Thor – First look at the Destroyer

This appears to be our first glimpse of something substantial from the Kenneth Branagh Thor film. Latino Review came across the image that seems to show the Destroyer standing in the middle of a desert.

This enchanted suit of armour has been knocking around the Marvel universe for 40 odd years and is a bit of a tough bad guy to beat.

The Destroyer is an enchanted suit of armor forged by Odin, and when it first appeared it was hinted that the Destroyer had been created as a weapon to face some dark menace from the stars. It is first seen residing in the Temple of darkness in Asia. The Destroyer is used by Thor’s arch-foe Loki on several occasions, and each time has actually come close to killing Thor.

The Destroyer is lifeless on its own – although it can act independently for short periods – until animated by the life-force of a sapient living being. Even when so animated, the Destroyer retains a rudimentary base personality that will eventually subvert the host unless a strong-willed individual is in control, such as Thor or Loki. Odin is also able to cast a spell that can force the animating persona from the armor and deactivate it. Once animated, the Destroyer possesses the strength to exceed beings such as Thor and is almost totally invulnerable. The armor also has the ability to project blasts of energy/heat/concussive force, emit a disintegration beam activated via its visor, manipulate electro-magnetism and molecules and achieve flight. – Wiki

The film follows the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

If this is from the Thor shoot then it is looking very nice indeed.

Kenneth Branagh acted out the whole Thor film

In his latest Cup O’ Joe column, Joe Quesada spoke about his time with Thor director Kenneth Branagh and head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige. He mentioned one specific meeting as “one of the highlights of my time here at Marvel”.

“It was performance art,” Quesada recalled. “Kevin would give us the establishment of the shot and the situation: ‘Here we are. We’re in (take your pick of location). And here’s Odin and he’s coming up to (pick a character.)’ And then Kenneth would come in and give you the color commentary. ‘Odin has an air of majesty to him’ and he’d act out the Odin part or the Thor part. So we sat there and literally got a three-hour one-man show from Kenneth Branagh. It was fantastic.”

Quesada said that the “very Shakespearean” Kenneth Branagh had a phenomenal grasp on the characters of Thor, Loki, Odin and the rest of the film’s cast.

“He’s definitely about character, which is the quintessential trait you have to have to understand the Marvel characters,” he said. “It’s not just big hammers and capes and things like that. It’s about what makes the character tick. There’s definitely a reason for Thor, a reason for him being and a very deep family relationship and story in the movie that I think is going to be very cool.”

“I think it’s going to be [a tougher sell] on the surface,” he said when asked if it was going to be harder to market the film compared to Iron Man. “[But we’ve] got plans already to get Thor’s name out within a younger group of kids. I think the upcoming ‘Super Hero Squad’ and ‘Avengers Animated’ shows are going to do wonders to get that across, and then we’re working on a couple of ancillary things here and there to boost the desire for kids in particular to know more about Thor and the general public as well.”

I would love to see some video of Branagh acting out the Thor film. It would be amazing to watch. I wonder if he will have a cameo in the film as Jon Favreau did (although it was a bit more than a cameo) in Iron Man.

The more I hear about the Thor film the more excited I get.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Gordon’s Alive? Brian Blessed may play Odin in Thor

I am really looking forward to Kenneth Branagh’s adaption of Marvel’s Thor. Now this news has got me even more excited.

Rich Johnston over on Bleeding Cool had this to say:

I understand that British actor Brian Blessed has been cast in Kenneth Branagh’s THOR movie, based on the Marvel Comics title, as the character Odin.

Blessed is best known for his roles as Caesar Augustus in I CLAUDIUS and King Of The Hawk Men in FLASH GORDON as well as being a charity campaigner and mountaineer.

He has appeared in a number of Kenneth Branagh productions, including HAMLET and AS YOU LIKE IT, famed for his booming voice.

I still haven’t found any official confirmation on this, however he apparantly confirmed it at a recent public appearance in York. I will keep looking for official confirmation on this, so at the moment count it as a rumour.
The fact that Branagh as previously worked makes even more sense as he has also worked with Tom Hiddleston who was recently cast as Loki. Chris Hemsworth is Thor. Now we just need to find out what characters Natalie Portman and Josh Hartnett are playing.

I personally think this is a brilliant piece of casting and hopefully it is true.

How would you feel with Brian Blessed as Odin?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Kenneth Branagh to direct Thor

Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated Northern Irish actor and film director Kenneth Branagh is in talks to helm a big screen adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Thor. He hasn’t directed an action movie in 19 years. However, his directorial debut of William Shakespeare’s play Henry V is could be perfect experience for the epic scope of Thor.

Written by Mark Protosevich, the story begins as the arrogant God Thor is sent by his father Odin to learn humility in the body of a partially disabled medical student Donald Blake. He discovers Thor’s hammer and learns to change back and forth into the Thunder God. Marvel will self-fiance the production, and a distributor is expected to be announced shortly. Marvel has announced a June 4th 2010 release date for the film.

The “Thor” negotiations come during a resurgence for Branagh. He’s currently drawing raves on the London stage in the title role of “Ivanov,” and he’ll next be seen acting in the Richard Curtis-directed “The Boat That Rocked” and the Bryan Singer-helmed “Valkyrie.”

Variety have more on this story.

What do you think of the news? Exciting or rubbish? Will Branagh bring along some great British Thespians to be in the movie? Who could play Thor, Odin and the rest?

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