Vincent D'Onofrio's Thor Was Almost He-Man Instead
Ava Richardson Hit 1980s comedy Adventures in Babysitting memorably features Vincent D'Onofrio as a character resembling Thor, but it was almost cartoon icon He-Man.
Hit 1980s comedy Adventures in Babysitting memorably features Vincent D'Onofrio as a character resembling Thor, but it was almost cartoon icon He-Man. The '80s played host to lots of classic comedies, many of which revolved around either teen characters or kid characters. Adventures in Babysitting revolves around both, as 17-year-old Chris Parker (1980s mainstay Elizabeth Shue) ends up looking after not only the young girl she was talked into babysitting, but her older brother and his friend.
When Chris' friend Brenda needs rescue from the mean streets of Chicago, the makeshift group heads into the city to find her, but instead gets mixed up in an increasingly dangerous series of events. Thankfully, Adventures in Babysitting never forgets it's a comedy, and there's never much reason for the viewer to worry any of the kids won't make it out alive. The fun comes primarily from how likable the main group of characters is, how they react to each new situation, and of course the colorful bunch of unique people they meet along the way.
One of the best of these is Dawson (Vincent D'Onofrio), owner and operator of a garage in Chicago, who the group encounters while trying to get a flat tire fixed. They only have $45 of the needed $50, so Dawson refuses to release their car. That is until young Sara mistakes him for Thor, her favorite superhero, thanks to his thick blond hair and sledgehammer that resembles Mjolnir. She admonishes him for not acting like a hero, and gives him her Thor helmet. Dawson is so touched that he releases the car, then gives her back her helmet, claiming he has one at home. However, none of that was in the original script.
As originally scripted, Sara was obsessed with He-Man and She-Ra, which actually makes a lot more sense, considering how popular the respective cartoons starring them were around the time of Adventures in Babysitting's release. The problem was, when director Chris Columbus - making his feature debut - was hired, he had no connection whatsoever to those characters, as told to Yahoo. That's understandable, as he was a man pushing 30, and didn't have children yet at that point. Plus, the first Masters of the Universe movie didn't release until after Adventures in Babysitting.
Columbus then had the idea to swap in Thor, as he'd been a long-term fan of Marvel Comics, and the Asgardian hero in particular. While Thor has certainly never fully left the public consciousness, and is of course based on Norse mythology, the scene referencing him in Adventures in Babysitting arguably plays better now than in did back in 1987, as a little kid being obsessed with Thor during the MCU era is entirely believable. Although if they ever do an Adventures in Babysitting remake, casting Chris Hemsworth himself as Dawson would be hilarious.
