Who Could Play The Female 'Thor' On The Big Screen?
In a move that many comic book aficionados may not have expected, Marvel Comics has announced that one of their most dominant male characters has been given a sex change. In the new comic series due out in October, Thor, based on the Norse God of Thunder and one of Marvel's 'big three', will be a female character. But this isn't just big news for fans of the printed material.
The character Thor has had a huge impact on screen as well and has been involved in two hugely successful films, Thor and Thor: The Dark World and is an integral part of The Avengers ensemble and its forthcoming sequel.
So, the big question is: who will play this new female fighting force when it inevitably hits the cinemas?
An obvious choice simply because she was one of the first women to break the female action figure barrier.
She took no prisoners as the titular character in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its sequel, was prepared to kill her husband as a skilled, assassin in Mr and Mrs Smith and showed no mercy as a wanted CIA operative in Salt.
But, as Jolie expands her dark side through more subtle modes such as the evil Queen in Maleficent while developing her own personal reputation as a Special Envoy for the United Nations: has she grown out of guns, hand to hand combat and playing rough?
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Maybe Angie could pass the mantle on to the new generation of kick-ass women in which Jennifer Lawrence fits as a result of her portrayal of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games trilogy and Mystique in X-Men First Class and X-Men Days of Future Past.
Like Jolie, Lawrence is not simply a one-woman action heroine, there to save the day and do little else, but is very capable of playing a wide variety of characters and emotional possibilities as evident from the two Oscars that must surely sit somewhere very proudly in her home.
_Anne Hathaway's gentle character created from such roles as reluctant princess Mia in The Princess Diaries and its later sequel and put-upon assistant Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada did not prepare the world for her dazzlingly duplicitous turn as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises._
But surprise us she did and, consequently, put herself very much in the running for such as role as the female God of Thunder.
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_Another Devil Wears Prada contender, Emily Blunt is flying the flag for England in Hollywood with a recent spate of film successes including Looper and _Edge of Tomorrow.__
In both roles her character knows how to use a gun and surely a hammer cannot much harder to wield?
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The possibilities of Thor actresses are obviously endless. But at least it's good to know there is no shortage of female superstars even if female action heroes come up only once in a very blue moon.