by: S. Scott Stanikmas

One of Marvel’s bigger projects in Phase Three is definitely the third film in the Thor series. Considering he’s the only Avenger not in Captain America: Civil War, this is probably the film that Marvel Studios is going to use to show us why the God of Thinder is too preoccupied to help out on Midgard.

With a subtitle of Ragnarok, signaling the twilight of the gods and the death of the Asgardians, one would think that this is going to be a huge, sweeping epic of Shakespearean proportions – which is why the current rumors of who Marvel is looking at to direct make perfect sense.

Heroic Hollywood is saying that the studio is looking to bring Kenneth Branagh back into the fold and have him helm the tertiary installment in the saga of Asgard’s favorite son.

Quite the coincidence in timing with this one. It’s been said that Branagh in talks to direct an adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express for FOX. Could this be Marvel Studio’s sly way of getting back at FOX for not giving up the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises?

Putting that aside, it does make sense to bring Kenneth Branagh back. He might not be aces in the action department, but his character work with his actors is above reproach. If this is going to be the swansong for the Thor franchise, I’d rather see an epic drama with the occasional fight than an all-out action piece where they happen to talk.

This is still in the rumor phase though. Thor: Ragnarok won’t hit theaters until November 3, 2017, so considerations for a director are still just a little ways off. But Branagh coming back would be a fitting and poetic end for the series if he did.