Can Kenneth Branagh pick up Thor’s hammer?

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Thor is a Norse god, so I always liked to imagine that he talked like a big, bellowing version of the Swedish Chef, but in Marvel Comics, of course, the God of Thunder has always sounded more like a Shakespearean actor portraying one of the brawnier members of the Danish court from ‘Hamlet.’

Maybe that turned out to be a selling point; Marvel Studios is now trying to lock in (or, according to some sources, already has locked in) Kenneth Branagh to direct a film adaptation of Thor’s comics tale. Variety has a story about ‘negoitations’ being underway but I doubt that Marvel Studios, still a very young and reputation-sensitive enterprise, would let this news out to circulate unless it was close to inking the deal.

I think it’s a great choice if does happen. I think ‘Dead Again,’ ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Frankenstein’ proved the Shakespearean veteran to be a natural storyteller and one with a flair for keeping characters vivid and believable in the midst of sweeping tales.

-- Geoff Boucher

Image of Thor courtesy of Marvel Comics