Since Kenneth Branagh announced that he’ll not be returning to direct THOR 2 (he will produce however) the search for his replacement has surprisingly yielded very few names, until today.

Director Brian Kirk has now been named as the favourite to helm the further adventures of our favourite hammer-wielding hero. Yeah, we had to look him up too.

Now while Kirk is predominantly a TV director and might not carry the same clout as Branagh (or Whedon, or Favreau, or Johnston), he has been involved in many acclaimed shows – GAME OF THRONES, DEXTER, BOARDWALK EMPIRE to name but a few. Quality stuff for sure, but is a big franchise flick like this the right place to field test someones transition from TV to features? Or are Marvel getting wary of their A-list directors having too much control? We seem to remember a little failing out between them and Favreau on IRON MAN 2. Maybe a TV director would just do as they were told. Or maybe I’m totally wrong and Kirk really is the man for the job. We’ll see.

THOR 2 is scheduled for a July 26th 2013 release date.

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