Thoughts on the New "Thor" Trailer

Marvel studios has quite a bit riding on "Thor" which open in theaters in May of 2011. It will mark the introduction of another Marvel Comics icon to film audiences and will provide a vital step towards the eventual super hero team movie "The Avengers" Though there was early footage shown at this years Comic Con nothing was released to the general public, so most fans have been left waiting for their first glimpse of the gods of Asgard. Now Yahoo! Movies has the first look at the teaser trailer, and it shows a great deal of promise.

Thor's origins stem from Norse mythology, but his comic book incarnation came at the hands of Stan Lee (creator of Spider-man, X-men and the Incredible Hulk amongst others) in the 1960s. Thor is the god of thunder and once dwelt in the hallowed halls of Asgard, where all Norse gods live. However his father Odin became fed up with his son's arrogance. In an effort to teach him humility Odin banished Thor to Earth and removed not only his power but even his memory of godhood. In the comics Thor lives for a time as Donald Blake, a human doctor, with his love interest Jane Foster. However when the Earth is threatened Thor is reunited with his mystical hammer Mjolnir which restores his memories and grants him his godly powers once again. His foes are frequently of either mystical or extraterrestrial origin and he is one of the founding members of the Avengers. That at least is his history in the comic book, the trailer seems to indicate that the film will diverge at least slightly.

The trailer begins fairly down to earth and lacking in the more over the top elements. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Caulson (played by Clark Gregg) is shown questioning a man seen only in silhouette. Fans of the "Iron Man" movies will instantly recognize Caulson from his dealings with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in that film series. This establishes early on that Marvel is fully committed to creating a complete and coherent universe that all of these super heroes share. Ultimately this will culminate in 2012 with "The Avengers" which will feature Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America along with other heroes from the Marvel comic books. The trailer shows flashes of the unidentified man fighting various people, presumably other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Caulson questioning where he was trained to fight so well. This is when the first shot of Chris Hemsworth as Thor is shown, in all his blond bearded glory.

This is the point that the teaser starts to show the other side of the story: the mighty halls of Asgard and the gods that dwell within them. In the trailer it is clear that Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins) is angry at Thor. It appears to be over a specific incident, which is not shown in the trailer, that Odin indicates has brought Asgard into unnecessary war. He strips a defiant Thor of his mystical hammer and armor and casts him down onto Earth, where it seems that he is promptly found by Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman.) This is all in keeping with the comic book though it does appear that Thor was not stripped of his memories, as his first question to Jane is "Oh no, this is Earth isn't it?"

From there the trailer goes into fair standard teaser territory of showing flashes of action scenes and intense moments, and throwing in a shirtless shot just to show of how ripped Thor is for good measure. In the mix of fighting and explosions there are a number of clear shots of the Destroyer and Loki, both long time enemies of Thor's. The Destroyer is an enchanted suit of armor and Loki is actually Thor's younger brother and in the comics his more iconic foe. That said Loki may not be the central villain of this film, as he seems to be trying to speak in favor of his brother before Odin casts him out. Then again as he is the god of mischief that could easily be a ruse. In either case it's been rumored for some time that Loki will be featured as a key element in "The Avengers" so if he is the villain of "Thor" his defeat would be only temporary.

One line that is highlighted in the trailer indicates that Asgard is a realm where magic and science are "one and the same." This is going to be a slightly tricky aspect of the film to pull off but also a vital one if "The Avengers" is to work. That film will have to reconcile a mystical hero like Thor and a more real world and science based hero like Iron Man into the same film world. So the laying out of the magical aspects of "Thor" as having some basis in science is going to be extremely important down the line. Once Iron Man and the others are introduced to the more fantasy based themes of Thor it will be interesting to see if that affects the individual hero franchises, such as the planed "Iron Man 3" that would be made after "The Avengers".

The trailer shows quite a bit of promise, which is good because "Thor" will probably be the toughest of Marvel's upcoming films to sell to the audience. Hemsworth certainly looks the part of a Norse god and even with his very few spoken lines in the trailer he seems to have a certain charisma which is necessary to pull this part off. Hopkins as Odin lends a great deal of gravitas to the character, which is key for that role. It's not as easy to get a sense of the other actors but all of them certainly are looking good enough in their various roles. What may be the most impressive is the scale of the Asgard scenes that shown in the trailer. Director Kenneth Branagh has clearly gone out of his way to bring an epic scale to this fantastical setting. This is relief for fans who feared that Thor being earthbound would result in a film that was not as big as the character deserves. Things so far are looking good based on this first glimpse and for many fans May can't come soon enough.