When actors take on the roles of comic book superheroes, it’s often followed by months of crazy training with professionals to appear as beefed up as possible to mirror their comic book counterparts. As such, when ‘Silicon Valleys’ Kumail Nanjiani realised that he would be taking part in Marvel’s 2021 movie “The Eternals”, he did what the likes of Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Henry Cavill and more have done – he trained his a** off. According to Ninjiani:
“I’m playing the first South Asian superhero in a Marvel movie. I don’t want to be the schlubby brown guy—I want to look like someone who can hang with Thor and Captain America.”
And thus began the months of rigorous, daily torture exercise. The 42-year-old trained until he would almost vomit. He went from disassociating from the pain (“Leave your body,”) to embracing the regime head-on (“Chase the pain,”). The results?
Suffice to say, Nanjiani made headlines for his muscular transformation. At the time, the Pakistani-American comedian turned actor had taken to his Instagram account to announce the results of his rigorous training as well as give an honest view of the amount of help he had in order to achieve the said results. He shared:
“I never thought I’d be one of those people who would post a thirsty shirtless, but I’ve worked way too hard for way too long so here we are. You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I found out a year ago I was going to be in Marvel’s Eternals and decided I wanted to transform how I looked. I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world. I’m glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before. It would have been impossible without these resources and time. So big thanks to @grantrobertsfit who started working with me at the beginning of the year and made me understand true physical pain for months and months.”
However, his most recent post has fans abuzz – but not in a good way. After posting a New Years greeting on his Instagram account, Nanjiani’s post was flooded with meanspirited comments questioning his physique; some accused him of taking steroids while others simply bashed him for being “too fit”.
Thankfully, fans of the actor were not going to let the haters slide. They were quick to call out the critics for their unnecessary comments.
After Chadwick Boseman’s death there was a lot of talk about “never make fun of people’s bodies, you don’t know what anyone’s going through” but Kumail Nanjiani posts like. an average picture of himself eating dinner and that’s our the window I guess
— Jael 💛 (@theshimmer_) January 3, 2021
Chris Evans gets jacked for Captain America: “😍🤩😍🤩”
Chris Hemsworth gets jacked for Thor: “😍🤩😍🤩”
Chris Pratt gets jacked for Star-Lord: “😍🤩😍🤩”
Kumail Nanjiani gets jacked for Eternals: “He’s clearly using steroids”
I can’t qwhite see what’s the difference.
— alias (@itsjustanx) January 3, 2021
I’m ready to fight anyone who has anything negative to say about Kumail Nanjiani! pic.twitter.com/r1QACyt9ef
— Nicci (@Nicccixo) January 3, 2021
Not long after he first revealed his physique, Nanjiani admitted during an interview with Men’s Health that all the hard work put into getting his body to where he wanted it to be, really took a toll on his mental health. And while he was lucky enough to not experience severe body issues, he did experience “some body dysmorphia”.
” I’d look in the mirror and I’d see my abs—and when I looked again, they would fade. I would just see the flaws.”
So folks, if you have nothing nice to say – don’t say it. You never know what battles they may already be waging within themselves. Keep unsolicited comments about other people to yourself.
*Cover image credits: Instagram/ @kumailn