Thor (Chris Hemsworth) almost fought his old self in Avengers: Endgame. Odinson has significantly changed over the years since his debut in the 2011 film Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh. And seeing this current iteration of the character square off against that version of himself would've been cool to see. It was initially in the cards for the latest Marvel blockbuster, but the idea was ultimately scrapped as revealed by directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
The culmination of everything that has transpired in the MCU since it was kicked off in 2008 via Jon Favreau's Iron Man, there was a lot of narrative boxes that it had to tick in order to work. Not only did it have to provide the resolution to the Thanos (Josh Brolin) debacle involving the Infinity Stones that came primarily into play in last year's Avengers: Infinity War, it also had to feel like an amalgamation of 21 films in the franchise that came before it. The Russos, alongside writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, accomplished this in various ways, but one of the most interesting one came through the heroes potentially confronting their old selves that was made possible due to the movie's time-travel aspect.
While it was Captain America (Chris Evans) who had a direct entanglement with himself from the events of The Avengers' Battle of New York from 2012 and Nebula (Karen Gillan) with her evil counterpart from 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, apparently, Thor was supposed to have his own similar moment in Endgame. Speaking with MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Russos said that the initial plan was to have a Thor vs. Thor confrontation in Asgard. However, they felt like "it overly complicated [the plot]," adding that they also liked the "Cap vs Cap better" so they gave up the bit. Instead, they gave Thor a different experience when he went back in time - another chance to talk to his mom and properly say goodbye to her:
"I think there, we also deferred to the storyline between Thor and his mother. [It] was so resonant, that we really wanted to run... That was really more a part of Thor’s journey and repair than confronting his former self. So that’s really what happened there, why we went with that."
Odinson's talk with Frigga (Rene Russo) is arguably one of the more emotional scenes in the film. It drove the idea that this God was having an existential crisis - something that everyone can relate to, and only his mother can get him to focus on the important goal. This exchange with his mother also moves Thor's arc forward, making it the better choice when it came to the character's journey into the past in Endgame, as he becomes more true to who he really is.
It would've been cool to see old Thor come into contact with his current version of himself, especially since this new one is more relaxed and less Shakespearean thanks to his experiences in recent years. But considering that there's still so much ahead in his story now that he joins the Guardians of the Galaxy and hands off ruling duties to Valkyrie in New Asgard, the bit wouldn't have that same impact compared to Captain America vs Captain America knowing that Avengers: Endgame technically wraps up his arc in the MCU - it's just more appropriate thematically.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
