Once again, Chris Hemsworth appears in the Marvel limelight as Thor in the next movie Avengers: Doomsday, and with that re-emergence has come a new surge of interest, assumptions and mischievous debate. Although the appearance of Hemsworth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is solid at best, there is another potent superhero that is the focus of fan chatter: Halle Berry as Storm in the X-Men series. A comedic sketch on late-night television recently revived that discussion and made a simple remark a pop cultural phenomenon which the fans can no longer stop discussing.
The situation took place on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a show where the relaxed interview and the unanticipated cross-celebrity interaction were used. Halle Berry, who has been on the show previously, gave Fallon an outrageous assignment. She looked at him with a smile knowing that she had asked him to ask Chris Hemsworth a question on her behalf. Why I, Storm, will not be in doomsday? He knows the answer, she said, and it was a confident and yet mysterious delivery of the line that caused interest.
Fallon, as his name suggests, was too much an entertainer to miss the chance. When the future appearance of Hemsworth in the show came around, Fallon re-aired the clip by Berry in front of a live audience, which preconditioned the unscripted and revealing response. The reaction of Hemsworth was quick and sincere. He started to laugh because he was obviously taken aback by the actualness of the question and the reality that this question was now being shared by millions of people.
The beginning was that Hemsworth appeared really surprised that Berry was out in a public place. It is not my affair, he said, not implicating himself in casting. When Fallon then annoyed him by saying that his face was turning red, Hemsworth was quick to move around and say, with a smile, no I just really hot in here. The interaction elicited a lot of loud laughter and immediately went viral, the fans breaking down each expression and word.
That was then followed by a very well played answer that was a balance of humor and yet ambiguous enough to hold the attention of the Marvel fans. Hemsworth went along with it instead of killing it off. Too many storms, he said and was evidently pleased with the word play. The weather pattern of my character as well is also taking shape and they believed we are counterbalancing and who will be the mightiest stormish gangster. The line was presented in a very light manner, yet it resonated with audiences who have always fantasized about the appearance of Thor and Storm sharing the screen.
The impact of the moment is based on the history of Marvel. Both Thor and Storm are iconic characters who are known to control the elements of nature especially lightning and storms. Storm was widely depicted as one of the most potent mutants in comic books, with the ability to control the atmosphere at a planetary level. Thor, on his part, is a Norse God who has access to thunder by means of Mjolnir and then Stormbreaker. The concept of the two forces of nature co-existing in the same celluloid world has been the wish of enthusiasts over the years.
However, Marvel studios has been quite silent on the inclusion of Halle Berry in the Avengers: Doomsday. Ever since Disney took over Fox and Disney got ownership of the X-Men characters again, there have been unceasing speculations on how and when the mutants will be fully incorporated into the MCU. Although there are already a few legacy actors whose returns are unexpected in recent Marvel projects, others are still yet to be confirmed, which generates excitement and frustration among the fanbase.
An additional layer of charm was added by the joking comment of Hemsworth who said that Berry was attempting to get him fired. It showed a perception of the fanatic nature of Marvel fans and how much one tweet could become headlines and hypothetical ideas and anticipations. Meanwhile, it did so through an unobtrusive recognition of a fact that casting choices made at Marvel are hardly ever clear-cut, and are usually kept tightly confidential until the release of official news.
What is especially interesting about this moment is the way this was a human one. Instead of providing a memorized, unclear answer, Hemsworth was just going to be natural in responding to it. His laugh, feigned awkwardness, and jibes made the conversation seem natural, and reminded the audience that even Hollywood stars of multibillion-dollar brands can fall victim to a timely question posed by another star.
The exchange also brought out the lasting relationship that Halle Berry has to Storm. The role, which Berry last played many years ago, still identifies her and the fans still consider her as the iconic screen Storm. It is impressive how she is ready to ask the question publicly, even in a joking manner, which demonstrates that she loves the character as well as she is aware of the current discussion concerning the future of the mutants in the context of Marvel.
In a more general sense, such instances are a manifestation of how the idea of franchise storytelling does not begin and end with the films. Interviews, talk shows and de facto jokes now greatly contribute to the expectations of the audience. By leaving one comment, a week of online discussion, fan art, and theory videos can be sparked that make the franchise culturally relevant between releases.
At this point, official confirmation of the appearance of Storm in Avengers: Doomsday is non-existent, and Hemsworth should obviously be understood in the context in which he was saying. The response is, however, something significant: the appetite of crossover stories in the Marvel universe is no less high than before. These films are not being consumed by the fans, they are being felt by them as possibilities.
