Avengers: Endgame is such a carefully guarded property that even the film’s title was kept a secret until the last possible moment. There are so many surprises involved in the final fight between the original Avengers team and the big purple menace Thanos that anything at all can be considered a spoiler. So go ahead and scoot if you don’t want to know how it all ends.

Though you’d never know it from those sneakily edited trailers, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is sporting a very different look in Avengers: Endgame. After killing Thanos in the film’s opening scrum—but failing to bring back all the people who were dusted in Infinity War—Thor spends the next five years in hiding in New Asgard, drinking his regret, self-hatred, and P.T.S.D. into a more comfortable state of numbness. When Rocket and Hulk go to recruit Thor to try to fix the Infinity Stone debacle, they find more than just a changed attitude.

The once cut and golden god now has matted hair, a scraggly, unkempt beard and, most controversially, a large beer gut. Some of the humor based on Thor’s look is, rightfully, getting shredded by film fans tired of seeing fat people as the butt of jokes. On the other hand, the film spends a good deal of time sensitively exploring Thor’s pain in an unusual—and somewhat meta—portrait of a hero who feels like he’s failed.

First and foremost, let’s get the bad of this particular story line out of the way. There are those who feel that fat suits or C.G.I. padding should never be used at all in film or television—and especially not as a source of humor. Fat men and women are only just starting to see themselves reflected on-screen as fully formed humans, rather than just punch lines. Any sensitivity around the subject is understandable.

For the most part, the film does avoid fat jokes at Thor’s expense—with even Tony lobbing only an uncharacteristically diplomatic “Lebowski” comment in the God of Thunder’s direction. When Tony says that Thor is in no condition to try to wear their makeshift Infinity Gauntlet, he seems to intend something more emotional than physical.

Sure, Thor’s mother, Frigga (Rene Russo), gently suggests that he try eating a salad, while the acid-tongued Rocket (Bradley Cooper), unsurprisingly, is the main culprit of the cutting remarks. (We have to admit that’s entirely in character for the raccoon.) The one joke that really feels in bad taste comes from Rhodey (Don Cheadle)—an otherwise nice enough and heroic guy who wonders if Thor has “Cheez Whiz” running through his veins. It’s out of place with the empowering tone of the film.