Yesterday we had some secrets from the Thor set and today, we’ve got another preponderance of scoops from our compadres at Latino Review. It’s a lengthy report so I’ll just focus on the tidbits relevant to you, oh savy Comic Vine community. If you’d like to hear some celebrity gossip and detailings of characters Thor fans should already be familiar with, go check out the rest of their article.
Was Samuel L. Jackson telling the truth when he said that he doesn't appear in Thor?
Yes. In the official script version, he is not. That could change in time though. He wasn't in the original script of Iron Man either but they changed it late in the game. The same can be said for Robert Downey Jr. In fact the only cameo of great significance is from Stan Lee.Are there any Easter eggs or hidden clues in Thor?
No, in terms of the script, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s more through the dialogue, here and there that they’ll say something. Everything’s obviously connected, like every piece of S.H.I.E.L.D. tech has the Stark Industries logo on it. Even on a pen or computer screens in the movie. You’ll notice it on the computer screen’s upper left-hand corner, everything says Stark Industries. You already know that we have a deal with Tony Stark, which you kind of got from the first Iron Man's conclusion. Now you know S.H.I.E.L.D. is officially in league with him. And you’ll probably see stuff like that in Captain America or The Avengers on a S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier.
I get the feeling they’re going to pepper more cameos and nods once they get further into principal photography, and then into reshoots and post-production. As I recall, the Nick Fury cameo at the end of IRON MAN was an 11 hour addition that was shot crazily-close to the release date - - maybe even a couple weeks before it. If they’ve got Sam Jackson signed up for nine pictures, I’d imagine they want to get him appearing right away.
When might we finally see a teaser trailer?
Probably at Comic Con. The scheduled release is date is May 6, 2011. I think that’s the actual release date, handed down from Marvel. They could put it in front of the new Iron Man 2 movie, but that's this May and a little too soon. Marvel wants to release the film exactly a year after Iron Man 2. The release is almost 365 days later. And then Captain America in July 2011 and The Avengers will be the following year, 2012. That’s what they’re trying to do, line them up like that. May of every year, there will be a new Marvel movie out.
My hunch is that that they’ll have at least something to show in front of IRON MAN 2, since that's the captive audience they’ll want to start hyping Thor to. Even if they don’t have any effects done, they could easily make a teaser of whatever they have, no matter how little. Hell… I remember the very first teaser for LORD OF THE RINGS was literally just one shot of the fellowship walking over one ridge in a mountain. THE DARK KNIGHT teaser was just an image of the logo crumbling with dialogue running over it. And people went BANANAS over both!
What about Tom Hiddleston as Loki the film's main villain?
He's great and what's funny is that Tom had actually come in to audition for Thor but he’s very tall and very thin. Kind of lanky. Marvel said, “No”, but then it came up that maybe he should audition for Loki and he apparently put himself on tape and was amazing. He had also worked with Kenneth Branagh already in London. This movie is as much an origin story for Loki as it is for Thor and he's not only the hero's nemesis but his brother. How do you deal with a situation like that where the very person who is trying to destroy you is your adopted brother? In the script, Thor is basically banished to Earth because he’s arrogant and proud and must learn what it is to live among mortals. And while the cat’s away, the mouse will play. While he's gone, Loki starts discovering things about himself, including his desire to be all powerful. He wants to be as well loved as Thor and that jealousy starts creating these complications. “Why can’t I be the ruler? Why am I always in his shadow?” So he starts developing those feelings while Thor's gone. It’s a very good script with pretty much half of the movie in Asgard and the other half on Earth. I think people will be pleased with the way it unfolds.
Walk in looking to play the hero, walk out getting to play the villain. Seems like a fair trade, to me. Judging by this, it looks like a significant portion of the movie will take place in Asgard, which I’m all for. I’m really more interested in the high-fantasy stuff than the “Norse gods in the real world” aspect. In light of how this seems to be a story about how Loki becomes evil, I’m reminded of how modern updates of ancient mythology always face a challenge of how to reconcile ancient archetypes with modern demands of characterization. For this, I specifically question how Loki will “turn” evil when he was the trickster god from birth? Perhaps it’s an escalation of pranks - - ramping up from simple high-five fake-outs to malicious ding dong ditches.
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com .