Attempts were made to bring Thor to the big screen for years, but no one could quite crack it. Believe it or not, there was a time on this very site when WWE Superstar Triple H was a fan-favourite pick for the role, seemingly only because he had muscles, long hair, and a penchant for wielding a sledgehammer.
Eventually, with only a select number of then-B-List of characters to its name, Marvel Studios moved forward with a solo outing for the God of Thunder with 2011's Thor. Chris Hemsworth, a relative unknown at the time, was cast as the titular hero and the movie proved a hit (spawning three sequels).
It's unclear what's next for the Odison after the mixed response to 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder, but prolific comic book and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman has now revealed he was once enlisted to develop a Thor animated series.
"Long ago - - around 2006 - - I was asked to create a Thor animated cartoon, and I got all excited, and the brief was it had to be set before the Thor movie," The Sandman creator explains (via Toonado.com). "I did a deep Thor dive, reread everything Jack Kirby drew, came up with a whole story shape that ran a few seasons showing young Loki going from hero-worshipping his big brother to Going to the Bad."
"And then they told me I wasn't actually allowed to have any of the characters at any point be different in any way from how they were in the Thor movie," Gaiman added, "so I said no thank you and stopped."
Yes, it appears Loki was going to take centre stage in the series.
Marvel Studios started mulling over plans for Thor around the same time Iron Man went into development and we're sure former MCU executive Avi Arad was keen to dream up a toyetic TV series that could serve as a lead-in to the movie. However, we'd bet on Kevin Feige having scrapped the idea once he took charge.
Hemsworth, who will soon be doing the rounds to promote Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is inevitably going to find himself fending off questions about Thor in the coming weeks. However, he made his requirements for an MCU return known last year.
"I've said it before, it all depends on the type of story. It has to be something unique," he explained. "What I don't want is to do the same with the character until the end, until there is a feeling of exhaustion in the audience. But if there is excitement for it, I am always willing to return."
"If there is a new story, it has to be something very special. I'm sure there's something exciting to tell, so we'll have to wait and see. You have to wait to find it."
Would you have liked to see Gaiman's Thor animated series? Let us know in the comments section.
We could have had an animated Thor series written by Neil Gaiman
byu/aneille inmarvelstudios