Hosted by Empire’s Chris Hewitt, the panel began with a message from director Kenneth Branagh which was first read out to the 500 strong crowd. As some of you may know, it was previously believed that he would be there alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, and in his message, he apologised for the mistake and wished the audience all the best. It was a fairly humorous address which included plenty of references to Asgard and
Thor. We were then shown the three clips from the movie (you can find a description of the longest one by clicking) and it was shortly after this that the two main stars were finally unveiled.
Needless to say, they both entered to a rapturous series of applause and cheers. I can’t deny that the first thing I noticed was just how huge Chris Hemsworth was! His arms alone are massive, and there’s no doubt he’s in peak physical condition in anticipation for when
The Avengers starts filming in May. The panel began with some general chit chat between Hewitt and the duo, discussing the movie and how they had seen the final cut literally the night before. Hiddleston also talked about auditioning for the role of Thor, and then realising the first time he saw Hemsworth in action that he would never have been able to pull it off. Hemsworth responded by laughing that he’d never be able to have played Loki as he’s not smart enough.
The first question from the audience was of course regarding whether or not Loki will have a role in
The Avengers. At this, Hiddleston looked more than a little uncomfortable until Hemsworth stepped in and jokingly said neither of them could reveal any details in fear of being recast! Another fan then mentioned the criticism that was levelled at
Iron Man 2 for being an “advertisement” for the 2012 superhero team-up. They both responded to this by pointing out that while cameos from the likes of Hawkeye were there for the fans as a teaser for that movie,
Thor very much remains its own standalone tale and once again praised Kenneth Branagh for doing such a great job of achieving this.
From here, things got a little…awkward, as one extremely enthusiastic fan, who strangely referred to Chris as "the main one", launched into a lengthy question about which characters they’d both like to see in any future movies. (dropping names like the Enchantress and Executioner) For a few seconds, Hemsworth and Hiddleston looked a little befuddled, until the latter proved his comic book cred by saying he’d love to see Thor take on the fiery demon Surtur as it would make for such an epic fight sequence. Hemsworth meanwhile joked that he’d love to see what the character was getting up to during the Viking period. “Thor before Thor”.
As the panel began to come to an end, they both recounted the huge amount of training they both went to in order to prepare for the role and were quizzed about whether they took anything from the set. Hemsworth revealed his regret for not nabbing one of the various Mjolnir’s (but promised that he’d have one by the time
The Avengers finishes filming) while Hiddleston said he would have taken one of Loki’s helmets had they not all been broken or damaged during their fight scenes.
This led Hemsworth to recall one instance where he had to avoid being hit by the horns, only to accidently elbow Hiddleston right in the face! He also talked about how hot the helmet was and how sweat was literally dropping from his face because of it. Hewitt once again teased the actor about whether we’d see him as Loki in
The Avengers (as he had done a fair few times during the session) and the actor finally responded by saying that [SPOILER] while Loki is defeated at the end of
Thor [END SPOILER] there’s absolutely no reason why we won’t see him again!
And that was it! After saying goodbye to the star stuck audience, the actors left to yet another round of applause and cheers. All I can say is that if these guys have the same amount of chemistry on the big screen as they do in real life, we’d better see the two of them side by side again in
The Avengers ASAP!
With an all star cast which includes Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury,
Thor is set to be released in the UK on April 29 and shortly after in the US on May 6, later this year!