Finally our first look at Thor. Yep, that is a photo of Chris Hemsworth in costume as the titular Norse God and how cool is that. I just can’t get over how faithful to the recent comic book version the costume is. Marvel Studios are really sticking close to the original character designs in all of their films.
I do like the whole look of the costume from the chest plates to the almost futuristic chainmail on the arm. All goes along with the God like technology and brings to mind Arthur C Clarke’s quote, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Plus there is a definite hint of Jack Kirby to it.
Looks like Marvel officially released the first look at Thor after a photo of The Destroyer slipped out.
With Kenneth Branagh directing there is a very Shakespearean kind of vibe from all of this and I for one cannot wait for Marvel Studios next film after Iron Man 2.
What do you think of our first glimpse of Thor?
Source: Yahoo
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.
You may well recognise Justin Theroux’s face from Mulholland Drive and Charlie’s Angels 2. He is also a cool screenwriter who wrote Iron man 2. With the film due out in the UK on Friday and the USA next week he has been chatting to MovieWeb about the story.
They asked him whether Iron Man’s arch-nemesis, The Mandarin, would show up in the sequel (he was hinted at in the first with the whole 10 Ring terrorist group).
“Yeah, we tip our hat to that but that’s a tough one to get in because it’s such a big storyline,” explained Theroux. “So that, I don’t know, and I don’t dare say it but it might feature in Iron Man 3, I don’t know?”
As he is also an actor are there any roles Theroux would live to play in the Marvel universe?
“I don’t know? Hawkeye would be great,” answered Theroux. “No, I don’t know? Yeah that would be fun. We’ll have to see because I’ve never even thought of that? We’ll see?”
Collider also spoke to him and got onto the subject of what we may see after the credits (we got to see Nick Fury at the end of the first one) and whether something like that could be improvised as many of the scenes in the film were.
“No, that’s got to be very specific because you can’t…if it was all of a sudden Tony opens a tool box and there’s a friggin’ hammer in there, you can’t bone the next guy. You know it’s not like…you want to create possibilities. So that’s a very thought out piece. If the shield all of a sudden just falls out of the sky, whatever it is, whatever that thing is, you want to be very specific about it.
Only a few more days to wait until we get to see. What would you like to see after the credits?
I love me a good fan made trailer and this is kind of cool while we wait for something more official from Kenneth Branagh’s Thor.
An arrogant Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cast to Earth from Asgard as a weakling to learn, where he falls in love and encounters a familiar enemy and some new allies.
Footage from: Ca$h [2010], Outlander [2008], Brothers [2009], Hulk [2003], Alexander [2004], Troy [2004], Van Helsing [2004], Defendor [2010], Angels And Demons [2009], A Perfect Getaway [2009], Superman Returns [2006], Hellboy [2004], Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D [1998], and the trailer for The Clash Of The Titans, Swat, Spartan, Marvel Ultimate Alliance VG, Soundbites from the animated ‘Hulk Vs Thor’
Music from Immediate Music ‘Heaven’s Warriors’ and ‘Distant Thunder’
NOTE: Using all available info about the upcoming Thor movie [2011], I started collecting scenes and similar shots from other movies with the listed cast. Yes, Chris Hemsworth lost his wig on the rainbow bridge upon entering Earth. Tom Hiddleston (Loki) has not starred in any readily available movies so he was merely implied here. Natalie Portman plays a caring wife ‘Brothers’ so that was easy; Stellan Skarsgaard (Angels & Demons) as the expert on Norse Mythology; Clark Gregg (Iron Man, Spartan) as the SHIELD Agent; Sir Anthony Hopkins(Alexander) as Odin; and Kat Dennings (Defendor) as a new character.
I’m expecting alot from this movie and this is how I envision Kenneth Branagh will direct it.
Marvel Studios have been doing a great job with the big name characters such as Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America. However, they have so many characters to choose from, but many are lesser known so they would never get the big budget treatment.
That means those of us who love the smaller characters – Moon Knight, Dr Strange, Dazzler, Ka-Zar, Power Pack, Deathlok, Luke Cage, Sleepwalker, Night Thrasher, Speedball and so many more may never get to see them on the big screen.
Well hold onto you hats true believers. Turns out Marvel Studios may be doing just that. According to CHUD they are meeting with writers and directors to work on small scale movies based on some of those very characters. The movies would cost in the range of 20 to 40 million dollars (very small when we’re talking studio films) and would allow them to take risks with less obvious characters and with interesting talent.
Filmmakers are being offered their pick of characters and it sounds as if Marvel will go with any cool story put to them.
I think this is excellent news and Kick-Ass shows that with a low budget and minimum advertising you can make headway against some of the bigger budgeted film.
Plus lower budget means filmmakers will make sure every penny is spent well and could lead to some awesome kind of films. Imagine the street level Marvel characters such as Luke Cage made in a French Connection style, Iron Fist as an R rated kung-fu movie, or a truly gory body part swapping Terror Inc!
Of course no word yet on what characters will be used just yet but I think this is a breath of fresh air for the comic book movies and exciting for comic fans such as me.
What characters would you like to see get onto the big screen? Who could play them and who could direct?
Check out the excellent work of Rogan Josh. He’s really done excellent jobs in the minimalist style. Hell, he’s even included a reference to Frog Thor. Lots more to check out on his Etsy site and you can buy them for $18.00 a pop.
I think the Doctor Strange one is my favourite.
Source: Scifi Wire
While chatting to various people about his new indie film Mother and Child Samuel L Jackson got onto the subject of his work as Nick Fury for Marvel Studios.
He is signed up for nine films as Fury and sounds as if the role will get bigger as the films move on.
“I got started on it when I did the end of Iron Man 1. My foot was on the path. Now, my foot is a little deeper on the path ’cause we’ve got Iron Man 2. I’m not in Thor. I’m supposed to do Captain America this summer in London.”
It is a surprise that he is not in Thor. Even Jackson didn’t know why Fury wouldn’t be featuring.
“I have no idea. I’m not in charge of making those decisions. I thought I was. They said I was in the trades, and I was like, “Oh, I’ve got a job!” And then, I called my agent and she said, “Nah, you’re not in it. They misprinted.” I was like, “Well shit, they need to pay me just ’cause they put my name in it.”
They asked Jackson if he does in fact get to “kick some major ass” in Iron Man 2 and if we will finally get to see his badass Fury in full action? “No, I get to talk really harshly with Robert Downey Jr., but that is about it,” answered Jackson. “So far that’s all I’m doing.”
As for The Avengers how big a role will Fury have in that team film?
“The Avengers is my own starring vehicle for that character, pretty much. That’s not that far away. It’s in February. It’s just February. I’ve got time to get in shape and everything.”
“[He will] shoot somebody,” he said. “I’d like for him to do something eventually.”
“I’m totally looking forward to finally getting Nick Fury into action,” he added.
They finished by asking Jackson if he was happy that Whedon would be directing the The Avengers and if he was excited to be working with him on the project? “Yes I am,” replied Jackson. “I’m looking forward to that.”
Glad to hear that Whedon is definitely on for The Avengers and good to see more Jackson as Fury. Would you want to see a Nick Fury movie?
Great news for fans of Joss Whedon (oh Firefly!) but a rumour from a few weeks ago that said he was in the running to direct The Avengers for Marvel Studios could well be true.
Deadline (who are usually spot on with these things) have the news that Joss Whedon is in final negotiations to direct The Avengers.
That means he would be in control of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and whoever else they decide to include – possibly the Hulk, the Wasp, Hawkeye.
After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon also wrote for that last one along with Astonishing X-Men so he knows how these things work.
True, Serenity is his only feature film, but all of his shows involve an ensemble cast of people with various abilities so his transition to directing the team of Avengers should work quite well.
I really think he is an excellent choice for the film although it is still not set in stone. Do you agree that Whedon is the one to direct the Avengers or is it a terrible choice? Who else should they have on the team?
The Avengers is due out in May 2012.
UPDATE: Variety have picked up on the news that Whedon is in final negotiations to direct and if it does go ahead he will also rework the screenplay by screenwriter Zak Penn.
It will be nice if this all happens. Now another question – if he could bring in some of his crew what characters would you like to see the following play?
Nathan Fillion – Neil Patrick Harris – Charisma Carpenter – Felicia Day – Summer Glau
Recently some rumours surfaced in the New York Daily Times saying all was not well on the set of Marvel Studios Thor movie. Kenneth Branagh directs, Chris Hemsworth is Thor and Anthony Hopkins is Thor’s Father, Odin.
Rumour had it that Hopkins wasn’t a fan of Hemsworth and stress levels were rising. Hopkins recently spoke to the LA Times to address the tale – “I am having the time of my life making Thor with Ken and Chris. They have made every day immensely fun and collaborative, and we’re all puzzled that someone would fabricate a story suggesting otherwise. I’m proud to say that Thor has been one of the great experiences of my career.”
All well and good. The article goes on and has some interesting news confirming that all the Marvel Studios will tie in leading to The Avengers team up.
Director Jon Favreau recently wrapped up Iron Man 2. Kevin Feige (Marvel producer) said the plan to meld the Marvel Universe on the big screen will move forward dramatically now and he said there are some surprises in Iron Man 2 that set up an unexpected bond to the Captain America movie that director Joe Johnston is doing early work on now in England.
There has already been some groundwork laid for Captain America. Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk had the super-soldier serum that was used to make Cap, but went whacko on Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and created the Abomination. Cap is also seen frozen in ice during a deleted scene in the Hulk movie.
Then in Iron Man you can see Captain Americ’s round shield on Tony Stark’s workbench.
“Now many of the pieces are in place … with ‘Iron Man 2’ finished and ‘Thor’ more than halfway done, that lattice work is being built.” said Feige
Kenneth Branagh also spoke about making Thor and how it will be split between Asgard and Earth. “Inspired by the comic book world both pictorially and compositionally at once, we’ve tried to find a way to make a virtue and a celebration of the distinction between the worlds that exist in the film but absolutely make them live in the same world,” Branagh said. “It’s about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and the distinctions in those worlds. If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different…. The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film.”
“It’s going very, very well,” Branagh said Wednesday. “We’re in New Meixco now where we have a contemporary Earth part of our story. I guess we’re two-thirds of the way through the story and at this stage of the game what’s surprising and delighting me is the way the cast, the ensemble, has fused together. It’s kind of an interesting combination of very young and very experienced people and the double-up of that, it seems to me, is there is a lot of fire in the movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, it doesn’t try to be too solemn.”
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