The latest Marvel sequel is a family affair, featuring tiny Hemsworths, Portmans, Waititis, and Bales.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Sometimes, heroism runs in the family.
Chris Hemsworth stars in Thor: Love and Thunder, the latest Marvel adventure featuring his jacked Viking space hero. Directed by Taika Waititi, Love and Thunder marks Hemsworth’s fourth solo Marvel film — but this time, he brought a few more Hemsworths with him.
The actor’s real-life daughter India plays Christian Bale’s daughter in the film, later revealed to be a character named “Love.” (Together, she and Thor make up the titular Love and Thunder.) Hemsworth’s two twin sons Tristan and Sasha also appear in the film, with one of them playing young Thor in a flashback scene. Hemsworth’s real-life wife, Elsa Pataky, can also be glimpsed in an early scene where Thor makes out with a wolf woman.
Hemsworth isn’t the only actor who brought his kids to set, either. Marvel has confirmed that Natalie Portman’s children, Bale’s kids, and one of Waititi’s daughters are also featured in the film.
During EW’s Around the Table interview with the Love and Thunder cast, Bale opened up about acting opposite Hemsworth’s daughter, saying he saw firsthand “what a good dad” the actor is.
“One of the memorable bits for me was working with India, with Chris’s little girl,” Bale explains. “She was so magnificent in it. But it was also so cute seeing your relationship, and her having to be like, ‘Who’s this weird bald bloke who’s all covered in scars and crying over [me]?’ [I saw] what a good dad you are, gently coaxing her through it, like, ‘No, just stay there. I know he’s a bit disgusting, but just stay there.'”
Still, Hemsworth says with a laugh, his daughter took some time to get used to all of Bale’s prosthetics and elaborate villain makeup.
“She’s supposed to kiss [Christian] on the top of the head, and she’s like, ‘It’s all sticky,'” Hemsworth recalls. “I was like, ‘India, you’re not actually kissing his head!’ She was like, ‘It’s sticky!'”
In an interview with Marvel.com, Waititi said he hadn’t initially planned to cast so many of his stars’ children, but the set quickly turned into a family affair. For the scenes where Bale’s villain Gorr summons shadow monsters, Waititi asked his kids and his collaborators’ kids to help draw what the monsters might look like, images that the Visual Development team then brought to life.
“It’s amazing,” Waititi told Marvel. “I really love the idea that my kids can look back on this moment and be like, oh wow, we were there. There’s a record of it.”
Thor: Love and Thunder is in theaters now. Watch the full interview with the cast above.