If you can only identify one famous Hemsworth brother, then it is probably Chris, the tall, impossibly muscular Australian who has hammered his way through two Marvel movies as Thor. Chris Hemsworth is a star; he has a cape and multiple franchise sequels to prove it. He also has a little brother, Liam, who does a little acting of his own (maybe you’ve seen The Hunger Games?). Now, Vulture is not in the business of encouraging family discord, and we could not be more supportive of the idea of two hunky Australian brothers taking Hollywood by storm, but it is time to give Liam his due. He is also an important movie star — or he will be, when the world catches up — and he has been the “other Hemsworth†for far too long. So on the occasion of his action movie debut (in this week’s The Expendables 2), here are six reasons why you should switch to Team Liam. (No 7: that kind of rhymes).
He’s more versatile!
Chris will spend several more years (Thor 2: The Dark World is scheduled for 2013, and The Avengers 2 for 2015.) as Thor, running around after aliens and speaking in a puzzling Asgardian accent. When not doing that, Hemsworth will be suited up as the Huntsman to Kristen Stewart’s Snow White in that movie’s much-discussed (you know why) sequel. Chris picks very successful movies, but with the exception of Cabin in the Woods, he does pretty much the same thing in all of them: act noble, fight people, wear ridiculous boots. Liam, though … he has range. He was a dreamy, convincing romantic lead in The Last Song; he’ll help lead a political revolution in the next two The Hunger Games; and he’s currently signed up for a time-travel romance, an action movie with The Rock, and Paranoia, opposite Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford. What’s more, he will actually have the opportunity to act in most of them.
He has more potential.
Do you want to root for a fully formed movie star, someone who’s sitting pretty at No. 21 on the Most Valuable Stars list with his whole bicep-happy career laid out for him? Or do you want to get in on the ground floor, and watch an actor find himself and his audience? (And maybe experiment with dubstep on the side?) If you like the easy road, take Chris; if you want to invest in actual artistic discovery, Liam is your man.
He is engaged to Miley Cyrus.
We wish nothing but the best for Chris and his wife Elsa Pataky, who just welcomed their first child, India Rose Hemsworth. But Chris is a family man; he’s settled down. You’re not going to get any juicy tabloid stories out of that situation. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Liam is engaged to his girlfriend of three years, 19-year-old Miley Cyrus. The Miley who brags about her Bob Marley birthday cakes and makes OWS support videos and gets in fights with Tyler, the Creator over her new teen protest haircut. How can you not want to read every single bit of gossip about their relationship?
He is a friend to animals.
Liam, on squirrels, to Details magazine: “‘How comedic are squirrels?!’ Hemsworth cries as one scampers past him at one point. ‘We don’t have squirrels in Australia. The first time I saw a squirrel was at a meeting at Disney. I was like, What the fuck?!’ And later, as another squirrel ran by: ‘Look! It’s like a cartoon,’ he squeals. ‘You’re not real!’†Just try to find a similar quote from Chris.
His name is cooler.
Chris is a boring name, and there are 8 million young Chrises wandering around Hollywood. (Okay, maybe just Pine and Evans.) Liam is a special name; we only have one (Neeson) and he’s old.
He’s cuter. There, we said it.
Maybe you have a thing for flowing blond locks; maybe it doesn’t bother you that Chris is inhumanly attractive, the kind of bodybuilder man that you would admire at the gym but never actually talk to. But Liam is boy-next-door-who-got-super-jacked-overnight handsome. He can wear sweaters (click that link, just trust us). His is an approachable hotness, and for that, we award him Most Attractive Hemsworth honors. Get onboard, everyone.