Ever since it was announced that Marvel Studios would unite their film properties in one universe, the potential problem has been Thor. Iron Man set the stage with Nick Fury bringing up The Avengers, eventually leading to the announcement that after Thor, Iron Man II and Captain America movies, there will be a team-up Avengers film featuring Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and The Hulk at least.
The films that have come thus far has had a degree of basis in reality, but everything we hear about Kenneth Branagh’s Thor insists it mostly takes place in a fantasy setting of Asgard, until now…
From IESB:
A reliable source tells the IESB that the character of Donald Blake has been added to the end of the script. Let me reiterate that he wasn’t there before, the script was set entirely in the land of the Norse Gods.
The introduction of the character is essential to how Marvel will tie Thor into the Avengers that is set in contemporary Tony Stark/Hulk timeframe. It explains how the actual Thor film will be set in the ancient time of the Norse Gods and how they will subsequently bring the character into a modern time with Donald Blake discovering the magical Norse hammer Mjolnir and turning into Thor.
Now is Thor sent to live amongst the humans with no memory of his life as Thor until he finds the hammer as in the comic book? I would have to assume so but this will all happen after we see Thor in his native land battling other Norse Gods in Asgard in order for the audience to learn his backstory.
For those unfamiliar with the Thor mythology, Donald Blake is the closest thing Thor ever had to a secret identity. In the comics, Blake’s consciousness is sent to some sort of limbo while Thor’s is placed inside Blake after being stripped of his memory (we’re pretty sure by Odin, his father). When Blake fins Mjolnir, the Hammer of Thor, he accesses the power to resurrect the Thunder God’s dormant consciousness, which has been affected by Blake’s human experiences.
Complex, yes, but it does a good job of getting Thor into the same world as Tony Stark.
