Thor 2: Director Patty Jenkins leaves the film...

In a piece of sad news it turns out that Marvel Studios first female director, Jenkins, left Thor 2 due to the dreaded “creative differences”.

A director is a director and sex or colour shouldn’t really matter; but there’s no doubt that there was an interesting seeing what her take would be on such a male dominated genre. That was all the more pertinent given the emphasis (that has been hinted at) to be placed on the growing relationship between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) & Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

Patty Jenkins

Branagh oon set with "Thor" Chris Hemsworth.

Patty Jenkins is still best known for directing movie Monster, for which Charlize Theron won an Oscar, and (for North American viewers) AMC’s pilot for The Killing. Having a director with her background was a perfect follow up to what seemed like an unusual choice of director for Thor in Kenneth Branagh. That choice worked out perfectly as Thor became a popular hit worldwide, despite being the most risky of Marvel Studios early releases, because of the elements of Alien races, connections to Mythology & magic as well as the use of technology as magic. Marvel Studios have yet to make a statement, but perhaps they will return to original front runner Brian Kirk, director of episodes of Luther & Game of Thrones.

 According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jenkins had been bust working on the film just this weekend so we await details with interest. Thor has become Marvel Studios most important character, after Iron Man of course, after his film made $267m outside of North America (American Superhero movies often take 2 sequels to reach  a higher gross outside North America than in it) and a total just shy of $450m. Thor 2 is due for release on the 15^th of November 2013. Thor will of course return n The Avengers in April / May 2012.

The Solo-Avengers...

Film		Year	North American Gross	International Gross	Worldwide	Budget
1	Iron Man	200 8	$318,412,101	$266,762,12	$585,174,222	$140m
2	The Incredible Hulk	2008	$134,806,913	$128,620,638	$263,427,551	$150m
3	Iron Man 2	2010	$312,433,331	$311,500,000	$623,933,331	$200m
4	Thor	2011	$181,030,624	$267,482,200	$448,512,824	$150m
5	Captain America: The First Avenger	2011	$176,654,505	$ 191,750,151	$368,404,656	$140m

 Perhaps Branagh has had enough time away from Thor (a delay to the release meant Branagh ended up on Thor duty for almost an extra 12 months, to return to the director’s chair himself?