THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till release

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

That's a remarkably faithful adaptation of the Coipel costume; looks good.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Am I the only one worried about Thor?

I mean, between the next two Marvel movies, I trust the creative team on Thor more than Captain America. Kenneth Branagh is an extremely talented and brilliant creative force. I have trust that he will make a wonderful film.

But how will this film merge with the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe? Iron Man is obviously rooted in reality, although a heightened one. It's easy to work Cap into that reality, as long as they work on the look of the suit a little bit. The shield is there in the Iron Man films. The Incredible Hulk was even rooted in a scientific heightened reality, and was well incorporated into the world Favreau created in Iron Man. Stark Industries was there, as well as Stark himself, along with some background on Cap's super soldier serum. I don't trust the creative team on Captain America as much, even though I think The Rocketeer shows Johnston is a good match for the material, I still find him to be a workman director and not so much a visionary. But it's easier to incorporate the Cap material into the world that Favreau has created.

But Thor? I just really don't know if it's gonna' fly (no pun intended, though I guess he's "thrown" ) putting him into the universe that's been created. I have faith in Whedon's ability to combine the mystical with the real, which is why I think he's a perfect choice for The Avengers. But still, out of all the films, I'm more wary of Thor than anything else.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

^ I know where you're coming from. But like you say, Branagh is an extremely talented film maker and Whedon has a strong track record in merging the fantastic with the everyday. Thor is not only a hard sell but a hard one to catch - but I'd rather see Branagh or Whedon do it than Paul Anderson or Brett Ratner.

Really - could the character be in much stronger hands? If these guys don't pull it off, then the whole concept is, erm, unpullable.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

^^ Yes, I pretty much have faith at this point in Marvel and the teams they've assembled for these projects (though I still have some fears for Captain America)

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

This is true.

And to be honest, the risk factor with Thor is actually something that makes it really exciting. Of all the films, it's the one I don't really know what to expect, and that's kind of thrilling in this day and age.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

^'Zactly.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Wow that looks really good and I agree it does look like a really faithful adaption of the Copiel design. There was a review up on www.comicbookmovies.com of the second draft of "Thor" which seems to be the draft that they've been shooting from. I got a chance last summer to read the first draft and it was this really epic Asgardian story which the second draft seems to have gotten away from. I'm not worried about "Thor" or how it will mix with the other properties. Everything that I've read and the two pics that I've seen has me convinced that the production knows what they're doing. I think we're all going to be pleasantly surprised by "Thor".

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

I cannot wait to see Thor in Action. I think the final movie version of this Superhero would mesh just fine with Iron Man, and Hulk. Now we need a Captain America pic so we can photo shop them together!

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Agreed. I'm really curious to see how they pull this off. If nothing else, it's bound to be different from the usual costumed vigilante fare. I'm hoping for THE LORD OF THE RINGS meets SPIDER-MAN . . . which could be just as bizarre and fascinating as that sounds!

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Hemsworth looks the role, I like the armor and I'm sure the cape will look very striking, particularly compared to the grey-tone armor... but what is on his arm? I always though that kind of cross-hatchet pattern was supposed to designate mail, but I'm not sure what this is.

Fictitiously yours, Treht Roman

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

looks okay. will be more impressed when we get a full body shot - preferably with the hammer.

i'm not really worried about how Thor fits with Avengers, they can always go the Ultimate route and have him going 'oh, yeah, i'm a Norse God' and all the others being 'Pfft, you're a nut with powers'.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

I don't understand what the problem is, why it's so hard to accept the existence of the mystical, the magical in a "reality", especially a fictional one.

I'd expect non-fans to have that problem...but I don't understand the reticence from "fans", who supposedly have better imaginations and are accustomed to suspension of disbelief.

This goes double for superhero fans.

I don't get why some have so much trouble with it. I don't, not at all.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

^I agree. I hope Thor is a success as well because then it could open the door for films such as Doctor Strange.

I love the pics that have been released.

Spoiler: Spoilers for Iron Man 2

So I was wondering at what point the scene at the end of Iron Man 2 takes place. I wonder if we'll see in the Thor movie how he got there.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Yeah, I don't see a problem with mixing Thor and Iron Man either. Comic books have always mixed science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mythology, often in outlandish ways. And it's not like modern movie audiences can't cope with mythical gods and creatures: look at the success of Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and even the CLASH OF THE TITANS remake.

I suspect the average moviegoer will go "Hey, Iron Man and Thor in one movie . . . cool!" And not worry about about whether a guy in a jet-powered robot suit is more "realistic" than a Viking with a magic hammer . . . .

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Agreed. I don't see Joe Moviegoer worrying, or even giving a crap. He just wants to be entertained.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Striking a proper tone in filmmaking is one of the most important aspects to making a film work.

Balancing the realistic with the fantastic is not impossible. Again, see the work of Joss Whedon.

But while it's not impossible, it is very difficult. To make it work is quite a balancing act, and requires a deft, sharp eye. Hopefully Whedon has what it takes.

I'm not so worried about The Avengers not working. I'm worried about the tone and viability of the Iron Man franchise being hurt. Because for me, Iron Man is my 2nd favourite comic character. The rest I've read a handful of issues each, and only ever read The Avengers because of Iron Man heavy stories.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

That's fair enough. I think that having a more fantastical element could actually help the Iron Man movies in that it would be easier to accept The Mandarin as a villain.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Interesting. I guess I come at this from the opposite direction. THE AVENGERS was the first comic book I ever read on a regular basis, dating all the way back to the first Kree-Skrull War, so the idea of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch and Odin knows who else all running around together seems very natural to me.

I love the idea of, say, Wonder Woman fighting the Frankenstein monster. That's my idea of fun.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

Don't get me wrong, not that I don't like the idea of The Avengers and have no interest in seeing the other heroes brought to life, I do! The thought of this Marvel Universe makes me giddy as hell and I can't wait to see The Avengers and it all come together.

It's just, as silly as this may sound, Iron Man is the character that I really care about and am invested in and has been done and works, so I'm a little worried (in a film geek way, not a real life kinda' way ) that it's sheen might be hurt.

 

Re: THOR-starts shooting Jan2010: Updates, Rumors & Casting till relea

It's not difficult to understand at all. Marvel's comics have all kinds of things co-existing in it partly because at first realism was of no concern, and then because of careful efforts to integrate the various, disparate portions into the shared universe (and still, that doesn't always work) as a mosaic.

The films are presented much of this to audiences for the first time, and are as such building from the ground-up, without decades of hodgepodge fantasy to give the shared universe its inertia. To borrow Darko Suvin's term, each film introduces it's own 'novum', that new element which requires the suspension of disbelief. Most of the time, novum will build off each other: so movie Iron Man's villains use weaponry based on the same technological principles, or Spiderman's are a result of scientific experiments gone wrong like himself (and why the sudden addition of an alien to the third film felt jarringly out of place, regardless of the comic book), Superman's silver-screen foils are kryptonite and other Kryptonians, etc. For Thor, the novum (yes, I know the term ought to be SF-specific, humour me) is the confirmed existence of at least one pantheon of deities.

When it comes to the Avengers, however, one is trying to incorporate multiple novum into the same narrative; and while Iron Man, Captain America and Hulk are, if not related, then still within the same language of science-fiction, Thor brings in a completely different sort of novum, based in the language of fantasy. The audience is being asked to suspend disbelief from multiple directions, to accept unrelated divergences from reality, to embrace a narrative that speaks the language of two different genres (and we recall that the general public is not as fluent is either language as we can be expected to be)--that certainly does raise the concern about cognitive dissonance. I'm not saying it can't be done, although I can't think of any examples offhand (that is, I thought LXG incorporated its sci-fi and fantasy elements well, but it wasn't well received); I am saying that it needs to be done cautiously. Presenting each element in their own film first is the right approach; the audience will already have accepted each character's particular novum, and now just has to accept their co-existence. The Ultimates method is also a good idea, I'd say, particularly since Thor is outnumbered by science-fiction characters; and the disbelief of onscreen characters would be a way of winking at the audience, of making them complicit in the secret of Thor's true nature, a more subtle way of inviting their approval.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman