The convergence of the Marvelverse shows no sign of slowing, with Iron Man 2 doing a good job of laying down various pieces of the groundwork while still making a cogent film in its own right.

The announcement of Kenneth Branagh to direct the studio’s Thor adaptation raised eyebrows, though I have to say that I’m intrigued to see what Branagh will do with the God and his Hammer.

A month ago we posted a purported Thor set picture from Latino Review, which they identified as the first picture of The Destroyer, but this was only a rumour.

It appears today that Marvel’s own Facebook page confirms the LR story as a new picture has emerged and it looks spot on.

Here’s the picture and it looks very nice indeed, in the coming months we may get to see more pictures from this film, hopefully including the stellar cast Branagh has assembled.

Marvel’s many projects seem to be taking over the geek corner of the internet these days, and with the relatively lukewarm response to Iron Man 2 a mere blip in the road to world domination there’s plenty more to come.

One of the most intriguing prospects ahead of us is Kenneth Branagh’s big screen adaptation of Thor, and the casting of Papa Kirk, Chris Hemsworth, alongside Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman elevated this one from a curio to a must see movie, and now the eagle eyes of Latino Review have found what they believe to be The Destroyer on set.

Essentially a magic suit of armour, The Destroyer is sent by Loki to defeat Thor, and there’s a detailed history of the character for Branagh and Marvel to plunder. Here’s a pic from Marvel for comparison.

As I’m not entirely au fait with the Thor comic book I’ll link to Marvel’s own in-depth history of the character, but if true this could prove to be a hell of an adversary for Thor. I cannot wait to see how Kenneth Branagh pits these two against each other.

Walking off the set of Lord of the Rings must have been hard for Stuart Townsend, a hardship compounded with the acclaim which greeted his replacement, Viggo Mortensen, as Aragorn.

So, the knives will be out for Joshua Dallas then if his performance as Fandral, an ally of the titular Norse God, is any good as THR are breaking news of Townsend’s ‘creative differences’ inspired departure from Kenneth Branagh’s Marvel epic.

Rumours are abounding of late of what caused this last minute cast change but Townsend clearly convinced Marvel that he was the right man for the God, and while his career as an actor is in danger of being overshadowed by his career as Chalize Theron’s significant other, the decision to throw him off the set of one of the most anticipated films (and potential franchises) of this year must be a hard blow to take.

During a promotional interview with MTV for new film Brothers (directed by six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan) Natalie Portman revealed that Kat Dennings (Defendor, The 40 Year Old Virgin) will be joining her onscreen in Kenneth Branagh’s live-action adaptation of Marvel’s Thor. When asked about the upcoming production, Portman said:

“Well I’m really excited. Kat Dennings is going to be in it with me and she’s a good friend and an amazing actress, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Dennings is the fifth new cast member revealed to be joining Thor in the past six days along with Idris Elba, Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, and Stuart Townsend. Unlike the others however, the character she will play has not yet been announced.

If you are a US based reader you can watch the interview over at MTV.

Thor is set to begin filming in January 2010 with a scheduled release date of May 20 2011.

The talented British actor who made his name in the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire, has been cast as Heimdall, the guardian sentry of Asgard in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Thor.

As well as Samuel L. Jackson in his cameo role as Nick Fury, the cast of Thor includes Swedish favorite Stellan Skarsgard, Natalie Portman, Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson, the incredibly talented Tadanobu Asano, and the legendary Anthony Hopkins. Leading this strong cast are two relative unknowns in Tom Hiddlestone, who is playing antagonist Loki, and Chris Hemsworth (previously seen as George Kirk in J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek), who has been cast in the titular role.

This cast is interesting to say the least, but the recent additions of Asano and Elba (two of the more talented actors among the cast) seemed to have caused a stir amongst fans as they obviously do not resemble Norse gods. It could be argued that as this film is based in Marvel’s comic book universe it does not need to adhere to classic Norse mythology, and as this universe is really more of a multiverse, characters are subject to change ethnicity, sexual orientation, and even gender, according to different interpretations of Marvel Comics, e.g. Nick Fury (SHIELD), Colossus (X-Men), and Atlas (Thunderbolts), respectively.

However, instead of delving into Nordic and comic mythology to justify these casting choices, one might simply take the time to think about the many films which have seen western actors cast as characters which are not white in their source material. A good example of this is the upcoming blockbuster Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, where white actors have been cast in almost all of the main roles as Persian and Indian characters, including an Icelandic actor (Gisli Orn Gardarsson) playing The Vizier. If it is common practice in major Hollywood movies to cast actors to play characters of a different ethnicity to themselves, then I do not see the problem with the casting of Asano and Elba, especially when they are both amazing actors and are only really in supporting roles.

What are your thoughts on the cast of Thor?