So Iron Man is just a rich industrialist who happens to have some fancy toys, and the Hulk is a regular guy who's really, really unhappy about his superpowers. But Thor, the next Marvel hero to jump on screen? He's an ancient hero with ancient hero type powers who has nothing, really, do to with the modern world. But if he's going to be part of the planned Avengers, fighting right alongside Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, he needs to jump into the current millennium-- and apparently the makers of Thor have figured out how to do it.
IESB.net got their hands on a copy of the script over a year ago, and found that the entire thing took place in Thor's native land of Asgard-- you know, heroes and kings and all that. But apparently a new draft incorporates the character of Donald Blake, a modern-day man who becomes Thor when he discovers the hero's Norse hammer. There are still plenty of questions, which IESB raises. Is Donald Blake actually Thor, and just doesn't remember his previous life? Will this happen halfway through the movie, or as some kind of epilogue along the lines of Nick Fury's appearance in Iron Man?
Either way, it's smart for them to introduce the modern-day character in the first movie. Given all the basic challenges in assembling an Avengers movie, it's best to make it as easy as possible to bring all these characters together in a logical way. IESB has a few more details on the movie as well, including that Kenneth Branagh will have a small role in the film, kind of like Jon Favreau's appearance in Iron Man.
