Avengers Endgame: Fans conflicted over Thor's new look

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.

Chris Hemsworth's role as Thor in Avengers: Endgame has some fans seeing red, after the character was redesigned to sport a new, less svelte figure.

Without going into too much detail, Thor's storyline sees the character spend five years developing an uncomfortable relationship with alcohol and dons a beer belly.

He experiences panic attacks and appears unkempt for much of the film, leading some fans to believe the character has PTSD after the loss of his homeland, family and friends.

He's still played by Chris Hemsworth, albeit with a CGI body or fat suit in most scenes. The jokes at the expense of his new figure run throughout the movie.

It's left some fans unimpressed due to the belief Thor, and by extension fat or depressed people, have become the butt of the joke.

One character jokes fatty spread "cheez whiz" runs through Thor's veins, and another touching scene between Thor and a long-dead character ends in a joke about how the Avenger should eat a salad.

Twitter users were upset at the character being played for laughs.

"The only thing I'll say about, because I want my friends to know this and not end up surrounded by hundreds of people roaring in laughter at them: a character gains weight due to PTSD. It's a complete and utter joke repeated several times... My wife put it well: 'I thought Marvel were above this". They aren't," one person wrote.

"You know what hurts so much about Thor being made fun of because he is fat? I went through that as a kid. I was bullied for being a fat chubby girl. It's 2019 and one of my favourite superheroes is MADE A F**KING JOKE in a fatsuit," another said.

Others saw the change as funny, or more representative of their own body.

"Speaking as a fat guy I found Fat Thor a comfortable representation. He's got f**king PTSD up the wazoo (like me) and has coping behaviours that people look down on (pretty much exactly mine) but f**k them. Hurting as he does, he still fights the good fight when he's called," one person said.

"I have never found Thor more relatable," another wrote.

For many, Thor's new body was a chance to represent a community commonly missed in superhero films, but the film missed the mark completely.

"If that had been handled correctly, it would have sent a pretty good message that those things don't define you or restrict you to being 'lazy' or doing nothing but instead it was mocked and made for a shitty message," one person wrote.

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