As the president of production, Feige is bound to know a thing or two about where the comic book films are headed — and he’s proving it with some recent updates on “Thor” and “The Avengers.”
“We will probably be having cast announcements in the next month or so on ‘Thor,’” Feige told Empire Online of the hammer-wielding superhero’s upcoming movie. “We’re looking to cast Loki and Odin soon, and the main female role.”
Rumors have circulated for months that Josh Hartnett is the frontrunner for Loki, while Natalie Portman is being courted for the still unidentified female lead — so it’s nice to hear that we’ll know just how true those reports are in a matter of weeks.
Feige also confirmed yesterday’s statement from Kenneth Branagh that filming on “Thor” will begin early next year. The Marvel chief has nothing but kind words for Branagh, who he says is already hard at work on the film.
“Branagh’s here, we’re prepping, and he’s putting together some spectacular animatics already for our first action scene,” Feige said. “We’re digging into the second and third now, and we are just embarking on a rewrite of the draft.”
In addition to his comments on “Thor,” Feige offered some new information about the forthcoming superhero team-up flick “The Avengers,” saying that “Incredible Hulk” screenwriter Zak Penn will write the screenplay.
“Zak Penn is already on board ‘The Avengers’ [as writer] and he’s spending a lot of his time looking into what we’re doing with ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America,’ seeing how we’re tying it all together,” said Feige. “And he’s beginning to outline the script now — he’ll be doing that over the summer.”
In addition to “Incredible Hulk,” Penn is responsible for plenty of comic book fare, including “X2: X-Men United,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Fantastic Four” and “Elektra.”
Are you psyched to hear that we’ll be getting “Thor” casting news in the next month? Is Zak Penn the right man for “The Avengers” script?
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.