The Truth About Kumail Nanjiani's New Buff Body

Actor Kumail Nanjiani is looking super ripped these days thanks to an upcoming role in a Marvel movie. The comedian took to his Instagram to not only show off his new buff, shirtless body, but also to explain the motivation behind the major change in his appearance. He wrote, "I found out a year ago I was going to be in Marvel's Eternals and decided I wanted to transform how I looked."

Nanjiani opened up about his transformation with Men's Health, saying, "I had to really, really get into shape. I wanted to gain a lot of muscles. And I wanted to look like somebody who would believably hang with Thor or Captain America." The Big Sick star credited intermittent fasting and a workout regimen that he stuck to for his success. He explained, "What's kept me going to the gym is changing up the workout, finding exercises I like, and sort of mixing things up all the time."

Nanjiani was also very open with the fact that he did not hit this fitness goal alone. He wrote on Instagram,"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." The Stuber actor says that, since his transformation, he has "felt healthier than I have in twenty years." But, despite Nanjiani's positive feelings, some people on social media are not happy with his new look. 

Silicon Valley actor Kumail Nanjiani's body transformation sparked controversy on social media after comments on a photo he posted took a nasty turn. The Oscar nominee had innocently posted a photo of himself enjoying New Year's Eve with Pandan tres leches cake, which also happened to display his bulging arm muscles. Then came the haters, who felt the need to take to Twitter to criticize Nanjiani for being too muscular and to also baselessly accuse him of only getting jacked because he took steroids.

According to Men's Health, one troll tweeted, "it's really funny that Kumail had to take a bunch of steroids for a movie and then Covid hit so he just kept having to do steroids for a year." Yet, The Lovebirds star's fans immediately came to his defense and slammed the criticism of his appearance as racist. 

The New York Post reported that one defender tweeted, "Body shaming Kumail Nanjiani for...being jacked? Is way weird. Especially since all the Chris' have done the same super-soldier program and never got any flack for it. I wonder what the difference is?" Another also pointed out in a viral tweet about how actors Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Chis Pratt were never criticized when they got in similar shape for their Marvel movie roles.

Nanjiani has yet to respond to the controversy, but he has been nothing but open about his fitness journey from the beginning. Despite the haters, we are looking forward to seeing more of his superhero look on the big screen!