launched a thousand IMDb pages. He’s known across the world and throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thor: an ancient god dedicated to protecting Earth and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” IP with a heart of gold and a hammer the size of Rocket Raccoon. Sometimes he’s brave. Sometimes he’s goofy. And shaggy or shaven, the man sure can make a cape and eyepatch sexy.

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Although the Thor role may have made Hemsworth a household name, he’s beloved in the broader film community for different fare. Much of it is still mainstream, but there’s a singular playfulness to Hemsworth’s performances in films like “Ghostbusters,” “Cabin in the Woods,” and “Bad Times at the El Royale” which sets Hemsworth apart from his super contemporaries. A keen self-awareness and gracious ability to share a scene have shaped the Australian actor’s performances for the past 15 years, thus far peaking with a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that saw the fan favorite performer dressed in drag and fawning over himself.

With stinkers like “In the Heart of the Sea” on his filmography, Hemsworth hasn’t always brought the same nuance to choosing projects — but lately, he’s crushing it with a part that pushes his talents to contorted new extremes. In “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Hemsworth rocks a prosthetic nose, spits his way through some gnarly fake teeth, and totes around a stuffed teddy for his performance as Dementus: a key antagonist opposite Anya Taylor-Joy’s titular prequel hero in the new apocalyptic road rage epic from George Miller.

“Ruthless but theatrical, Dementus is only scary because you know he’ll take anything and everything he can in order to avoid thinking about what he’s lost,” writes IndieWire’s David Ehrlich in his A- review of the film.

“It would have been easy for Miller and his co-writer Nico Lathouris to imagine the main antagonist of this prequel as a mere sub-boss for ‘Fury Road’ baddie Immortan Joe, but ‘Furiosa’ tacks in the opposite direction by making Dementus the most loquacious character in the history of this franchise; by stressing his wayward humanity in a wasteland of inbred power-mongers.”

Read on to see how Dementus stacks up in IndieWire’s ranking of Chris Hemsworth’s best performances.

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