Ain't It Cool offers this surprising tidbit:

[W]e contacted a 100% tested and solid source, someone intimately familiar with the movie Kenneth Branagh is making, and he or she tells AICN [Thor's comic book alter ego] Donald Blake is definitely NOT in the movie.

Stay tuned.

To which we say: Wait, what? Our first reaction is, that has to be wrong. For one thing, we know that Natalie Portman has been cast as Jane Foster, who's long been Donald Blake's love interest in the comics. For another, Variety has described the movie as

center[ing] on a partly disabled med student who discovers his Norse god alter ego, the hammer-swinging Thor.

If that doesn't describe Donald Blake - who, admittedly, was a partially disabled doctor, not a med student, in the original comics - then we have no idea what it's meant to describe. But if AICN's source isn't wrong, then are we to look forward to a movie Thor similar to, but not, either the regular or Ultimate universe Thors? Stay tuned, indeed.

Will Alter-Ego Donald Blake Be In Thor Or Not?? [Ain't It Cool]

Talking to Comic Book Resources about a recent trip to Marvel Studios to discuss Thor, Quesada said,

We are incredibly confident [about the movie]. And there isn't much I could say to convince people beyond, "Look at these designs! Look at this script! Look at the moments in this story and tell me it won't be a huge success." But, that's obviously something I can't do, so the one thing I can say – and I've said as much to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige – is that people are going to go into this movie with a preconceived idea about what it will be. If you're a comics fan, you'll have a preconceived notion of what you're going to get. If you're a non-comics fan, you'll have another notion of what the movie is all about. And what's really amazing is that both groups will walk away going, "I've never seen anything like this before within the super hero genre." It's so cool, and I don't want to use the word unusual, but it is unusual in the sense that it redefines what a super hero movie can be. It's not the expected story or settings. That part of it is incredibly exciting to me.

Thor is set for release on 20th May 2011.

Cup O' Joe [Comic Book Resources]

Although his name may be unfamiliar to many, D'Esposito has been "President of Physical Production" for Marvel Studios since the beginning, overseeing the budget and timeline of Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and the upcoming Thor, Captain America and Avengers movies (Feige has called D'Esposito an "incredible friend and collaborator" in the past; we hope he still feels that way now that the two share job titles and responsibilities).

The most interesting part of this story is probably the questions it raises: Why does Marvel need a second Studio President now? Is Feige looking to take on more responsibilities elsewhere, or are we about to hear of an increased slate of post-Avengers plans already?

Marvel Studios appoints new co-president [Hollywood Reporter]

The rumor hit the internet when Ain't It Cool reported that actor Matthias Schweighöfer had mentioned the two were newly attached to the movie in an interview with the German version of GQ magazine. Who would the two big-name actors be playing?
DeNiro's stature leads us to two possible suggestions: he'd be perfect as Odin - Thor and Loki's father and king of all the Norse Gods - but Brian Blessed is already reportedly down for that role. And we wouldn't be surprised if Branagh was tempted to take him in the other direction and make him into Skurge The Executioner, Norse God enforcer and all-round bad-ass. As for Law, there's really only one role we'd want to see him in: Balder the Brave, Thor's annoyingly-handsome best friend and occasional sidekick.

Of course, without confirmation from Branagh or Marvel, we'll have to assume that it's just a rumor. But we can dream, can't we...?

Asked by MTV whether the Hulk could show up as the villain in 2012's Avengers movie, Norton said,

In the comics, there was always a tension between [the Hulk and] the rest of the superhero community and he was always this problem... They treat him as this problem. I think that's a fun way to go with it.

That's a much more positive response than he gave to a similar question this summer, but that may be because Marvel Studios president has strongly hinted that the Hulk will likely appear in the movie. Here's hoping he's the unwitting foil of Thor's half-brother Loki, as per the original comics...

Edward Norton Likes The Idea Of Hulk As 'Avengers' Villain [MTV Splash Page]

Dick Cook, the now-former chairman of Disney Studios, left the position this weekend after 38 years at the company; in his seven years as chairman, he was one of the more vocal early supporters of the now-popular digital 3-D format, and in large part responsible for both the creation of Guillermo del Toro's Double Dare You and the acquiring of Marvel.

Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke is reporting that not only was Cook fired from the position due to the recent lackluster performance of Disney movies at the box office, but that a possible frontrunner for his replacement is Marvel's Feige:

There's been a lot of talk that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige spent a lot of time with Disney CEO Bob Iger during the dealmaking to buy the company, and Feige impressed the hell out of Iger.

If Feige takes the position, it'll validate the talk of the Marvel/Disney deal being close to the Pixar/Disney deal even more; just as Pixar's John Lassetter became Disney's Chief Creative Officer, bringing Pixar culture to the parent company, so would Marvel culture become part of Disney's core operations with Feige's appointment.

News broke early this morning that the Walt Disney Co. have acquired Marvel Entertainment in a move that, according to the official press release on the subject, "highlights Disney's strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value."

The deal will give the House of Mouse the rights to all of Marvel's characters, but current licensing deals with movie studios like Fox (X-Men) and Sony (Spider-Man) will stay in place, according to this morning's investor conference call to discuss the sale. Despite reassurances on the call that the deal wasn't about acquiring the characters or stories but bringing in Marvel's talent pool ("No one knows their characters and stories better than the folks at Marvel" it was said at one point), Disney President Bob Iger sure made it sound like Disney was looking to take a firmer control Marvel's IP in this morning's statement:

This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories.

Marvel's current management structure will stay in place despite the acquisition, and the company is expected to maintain its two main bases in New York and LA in a similar fashion to Pixar continuing to operate in Emeryville, CA, following their own acquisition by Disney in 2006. However, the goal of the sale, it was said on today's call, is

not to rebrand Marvel as Disney but to shine a spotlight on the Marvel brand.

When asked about this changing Marvel's movie plans, it was said that Marvel Studios would make decisions about 3D or co-branding autonomously, although "sparks will fly" following meetings between Marvel and Disney/Pixar CCO John Lasseter because everyone was so excited about collaborative opportunities: "Exciting product may come from that," it was said.

The sale, while approved by both Disney and Marvel, is not necessarily a done deal. Before being finalized, the sale has to be approved by Marvel stockholders (who'll received an estimated $30 per share plus Disney shares, if it goes through) and approved by antitrust committees.

Developing.

Additional Reporting by Meredith Woerner.

Talking to Comic Book Resources, Feige admitted that Samuel L. Jackson's nine movie deal with Marvel is indeed a clue as to how the Avengers are going to get toegther:

At the end of the first [Iron Man], for the people who were patient enough to wait through the end credits, they met this guy named Nick Fury. They or Tony had no idea who he was. In this movie, he opens that door a little bit more for Tony and invites him to walk through it. Tony may or may not do that in this movie. But Nick Fury is the conduit through which all the characters will connect.

When asked whether the Hulk would feature in the Avengers movie, Feige replied,

I think so. In the comics, he has.

Another character we can expect to see in Avengers is Scarlett Johannsen's Black Widow; Feige was asked whether fans could expect to see her in that movie or her own spin-off, and he said,

She's signed on for all of those should we be lucky enough to have an audience that wants to see them.

So now we know at least six characters who'll be appearing in the movie: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Nick Fury and Black Widow. Given that Iron Man 2 is also introducing well-known Avengers character Hawkeye, it's a fair bet to assume he'll be a seventh... and we have a line-up that should be very familiar not only to fans of Marvel's early Avengers comics, but also Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Ultimates rebooted version. With Avengers screenwriter Zak Penn having previously said that Ultimates was a big influence on how he approaches this material, is it too early to assume that the first Avengers movie will be an adaptation of that particular series?

Kevin Feige on Marvel Studios Slate [Comic Book Resources]

Talking to reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in California, Norton dodged the question of his involvement or lack thereof in Marvel's superhero mashup movie:

I probably won't comment on that just because they keep a pretty tight rein on what they are letting out... I'll let them [address it].

The lack of a concrete "no" is leading many people to assume that he will make an appearance, especially in light of his deference to Marvel despite the rumored creative battles over last summer's Hulk movie. Given that the various comic origins of the Avengers team have always included the Hulk in one form or another, it'd make sense for Banner and his green-skinned alter ego to make an appearance, but only time will tell if Norton's coyness came from a positive place, or just a desire not to break fanboy hearts.

Hulk's Edward Norton mum on Avengers [SciFi Wire]

Although the screenplay for Jon Favreau's much-anticipated sequel was written by Justin Theroux, Fraction - who, in addition to the monthly Invincible Iron Man series, also writes the Uncanny X-Men comic for Marvel - consulted on the story in its early stages, and spoilers suggest that the movie may follow the comics' development of Gwyneth Paltrow into a superhero of her own. Fraction calls the IM2 game "something wholly unique," explaining,

[It's] a story that exists at the crossroads of the comics I write, the film universe I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to, and a wholly immersive interactive experience like this game... Writing a game presents an entirely new challenge, where the player engages with the world, with the big and small aspects of the place and characters. They're a coconspirator in the narrative. I hope it's as exciting and challenging to play as it was to write.

With a storyline about the abuse of Stark's Iron Man technology, the game will include characters who haven't yet appeared in the movie universe, including the much-anticipated Crimson Dynamo. This crossover between movies, comics and games is the latest step in Marvel's corporate synergy, which has previously included Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis working on the videogame of the character and created a short-lived MTV cartoon based on his take, in addition to the fabled Marvel Brain Trust of comic creators involved with plot decisions on Marvel Studios movies.

Sega's Iron Man 2 game will be released in Spring next year, ahead of the May release of the movie.

Fraction To Write "Iron Man 2" Video Game" [Comic Book Resources]

We're being played by Jon Favreau and friends, and we kind of love it. As Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Marvel.com,

What's more difficult in shooting a sequel is that expectations are much higher for this film and we really want to top what we did on the first film... Every day involved working extremely hard in order to improve upon what we did on the first film.

But his comment in EW's latest issue suggested just how they're planning on lowering those expectations:

I liked when the first Whiplash photo came out and people were like, 'What is this? Is that just a prototype suit?'... I'm like, Good! They're doubting us! That's my comfort zone.

So, that really might've been a foiler photo, after all? Although, you have to admit: If they really released that pic so that we'd doubt them on IM2, they know exactly what they're doing.

Iron Man 2 Wraps on Schedule [Marvel.com]

Talking to Crave Online, Marvel Studios' Head of Marketing, Doug Finberg, seemed both on-message about Iron Man 2 ("The combination of what Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios President] has and what everybody at Marvel Studios brings to the table is really a winning formula that we look forward to repeating so we're really hopeful that audiences continue to come and that's our goal") and eager to drop hints about the studios other upcoming movies, Captain America and Avengers:

Let's get through Thor before we actually get that far [as to discuss casting of Captain America]... It's ultimately about we want to get Thor right and then move on and actually just really give that the time that it needs to develop it, get it on screen, bring it to the audience. Then we're going to move on to Captain America so we're a little far out [to finalize the line up of] The Avengers, so we'll get there.

If we're a little far out for Avengers, why is Zak Penn scripting the movie already?

I think that's a tribute to just how rich the Marvel universe is, that it actually is that deep and the fabric is that intertwined that it takes that long to actually develop the process before we can actually get to the point of shooting a script.

Doesn't having a rich, deep backstory mean that writing the script would be easier...?

Doug Finberg on Marvel Studios projects [Crave Online]

First off, let's remember that Marvel doesn't have access to all of their own characters when it comes to movies; Fox have the rights to the X-Men characters, the Fantastic Four and certain related characters, and the Daredevil franchise, while Sony will doubtless do everything it can to keep hold of the hugely-successful Spider-Man license. So where does that leave Marvel? Well, with plenty of other characters, it seems... Here are our suggestions, complete with high concept pitches to sell them to the execs, and split out into genres:

Action
Comedy
Fantasy
Thriller
Trippy SF

You're welcome, Marvel.

The Eternals
The Pitch: "Learn the true history of humanity!"
The Explanation: Forget Neil Gaiman's recent attempt to restart this franchise and go back to Jack Kirby's original, which said that humanity was just one of three races created by giant, godlike robots called the Celestials, who have come back to Earth to judge us. Oh, and those two other races? They're the idealized Eternals and the evil Deviants, and they're at war over humanity's survival. Imagine a story this epic (and, admittedly, dumb) being given to JJ Abrams and prepare for box office success.
Must Read: The Eternals by Jack Kirby volumes 1 and 2.

Star Brand
The Pitch: "Man has discovered the ultimate weapon. Watch out, Pittsburgh."
The Explanation: Marvel's 1980s attempt at "realism", the New Universe, contained one particular classic, the story of a man who gains the universe's ultimate weapon - a brand that gives its owner unlimited power - and, well, loses his mind in the process, accidentally destroying his home town of Pittsburgh and launching the world into a nuclear winter as a result. We want to see what Charlie Kaufman could do with this, to be honest.
Must Read: Star Brand Classic volume 1 starts the story, but things get more interesting - and more weird - in the not-yet-reprinted later issues.

Machine Man
The Pitch: "What does it mean to be human, when you're not?"
The Explanation: Jack Kirby - yes, him again - created this character, an android just trying to make it in a world of fleshy humans, as part of his continuation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, so you could almost say that he's fated to be a movie star. Downplay the character's various attempts to be a superhero and cut to the core of the character: Kirby's lonely, melancholic outsider wondering what the human condition actually is. Add Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, and let rise, slowly.
Must Read: Currently out of print, you'd be best served by looking for Kirby's short-lived run on the original, 1970s, version of the Machine Man series.

The Winter Soldier
The Pitch: "It's The Manchurian Candidate with cyborgs!"
The Explanation: Ignore the comic version's association with Captain America - He was originally Cap's WWII sidekick Bucky, and took over as Cap after Steve Rogers' assassination a couple of years ago - and focus on the character's origin story: An American soldier, saved from near death by Russians only to be brainwashed and given cyborg implants before being used as an assassin during the Cold War, struggling to break free of his programming. How could that fail? Just get rid of the long hair he had in the comic.
Must Read: Captain America: The Winter Soldier volumes 1 and 2.

SHIELD
The Pitch: "Everything you've ever wanted James Bond movies to be... but better."
The Explanation: It's Marvel's premiere spy agency, made up of grizzled veterans of wars both Cold and World, keeping the world safe with gadgets that would make James Bond jealous: Flying cars? Artificial intelligence decoys? A floating helicopter city headquarters? Even their terrorist nemesis organizations have cool-sounding names: AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics)! Hydra! You'd have to try to mess this one up. Or, you know, cast David Hasselhoff.
Must Read: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD by Jim Steranko.

Agents of Atlas
The Pitch: "The A-Team does Mission Impossible on a much larger scale."
The Explanation: A resurrected FBI agent inherits a terrorist organization and decides to use it to save the world from itself. Oh, and his best friends include a talking gorilla, a siren, a robot and a nice Jewish boy for Uranus. Jeff Parker's wonderful series repurposing old characters from Marvel's pre-Fantastic Four days is funny, smart and, while it may not seem like it at first glance, exactly the kind of thing to make a movie out of. Give it to the Coen brothers and see what happens.
Must Read: The collection of the original 2007 Agents of Atlas series. Although you wouldn't go wrong with the current monthly series, either.

Black Knight
The Pitch: "What if Martin Lawrence's Black Knight movie wasn't played for laughs and didn't suck?"
The Explanation: Simplify this Avenger's backstory considerably, and you've got the plot for a movie: The ancestor of a famous soldier during the time of King Arthur ends up, through magical process, back in that era and creating the legend that his ancestor was supposed to have personified. Yes, it's Hiro's plot from the second season of Heroes, but Black Knight did it first. And, let's face it, better.
Must Read: Essential Defenders volume 1 gives you some of the character's time traveling history.

Killraven
The Pitch: "War Of The Worlds by way of Planet of the Apes."
The Explanation: Set in an alternate world so far out that it may as well be Middle-Earth, Killraven is the story of War of The Worlds Round 2: The Martians from HG Wells' original story have come back and enslaved humanity, forcing breeding so that they can eat babies (Subtle, this isn't) and otherwise just using and abusing humanity as they see fit. Only one man - Jonathan Raven, apparently called "Kill" to his friends - can save the human race in what can only be described as Battleground Earth done right.
Must Read: Essential Killraven volume 1.

Hellcat
The Pitch: "Buffy for the The Devil Wears Prada audience."
The Explanation: Patsy Walker had it all - Life as a teen superstar, the perfect boyfriend, and her future ahead of her - but somehow, she ended up as a superhero with unexplained magic powers, a former demon as an ex-husband and at least one post-death experience. If someone in Hollywood can't work out how to turn that into a series of allegories for the modern woman, they should just ask writer Kathryn Immonen, whose recent takes on the character's comic incarnation have been quirky, fun and the kind of thing we want to see more of.
Must-Read: The collection of Immonen's Patsy Walker: Hellcat stories comes out a week on Wednesday. You'll want to buy it.

Prime
The Pitch: "Big with superpowers."
The Explanation: 13 year old Kevin Green can turn into an adult superhero anytime he wants... except that he's still the same boy inside, and his adult body reacts to how he's feeling at the time. Which is great when he's feeling invincible and superhuman, but when he's feeling embarrassed or afraid...? Look out. This Captain Marvel (The one with "Shazam," this time) homage adds a layer of self-consciousness and comedy that's perfect for a family comedy... and one that's apparently been in the works for more than five years. So where is it?
Must-Read: All of Prime's appearances are out of print, but hunt the back issue bins for his early 1990s series.

Ka-Zar
The Pitch: "Tarzan meets The Incredibles."
The Explanation: There's little to recommend Marvel's shameless rip-off of Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous Tarzan, with the one exception of the little-remembered late 1990s series by Kingdom Come and Flash writer Mark Waid that brought the character and his family to New York to escape the dangers of his usual prehistoric jungle world, only for those dangers to follow him (and turn out to be something very out of his league). The mix of action, sitcom (especially Ka-Zar discovering his love of gadgets) and drama marks it out as something that could easily work for a mainstream audience, especially if some CGI dinosaurs made an appearance.
Must-Read: Again, nothing in print, but go looking for the 20 issue Ka-Zar series that launched in 1997.

Death's Head
The Pitch: "The Terminator meets Doctor Who."
The Explanation: Everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine. In fact, everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine that can travel through time. But what happens when said unstoppable, time-traveling killing machine happens to be a bounty hunter from the future with a strange personal code of ethics and peculiarly English sensibilities, and he's become stranded in our time? Hint: Michael Bay's explosion-filled wet dreams.
Must Read: Death's Head volumes 1 and 2.

Starjammers
The Pitch: "Pirates Of The Carribean in space!"
The Explanation: If Marvel could manage to get these X-Men characters away from Fox (The leader of the Starjammers is Cyclops' dad in the comics), then just imagine the movie that could be made from following a group of intergalactic smugglers-turned-freedom fighters around for awhile. All the fun of Star Wars with none of the Jedi stuff? Surely this is a no-brainer.
Must Read: Essential X-Men volume 3 has a good chunk of Starjammer action.

Vance Astro/The Guardians Of The Galaxy
The Pitch: "Buck Rogers with super-powers and mild insanity!"
The Explanation: The first man sent on a long-term intergalactic mission, Astro wakes up after ten centuries of suspended animation with telekinetic powers and the discovery that the universe is being enslaved by an alien race. Stealing a space ship and gathering together an intergalactic A-Team, Astro dedicates his life to freeing the human race... Or, at least, changing his name to something less dated. I mean, "Astro"? Really?
Must Read: Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome.

Captain Marvel
The Pitch: "What if Earth's mightiest hero was actually here as an alien spy?"
The Explanation: Firstly, no, he's not the "Shazam" guy. This Captain Marvel is an alien sent to Earth to spy on humanity who ends up empathizing with us a little too much... and pays the price, when his race declare him a traitor for daring to defend Earth. Interstellar politics and a superstrong flying guy who likes to punch things, this is Superman updated for the cynical age. I'm saying, give it to Paul Greengrass and see what happens.
Must Read: Essential Captain Marvel volume 1.