This is gonna be a brief one, folks. The god of Thunder had some help from his comic book caretakers yesterday, as two high profile names descended upon Hollywood to meet with his new master. We already know that Kenneth Branagh has the Helm of Thor. Now, it seems, Joe Quesada and Brian Michael Bendis have joined the ranks of Asgard. Via Twitter (that wonderful, wonderful toy):
Joe Quesada: Okay, three words describe my day today “Branagh gets it!”
Bendis: @JoeQuesada hey are we allowed to talk about what we did today or is it hush hush?
Quesada: @BRIANMBENDIS We can’t go into detail but I think we can say that we met with Branagh about Thor
Bendis: @JoeQuesada so we can’t go into detail but maybe we can say that we met with Branagh about Thor
Quesada: (in response to a fan) I’ll tell you what’s sweet @rdhall Sweet is when he starts quoting continuity and past storylines. The man has immersed himself in Marvel
Quesada: Yes @BRIANMBENDIS we can hint at hour super secret Thor meeting with Branagh, but don’t give it away, just hint
So there you have it, folks. Bendis and Quesada are helping with the Thor movie. Branagh apparently is diving into it head first, hopefully in a similar way to how Jon Favreau famously handled himself with Iron Man. Outlook good for goldilocks.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:38 am
Why was Bendis there? Does he “get” Thor?
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:09 am
Yeah I actually have to agree with Esteves. Not sure Quesada gets Thor either considering they cancelled his book and let the character sit for a few years. I would rather hear from JMS or Walt Simonson on whether Kenneth Branagh “gets” Thor or not.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Seriously people. What else can you ask for? Two proven talents who currently (essentially) run Marvel Comics helping with a Marvel movie? Hmmm…I wonder if Warner Brothers asked for help on Catwoman it would have been so bad? I wonder if somebody asked ANYBODY at DC if nipples on a Bat-Suit were a good idea?
These two are comic professionals. They are SUPER pumped up to be assisting in any fashion AND they are giving a lot of credit to a director who has NEVER touched this genre. Be happy. Be excited.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:36 am
Bendis is the last person who will ever “get” Thor.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 am
Be excited about what Dvae that Marvel going to make fools of more of their characters that their putting more horrible movie out or their putting movie out of character that are both lame and boring
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Yeah, I love Bendis and all but why was he there? You’d think that they would sent Straczynski or Fraction. Or if they wanted to send a member of the MOB, it should’ve been Oeming. I personally think he “gets” Thor best.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Bendis, for a very mediocre talent, has given overachievement a new meaning. Seriously? Bendis doesn’t even understand the characters he writes about, due to not reading the comics unless his few favorites wrote them. Why not JMS? This fetish that Quesada has for involving personal friends over qualified people is my biggest gripe with Joe.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Bendis doesn’t even get Clone Thor.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:10 am
Ya.. why wasn’t Millar there to offer up his evil Thor Clone idea hahahaha
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 am
If there was anyone in the current Marvel fold that would *get* Thor, Matt Fraction should have been drafted in.
I’ve been steadily reading through Dan Jurgens’ run and he would have been a solid person to have around. But he’s over at the other place now, isn’t he. And is there not still some bad blood that his run got shafted so that Thor could die when Disassembled rolled around.
LOL @ Bendis in the twitter comments though. He writes the same way in real life as his characters speak; some guy says something and then the response is more or less the exact same phrase.
And by the hammer of Thor, to Hela with that stupid JavaScript/Cookies message!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
We’ve come quite a way from Stan Lee reporting that he’d visited the set of Truffaut’s Silver Surfer movie.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 am
I want to hear “Stracynski” feels Branaugh gets Thor or Walt Simonson feels Branaugh gets Thor. Heck, after the Ultimates run, it would even be good to hear Millar say that Branaugh gets Thor.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Q: How does the Q perceive Brannagh as “getting Thor”?
A: A redhead who’s in love with Thor either dies or has something really bad happen to her.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
“Quesada: @BRIANMBENDIS We can’t go into detail but I think we can say that we met with Branagh about Thor
Bendis: @JoeQuesada so we can’t go into detail but maybe we can say that we met with Branagh about Thor”
Oh my Gosh. Bandis dialogs suck in real life too.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 am
“Q: How does the Q perceive Brannagh as “getting Thor”?
A: A redhead who’s in love with Thor either dies or has something really bad happen to her.”
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
I’m surprised this hasn’t fueled any speculation that Bendis has something Thor-related in the pipeline at Marvel that simply hasn’t been announced yet.
We still don’t know where all the pieces land post-Ultimatum. Perhaps he gets a shot at Ultimate Thor. Or maybe Thor will finally be returning to one of Bendis’ 616 Avengers titles? I think a Thor arc in Dark Avengers would be interesting, particularly when it comes to facing Sentry or Ares (who have been iconic stand-ins during the recent years in the Avengers titles).
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:31 am
can anyone around here “get” how to spell Branagh’s name? or are we too busy recycling the same bit of snark five different ways and passing it off as wit to care?
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Like most others here, I can’t say I’m too excited that Joe Q and Bendis are talking to Branagh about the Thor movie. I mean, I like that Branagh is looking to people in the comic industry while working on his comic movie, but Joe Q and Bendis are the last names I’d ever think of on a “Who gets Thor?” list. They’re both self-avowed lovers of gritty street-level heroes.
Walt Simonson, Dan Jurgens, Mike Oeming, JMS, Stan Lee, Matt Fraction: these are the people Branagh should be talking to. Joe Q and Bendis are not names that excite me when it comes to Thor. Bendis’ name actually scares me a bit when it comes to Thor.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
Fraction’s recent Thor work was outstanding. (I strongly encourage people to check out the hardcover collection of it that’s been solicited in this month’s Previews.) The only issue with Fraction’s work is that it was pretty much Asgard-based and you can tell that Marvel wants the Thor movie to be more Earth-based so that they can tie it right into an Avengers movie. With all that said, it shouldn’t stop Branagh from still talking to Fraction as someone who “gets” Thor, since he still might have some great ideas for a Thor movie.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
Bendis working on Thor?
Uh, based off EVERY Bendis written instance of Thor, I think I’ll have to politely decline.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Geez…I would think people would be happy ANYONE on the publishing side of things is being consulted.
Whether you like or dislike Quesada and Bendis you have to admit they have more Thor knowledge than the average Hollywood director, producer or executive. That can only mean a more accurate portrayal of Marvel’s version of Thor is being considered. I think that is good news for Thor fans.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
While it is nice to have someone from Marvel consulted about the movie, but its not like Bendis and Quesada have ever really gushed about Thor until its recent success.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I apologize for the bad grammar of my previous post and by “its” I mean the Thor title.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Man, you guys are such haters. Be glad that Marvel is actually involved in making the freaking movie.
You know why comics have such a hard time breaking into the mainstream? Comic book fans. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be associated with you people.
Comics (and movies) are just for fun, guys. Now is the best time to be a comic book fan. Try and be happy for once.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
You know, every morning I wake up proud to be a comics fan. Then I read these whiny message boards.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Ah… I get busy, miss a few good Twitter posts, and you eagle eyes at Blog@ fill me in. Thanks – great news for a Thor fan like me. Yet I’m not surprised Kenneth “gets it.” That man “gets” everything from Harry Potter to Shakespeare to Frankenstein. I just did a happy dance!
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
“Be glad Marvel is even involved”? It’s a Marvel Studios production. That was the whole point of creating their own studio, wasn’t it? Iron Man turned out just fine so I don’t think there’s any cause for concern. I’m more worried about casting since Marvel Studios seems to be tightening it’s belt in regards to what they’re willing to pay actors.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Helpful Translation Guide:
Newsarama writes:
Brian Bendis writes comics. Joe Quesada edits them and sometimes draws.
Internet fanboy reads:
Brian Bendis kills puppies. Joe Quesada eats them and sometimes drools.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I for one Im really glad that Kenneth is directing Thor and not just because he is one of my fellow countrymen lol. With his Shakespearean background, I think this gives him
a good basis of what Thor and Asgard should be like. As for Joe Q and Bendis helping out, I think its a good thing, sure they mightnt be the top writers of Thor
But they do know his history and the basics of the character. They will be able to say, no Thor wouldnt do that, or Yea Thor would say that.
With them on board, we are atleast halfway sure the movie with be close to the character we all love
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
“Hour super secret”
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Wow! you don’t say what Newsarama, or whoever runs this part of the site, they delete your post. What was wrong with saying that this was not news of any kind? That all we learned was nothing and that JQ and BMB little answers were silly? Seriously. I don’t know if these guys are helping one bit. Most of the time when someone is involved in a project they let you know. Did Robert Downey Jr say “I can’t tell you anything tee hee hee. It’s super secret.” Really, But I guess Newsarama or whoever does not want to hear that huh?
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I don’t think you all are getting the big picture here. No offense to Mr. Quesada or Bendis, but one does not need to be a genius at writing Thor or even “get Thor” to recognize whether or not Branagh has the right stuff to pull off this movie. I will withhold judgement so far and hope for the best because if Branagh makes a great movie out of this fantastic character I will be forever grateful to HIM.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Amazing…not an actor has been cast (that we know of), not a whisper of sound has been recorded, and most importantly not a reel of film has been shot but the fanboy whining has already gone into high gear. If this were Mark Steven Johnson or Brett Ratner I might understand the apprehension but Kenneth Branagh’s body of directorial work is nothing BUT credible, no matter WHO he’s spoken to from Marvel.
You know, it’s comments like the ones I’ve found here that convince me that the Academy did the right thing by snubbing The Dark Knight; as it is fanboys already think the world of pop culture revolves around what they want, so I can only imagine what life would be like if TDK had been nominated. We’d probably be getting insults about Danny Boyle being overrated or racial slurs about Indians or other similarly ridiculous, infantile comments on message boards everywhere all the way until awards night and probably well after TDK’s hypothetical/inevitable loss to Slumdog Millionaire.
I’d say go back to the rocks you crawled out from under but considering the nature of the internet you’ve probably typed all your comments from under there.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 pm
“These two are comic professionals.”
Spider-Man. Deal with the devil.
‘Nuff said.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Some of you people never fail to amaze me.
–J.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:23 am
All I’m going to say is they should involve Fraction and JMS if for nothing else than for a thank you to them for their quality writing and help in reviving a stalwart Marvel character. This seems to be an initial meeting, so Fraction and or JMS’ involvement may yet happen.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:49 am
shouldn’t millar have been there
ultimate marvel has been a big inspiration (some might say bigger than 616-marvel) for the marvel movies and millar wrote a thor who would work in the post-iron man and post-dark knight environment
there was almost no asgard in the ultimates and the rest of the ultimates not believing his story of his heritage would again work in a movie where no one believes thor that loki is looking to do whatever
February 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I’ve read that a Thor movie is supposed be a Lord Of the Rings style epic, I would imagine that if thats true then Asgard would have to be involved.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I think an a Thor movie of epic Lord of the Rings quality would be very cool. Branagh has had some hits and misses in the past (who hasn’t though?), but when he is on like he is when he does the Bard nothing is better. Just my opinion I hope he does more with the mythology aspect and keep the comic book stuff to a minimum. But that seems kind of silly since if her wanted to do a Thor movie he could since no one holds the copyright on ancient mythology. I will wait for more news and check out IMDB from time to time.
June 26th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Two proven talents who currently (essentially) run Marvel Comics helping with a Marvel movie? Hmmm…I wonder if Warner Brothers asked for help on Catwoman it would have been so bad? I wonder if somebody asked ANYBODY at DC if nipples on a Bat-Suit were a good idea
January 17th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Great theme, did you style and design it oneself?