Despite one being a god and the other a robot, Transformers One star Chris Hemsworth says there is actually a lot of similarities between Optimus Prime and Thor.
"There's a real sort of arrogance to [Thor], especially the original Thor before he becomes humbled, I think Orion Pax - or Optimus Prime - doesn't have as much of that," Hemsworth tells Gamesradar+ at San Diego Comic Con 2024.
In the upcoming Transformers movie, Hemsworth plays the younger version of franchise favourite Optimus Prime way before we knew him as the Autobot leader, when he was called Orion Pax. The story follows Orion and his brother D-16 as the two choose different paths which lead them to become sworn enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron.
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The main similarity between Autobot Optimus Prime and Thor lies in their relationship with their brothers, as Hemsworth says, "There is a friendship, a tight bond between two individuals that becomes fractured, and that could have gone either direction."
"When you break it down, a lot of these stories are sort of about relationships between either fathers and sons, you know within the Thor world he has the father son [relationship] with Odin and then the brother [relationship] with Loki." The Marvel star concluded, "And then here, it's another brotherly relationship."
The parallels run deeper: Optimus Prime, originally called Orion Pax, is son of one of the oldest living and very wise Cybertronian Alpha Trion (much like Thor’s godly father Odin), and brother to Megatron. But, similarly to Loki, Megatron decides to take a different and darker path and betray his brother Prime, making them great enemies. Transformers One sheds light on how the two brothers became at odds, just like we see flashbacks of Thor and Loki as children in the 2011 movie Thor.
Directed by Toy Story 4’s Josh Cooley, Transformers One also stars Brian Tyree Henry as D-16, Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as B-127, Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Steve Buscemi as Starscream.
Transformers One hits theaters on September 20 in the US and October 11 in the UK. For more, keep up to date with upcoming movies and our SDCC 2024 live blog.
