The Mighty Thor

[Advocate]

LOL at Hemsworth as Thor. That cunt plays a thick head surfie on Australian teen soap opera Home and Away.

He also played Kirk's dad in the latest Star Trek, which is how he got the Thor role.

[Dolemite]

Yeah, when Kirk's huge, jacked dad attacked the Romulan ship with that giant hammer I just knew he was right to play Thor.

[Advocate]

And when I saw Hugh Jackman wave his JAZZHANDS on stage. I just KNEW he would be a BAD Wolverine.

Oh wait ...

[Dolemite]

WTF, Anthony Hopkins is playing Odin. Cool.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42909

[Advocate]

Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye?

Casting news for Kenneth Branagh's Thor has been hitting the internet news table hot and heavy for the past few weeks, but so far, it's all about the characters within Thor and Dr. Donald Blake's general circle of friends and foes. What about something to tie that into the planned (and already scheduled!) Avengers movie that's to follow?

In the latest Empire Magazine, actor Jeremy Renner was asked something during an interview to which his reply seemed to indicate that Marvel Studios is looking for an actor to appear, albeit briefly, as Hawkeye in Branagh's movie as a teaser for when all the Marvel heroes band together, similar to Samuel L. Jackson's cameo at the end of Iron Man.

"Hawkeye could be interesting," he told them. "They're going to send me some stuff on it, see what it is, but I think they're pretty awesome, trying to make superhero movies almost plausible and not just some fantasy thing."

Some may remember that when ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype spoke to Renner much earlier this year, he had mentioned he was interested in doing a movie based on a graphic novel, and that he was looking at taking a part in Sylvain White's The Losers. (Remember that?)

That never happened, and yeah, this basically sounds like the same thing, which means that he hasn't gotten or taken the part as of yet, but anyone who has seen Renner in Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker will realize that playing a hotshot soldier on an Iraq bomb squad and playing a hotshot superhero with mad skills with the bow and arrow is not that far removed. Here's hoping this is one role he takes and gets, because we'd love to see Renner butting heads with Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man.

UPDATE: Looks like Empire has added a few more quotes from their interview with Renner on their website, including one of the questions we had above whether Hawkeye might appear in Iron Man 2:

“If I was a betting man, I would bet that Hawkeye would probably show up in Thor, and then be in The Avengers,” he told them, “But do I know for sure? I can’t say. But I’d love for that to happen. It’d be fun.”

Renner also revealed that he never had been inconsideration for Captain America as some websites reported: “I don’t know if I’d be right for Captain America. I met with the Marvel guys, actually, but we didn’t talk about Captain America. But one of the writers, Zak Penn, we’ve become friends over time and he was thinking maybe Hawkeye could be interesting. He sounds like an interesting character.”

He's optimistic about getting a role in a Marvel movie but he's aware that nothing is set in stone until it's put in writing, “I’m just happy to get considered for big franchise roles like that.“I’m not [doing the] casting. If they see me that way, right on. If they don’t, I’m ok with it.”

You can now read the entire article from the magazine that did the interview over on Empire Online.

Either way, Renner's comment does seem to point that we'll be seeing Hawkeye on the big screen very soon (and let's hope that Brian Michael Bendis doesn't suggest they kill him in one of those crazy Marvel movie production summit meetings we keep hearing about!)

Whether or not you've seen The Hurt Locker, what do you think of Jeremy Renner taking on role of the Avengers' master archer?

(Thanks to ComicBookMovie.com for bringing this story to our attention.)

[Dolemite]

Dude looks like someone deflated Jason Bateman's head a little.

[Advocate]

More news about Hawkeye ..

http://superherohype.com/news/avengersnews.php?id=8879

They talked to Jeremy Renner at the Independent Film Gotham Awards.

*important part bolded.

We told him how excited SuperHeroHype readers--at least the ones who've seen The Hurt Locker--were about his possible casting in the role, and how hopefully those who haven't seen the movie will try and check it out. "They sold me on the idea, too, because I love the idea that Hawkeye's really not a superhero," Jeremy told us. "He's just a man with a high skill set, so I can relate to (that). The Marvel guys are great for how they made Iron Man to be, 'Oh, that's actually plausible' so I bought it and I love that. They're really, really smart guys and I'd love to work for 'em, and we'll see if it works out."

When we asked him if he's started reading up on his Hawkeye comic book history just in case he gets the role, he gave us a possible hint of what the character might look like in the movie compared to the comics: "Yeah, but it's going to be modernized, it's not going to be the guy with the big purple (mask), it's not going to be a guy in tights. It's going to be a guy in sunglasses and a vest. He's going to be more modernized and I'm gonna say, 'A cooler-looking version' and not the big weird costume he had on. I don't think they're going that route."

SOOOO ....

We can expect this to be like I said in line with the Ultimates line.

[Advocate]

Jeremy Renner now says he's NOT playing Hawkeye, but let it be known that Hawkeye would be in Thor and The Avengers movie.

Now in an interview with Movieline, Renner says there’s no deal.

That was just one of those things that got blown way out of proportion. It was an idea. Those Marvel guys, I’m a big fan of them. They’re so smart about how they want to do these things…So they thought Hawkeye is an interesting role, and asked me if I knew anything about him. I said no, so they gave me their sort of spiel on what he was, and I thought that it was kind of interesting. The only reason it came out this early, because Avengers is two years away, is that they’re thinking OK, we may throw him in Thor, we may not, as a cameo. You know what I mean? So there’s truth that we talked about it, but there’s no truth to me doing it.

Even when actor denials about roles turn out to be false, I’m a fan of taking people at their word. Could Renner still be Hawkeye eventually? Sure, and it would likely be great. But for now we’ll assume it’s as he says, and be thankful if it turns out otherwise.

In other news ...

To be honest the thing that I'm most excited about right now though, is the screen test we just finished for "Thor." We've done some costume tests and watching the Asgardians walk onto the sound stage takes me back to that first time I saw the X-Men on the set all together in Toronto. Only it was unlike anything we've ever put on film before! It's great to be starting the next decade in such an exciting way just as we did last decade. We're really redefining the comic book genre and what a Marvel movie can be. It's going to be great.

The rest of the article:

Kevin Feige in his own words,

Mining the Marvel Universe

The mid-decade also brought the "Fantastic Four," "Punisher" and "Elektra" films. This got studios wanting to move forward with a lot of the characters faster. Things got a little out of our hands then. That's when we started thinking above making the movies internally. When the day finally came that we had our own studio, that's when everything changed.

With Great Movies Comes Great Loyalty

"Spider-Man 3" and "X-Men: The Last Stand" were the most successful of their franchises and that says a lot about the loyalty of the fans. They were challenging films to make. "Spider-Man 3" got to be too much of a good thing. With those films we learned that bigger is not always better.

With Great Casting Comes Great Acting

In terms of casting these films, Ian McKellen [as Magneto] and Patrick Stewart [as Professor Charles Xavier] really set the bar pretty high. Hugh Jackman and Tobey Maguire also established a high precedence for filling the shoes of our iconic characters [as Wolverine and Spider-Man respectively]. We wanted the same thing when we started casting our own movies. The reaction to the new trailer for "Iron Man 2" has been great. With Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson joining the cast [as Whiplash and the Black Widow] everyone is real excited.

Hammer Time

To be honest the thing that I'm most excited about right now though, is the screen test we just finished for "Thor." We've done some costume tests and watching the Asgardians walk onto the sound stage takes me back to that first time I saw the X-Men on the set all together in Toronto. Only it was unlike anything we've ever put on film before! It's great to be starting the next decade in such an exciting way just as we did last decade. We're really redefining the comic book genre and what a Marvel movie can be. It's going to be great.

[Will]

Yeah, when Kirk's huge, jacked dad attacked the Romulan ship with that giant hammer I just knew he was right to play Thor.

I'm kind of surprised you would say this Dolemite given how much of a fitness buff you are.

While Hemsworth isn't fucking JACKED, I think he has a pretty good muscle base to work with while he starts to undergo physical training for the part. If he were skinnier or didn't have much muscle at all I would be more worried since it'll take longer to get bigger but as he is I think he has a much easier time putting on more pounds and muscle.

[Dolemite]

I'm kind of surprised you would say this Dolemite given how much of a fitness buff you are.

While Hemsworth isn't fucking JACKED, I think he has a pretty good muscle base to work with while he starts to undergo physical training for the part. If he were skinnier or didn't have much muscle at all I would be more worried since it'll take longer to get bigger but as he is I think he has a much easier time putting on more pounds and muscle.

Actually, Will, you make a point. I was ripping on Hemsworth because Thor is supposed to be this giant guy, but I just watched the Youtube video Detour linked to above of Hemsworth in the soap opera he starred in and the dude is actually pretty fucking big...a lot bigger than I thought. With that frame, plenty of time in the gym, a ton of food, and a couple of well-placed needles, maybe he WOULD make a good Thor.