For years Saturday Night Live has been known as a comedy show that pushes boundaries. The hosts typically step outside of their comfort zones, and sometimes that involves doing bizarre things with some of their most iconic characters. As it turns out, when Thor: Ragnarok star Chris Hemsworth hosted the NBC sketch series back in 2015, "Weekend Update" personality Michael Che pitched a dark, racially-charged skit in which Thor accidentally killed a black teenager. During a recent appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers alongside Colin Jost, Che explained:
My favorite sketches are like really racially charged. Like Chris Hemsworth hosted and I wanted to do a sketch where the Avengers saved the day but in the process Thor accidentally kills an unarmed black teenager. He said it wouldn't help with tickets. I thought it would have helped with tickets!
If you don't recall that scene, that's because it didn't get made. Even in a spoof on Saturday Night Live, having an Avenger kill a kid probably wouldn't sit well with the folks at Marvel Studios, and Colin Jost even noted on the late night show that Hemsworth thought it was "off-brand." It might've worked if SNL had written the sketch for a non-Marvel host, but getting Chris Hemsworth to pick up the hammer for a dark sketch ultimately didn't pan out.
In the end, Chris Hemsworth did go on to play Thor Odinson on Saturday Night Live, albeit in a decidedly tamer manner than the one described by Michael Che in his appearance on Late Night with Seth Myers. Check out the post-Avengers: Age of Ultron spoof below.
Oddly enough, The Avengers did eventually tackle a story with similar implications in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- except Thor wasn't involved. Captain America: Civil War specifically dealt with the idea of superhero collateral damage, and how the heroes deal with that collateral damage when they realize they're at fault for a death. It's not quite the ripped-from-the-headlines premise that Michael Che pitched for SNL, but it does seem to show that Marvel movies have started pay attention to topical issues as the studio is developing stories.
So, it doesn't look like we're going to see Thor Odinson or another Avenger deal with that type of racially-charged situation on SNL or elsewhere, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe will dive into the topics of race and diversity later this year when Black Panther debuts in theaters on February 16. Elsewhere in the MCU, Thor will make his next silver screen appearance when Avengers: Infinity War premieres on May 4. Here's everything that we currently know about Black Panther and everything that we know about Infinity War, in case you want to get caught up ahead of time.
