RW416 - MCU Rewatch - Thor

In this episode of The Marvel Cinematic Universe Rewatch, Cory and Nathan take a kingly stance in their discussion of "Thor."

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Sam Raimi originally envisioned the idea for Thor after making Darkman (1990); he met Stan Lee and pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, but they did not understand it. Thor was abandoned until April 1997, when Marvel Studios was beginning to expand rapidly. The film gained momentum after the success of X-Men (2000). The plan was for Thor to be made for television. UPN was in talks for airing it; excited by the prospect, they pushed for a script and approached Tyler Mane to play Thor. In May 2000, Marvel Studios brought Artisan Entertainment to help finance it as a film, but by June 2004 the project still had yet to be patronized by a studio. Sony Pictures Entertainment finally purchased the film rights, and in December 2004 David S. Goyer was in negotiations to write and direct. By 2005, though there were talks between Goyer and Marvel, Goyer was no longer interested, though at this point the film was still set to be distributed through Sony Pictures.

Mark Protosevich, a fan of the Thor comic book, agreed to write the script in April 2006, and the project moved to Paramount Pictures, after it acquired the rights from Sony. That year the film was announced to be a Marvel Studios production. In December 2007, Protosevich described his plans for it "to be like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining superpowers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It's the story of an Old Testament god who becomes a New Testament god". In August 2007 Marvel Studios signed Matthew Vaughn to direct the film. Vaughn then rewrote Protosevich's script in order to bring down the budget to $150 million, as Protosevich's first draft would have cost $300 million to produce. After the success of Iron Man, Marvel Studios announced that they intended to release Thor on June 4, 2010, with Iron Man 2 being used to introduce the character of Thor.

In May 2009, Chris Hemsworth was in negotiations to portray the title role after a back-and-forth process in which the 25-year-old actor was refused early on, then given a second chance to read for the part. Hemsworth's brother, Liam also auditioned for the role, but was passed on by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige.

When Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin) saw each other in full armor for the first time, Hopkins said, "God, there's no acting required here, is there?"

This is Rene Russo's first movie in six years. According to Russo, it was her daughter who persuaded her to work on the movie, after a long sabbatical.

Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) mentions a comrade who got mixed up with S.H.I.E.L.D., whom he described as "a pioneer in gamma radiation". This alludes to Bruce Banner, whose experiments in gamma radiation mutated him into The Incredible Hulk (2008). A deleted scene also has him mention Hank Pym, from Ant-Man (2015).

Mjölnir" is ancient Norse for "grinder"

The final Marvel Studios movie shot entirely on 35mm film.

There are 1,309 visual effects shots in this movie.

Stan Lee Cameo: Lee appears among many people at the site where Thor's hammer Mjolnir lands on earth. He tears the bed off his pickup truck in an attempt to pull Mjolnir out of the ground with a chain and causes everyone in the scene to laugh by asking, "Did it work?". His character is credited as "Stan the Man", a nickname he had adopted in the Silver Age of Comic Books.

What's Up Next?

Next episode, we discuss "Captain America: The First Avenger"

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