After the frustration of yesterday’s three-second “footage” clip from Battle: Los Angeles, this extended trailer shows how it should be done. We get detailed back-story on Thor’s relationship with his father, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins), how Thor comes to be banished to Earth, his discovery of the hammer Mjølnir, extended fight scenes with SHIELD’s forces, his relationship with Natalie Portman’s character, Chris Hemsworth looking all ripped and rugged without his shirt on, the scheming of Loki (Thor’s brother) back at Asgard, a ton of explosions and even an extended look at the “big bad” of the film, The Destroyer.
Kudos to Marvel for putting out such a lengthy trailer rather than continuing to tease with glimpses and snatched images. We can only assume that the decision is borne of supreme confidence in the quality of the end product. Going by this trailer, that quality would appear to be in the “high” category, with a seemingly well-judged balance of the more fantastical, off-world elements with a more realistic feel for the earth-bound sequences. Certainly any lingering doubts about director Kenneth Branagh’s ability to handle a large budget and complex action sequences have been well and truly dispelled and any trailer that covers so much ground but still leaves me hungry for more must be a good sign of what is to come. Watch the trailer below. Roll on next summer.