A synopsis for Marvel’s Thor has been making it’s way around the net. The film is current filming, and has been since January, so it will probably be a while before we get an image or trailer, therefore a synopsis will have to do for now!

From Marvel Movies! Fanpage

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

In the original Thor comics Jane Foster was a nurse who later becomes a doctor, so it looks like they may have changed her occupation slightly.

Thor is currently being directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellen Skarsgard and Kat Dennings.

There’s still over 2 years before Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk unite for The Avengers, but as Marvel are the masters of planning ahead they already have a draft of the script, and they’ve been sending it around to a few people. One of which includes Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, who tweeted his excitement yesterday.

Definition of “goose bumps.” Pressing enter and watching a screenplay entitled “AVENGERS” come out of my printer.

It’s official, I have the greatest job in the world.

We can assume this is one of the many drafts that will be flying through Marvel printers over the next year and a half. Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, Elektra) is the man Marvel gave scriptwriting duties to, although I’m sure the guy who ends up directing will want to do a few re-writes himself.

Here’s a reminder of the timeline:

Iron Man 2 – May 2010 (post-production)
Thor – May 2011 (currently filming)
The First Avenger: Captain America – July 2011 (pre-production, expected June shoot)
The Avengers – May 2012 (scripting)

As Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all have movies in either pre or post-production we always knew all three would eventually be appearing in The Avengers along with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. However up until now we haven’t heard whether our green friend with anger issues would also be making an appearance. In the past producer Kevin Feige couldn’t answer the question of whether The Hulk would be in The Avengers, although he did say “there will be some members of the Hulk universe in the film”. Now in an interview with SFX Magazine (via SHH) he confirmed The Hulks involvement while discussing future Marvel films:

“My only concern is that when we launch a franchise–whichever character’s franchise that may be–it should stand on its own two feet… So by the time ‘The Avengers’ comes in 2012, it’s not just a team superhero movie with a bunch of characters with powers. It’s three people – four including the Hulk; five including Nick Fury – who you’ve seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”

Catch that Hulk bit? Feige also said that he won’t rule out the possibility of a second Incredible Hulk film with Edward Norton. “That would be post-’Avengers,’ if it happened… I think there’s a chance. It’s certainly our intention to use the same actors from film to film where we can.”

Feige was asked it will be difficult to meld the fantasy of Thor with the high-tech science fiction in Iron Man and The Avengers. “No,” he said, “because we’re doing the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee/Walt Simonson/J. Michael Straczynski ‘Thor.’ We’re not doing the blow-the-dust-off-of-the-old-Norse-book-in-your-library ‘Thor.’ And in the ‘Thor’ of the Marvel Universe, there’s a race called the Asgardians. And we’re linked through this Tree of Life that we’re unaware of. It’s real science, but we don’t know about it yet. The ‘Thor’ movie is about teaching people that.”

Edward Norton said last year that having The Hulk as the villain in The Avengers “would be a fun way to go” and I agree, however I think there should be an even bigger villain that the team have to battle with, and they can only do that by getting the Hulk on their side. Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) is currently working on the script (lucky guy) and The Avengers will probably begin filming this time next year for it’s May 2012 release.

In an interview with MTV Samuel L. Jackson revealed that he has yet to hear anything about his involvement in Thor, even though his name is down on the cast list.

“Nobody’s told me anything,” Jackson laughed when asked about the “Thor” role. “I was reading the trades last week and I saw the cast list. My name was in it, so maybe I am doing something that I don’t know about and I’ll hear about it soon.”

Even so, he said he’s confident that Fury can fit into the world established by Branagh’s “Thor.”

“It all depends on where they find him,” he said. “If they’re dealing with that particular timeline… Hey, they’re shooting it in Santa Fe, it’s not like they’re shooting it in Norway.”

Thor has only just started filming and it will continue for a few more months, so Jackson will probably be contacted when the time comes. If the appearance of Nick Fury will be anything like that in Iron Man Jackson may only be needed for an end of credits/final scene, so they’ll probably be filming that towards the end of production.

Remember the S.H.I.E.L.D guy from Iron Man? Well we heard around a year ago that he will be making an appearance in Iron Man 2, and now according to Variety actor Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson, will also be appearing in Thor. This is cool news, even though it was expected. There will be a lot of cross-film appearances by a number of characters, such as Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, as Marvel prepare for The Avengers.

Agent Phil Coulson will no doubt be trying to recruit everyone. In Iron Man he repeatedly attempts to talk to Tony Stark about Stark’s escape from Afghanistan. Later he comes up with a cover story for Stark, one which Stark famously refuses to use resulting in the “I am Iron Man” announcement at the press conference.

Thor started filming last week under the direction of Kenneth Branagh and stars Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding Norse god, as well as Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellen Skarsgard and Kat Dennings.

Stuart Townsend has done it again. Just over a decade ago he was cast as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, however he was replaced at the last mine by Viggo Mortensen as he was apparently too young for the role. Now Townsend has been fired (for left) Marvel’s Thor mere hours before filming was due to begin.

According to The Associated Press Townsend, who would have played “Fandral the Dashing” has pulled out of the film due to creative difference, although according to AICN he turned up 6 hours late for a screen test, and was fired as a result. Whatever the reason Townsend will no longer be in Thor, and he has been replaced by an actor named Joshua Dallas (The Decent: Part 2).

Filming on Thor begins today under the direction of Kenneth Branagh.

Following the news that Spider-Man 4 may not hit it’s May 2011 release date due to problems with the script, Disney and Marvel (who are now one) have moved the release dates of both Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. With major competition during the summer months studios have to be quick to claim their spot.

According to Box Office Mojo Thor has been moved forward and has taken Spider-Man 4’s slot on May 6th 2011.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has been given Thor’s old slot: May 20th. Previously it had just been given a simple ‘Summer 2011′ target.

Summer 2011 is going to be on hell of a year for blockbusters. As well Thor and Pirates 4 (and Spidey if things work out) there’s Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers 3, Captain America: The First Avenger. We also can’t forget the big screen debut of The Smurfs…in 3D!

Last month The Hurt Locker actor Jeremy Renner spoke quite openly about possibly playing Hawkeye in The Avengers, and maybe Thor. The internet seemed pretty welcoming of this casting as many thought he would be perfect for the role, however he was recently interviewed by Movieline and he revealed that it was blown a little out of proportion, and it was only an idea Marvel had.

That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things — they have Captain America, and Thor coming around, Iron Man 2, and then I happen to know Zak Penn, who’s writing The Avengers. So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.

Thor begins filming next month so there is still time for them to hire Renner as Hawkeye for a cameo appearance. There is still over 2 years before we see The Avengers on screen so anything could happen between then and now. I hope they cast Renner though, as he’d make a great Hawkeye.

Stan Lee is the cameo master when it comes to Marvel films, and with Thor gearing up for filming next month director Kenneth Branagh emailed the legend to inform him of his upcoming ‘role’:

From Lee’s Twitter:

Hey, I got an email from the multu-talented director of Thor, Kenneth Branagh. Not enough space left to tell what he said– stay tuned–

Kenneth Branagh (of course I call him “Ken!”) said my cameo’s set for the upcoming Thor movie. –To him, it’s a cameo, to me– it’s a ROLE!

I went easy on Ken Branagh when we discussed my role in Thor. Told him I wouldn’t insist on my name above the title, I think he was grateful

Yeah, I mentioned Ken Banagh a few times, but I warned you I was a name driopper. Seriously tho’, with him directing, Thor’s a sure winner

Of course, my previous tweet revealed the extent of my innate modesty. I really wanted to add “With me doing a cameo, Thor’s a sure winner”

Can’t tweet anymore. Due to Thor, I must start rehearsing my thee’s and thou’s. So, if thou objecteth not, I wish thee well! ‘Nuff saideth

It’s widely known that studios are highly protective of scripts, especially for films they are ploughing $150+ million into. Ian McKellen recently revealed that when he got his script for The Hobbit someone came round to his house and took it away to be shredded, and it seems Marvel has a similar paranoia regarding it’s scripts, as Natalie Portman revealed to Parade:

“I think everyone has gotten more secretive just because of the preponderance of technology that can scam just about anything. It’s like you don’t get a script anymore that doesn’t have watermarks that would identify you if you ever tried to leak anything. The Thor script is hard to read because it’s on some weird colored paper and they have your name in huge letters across every page. And any time you get a phone call from Marvel, it doesn’t come up as a normal number, it’s like a five digit code. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve had phone calls from people in the government and they don’t have that. Marvel’s like some like crazy underground world.”

I can imagine in a few years time actors will be getting self destructing scripts. They will have one hour to read it and then it will explode in front of their eyes. That’ll stop script leaks!