Allow me to speak on behalf of the people of the world who do not read comic books, but will gladly see a good comic book movie. You didn't have to struggle to get us interested in Spider-Man or Superman or Batman-- these are characters that everyone knows on a molecular level, even if they've never touched a comic book. For Iron Man and Hellboy and the like, even if we're only vaguely aware that these are comic book characters, we will be on board so long as the movie is any good.
But when Marvel starts making movies about characters like Thor, they've got to do a whole lot of work to convince people like me that the movie won't be, like, a remake of Disney's Hercules, or some spin-off from Chariots of Fire. I'm serious! This may seem impossible to believe for people who grew up on the Marvel universe, but trust me-- those of us who can barely remember the difference between The Riddler and The Joker are going to need some serious coaxing to see a movie about a guy named Thor.
That's why I was a little disappointed reading IESB.net's scoop on Thor, thanks to a visit to the editing bay for The Incredible Hulk and a chat with Kevin Feige, president of production at Marvel. Either things are in the really, really early planning stages, or Feige is keeping mum about any details they have so far. Pretty much all IESB learned was that the script will be finished in a few weeks, there is no director, there is no lead, and the story will be set in Thor's homeland of Asgard and will not be a contemporary story... Oh, and Brad Pitt has been rumored as one of the potential actors-- interesting, but it seems highly unlikely to actually happen.
A bit of Wikipedia research suggests that the original Thor story finds him living as a superhero on our planet under a secret identity, so the fact that it will be set on his home planet means it will probably be an origin tale of some kind. Still, I need more info! It's never too early to get the general public excited about you movie, Marvel, esepcially if they're all as ignorant of comic book history as I am. Of course, maybe I'm the only one in the dark. But it can't hurt to get the ball rolling on the publicity. Keep throwing around names like Brad Pitt, and they'll definitely have plenty of attention.
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/A-Few-New-Details-About-Thor-8937.html
