Coming later this year we will see Thor: God Of Thunder the relaunched title from Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative. Take a look at Ribic’s cover for issue #1 below as well as a few excerpt from the interview with Jason Aaron.

Aaron on what to expect story wise:

“I do flash back and show a young Thor in action, but he’s actually just one of three Thors that I want to focus on. This first story is an epic tale that plays out over the course of thousands of years. So we spend time with young Thor in the Viking age — the young, hotheaded god of the Vikings, who loves to come down to Midgard and get into trouble. In the present, we see Thor the Avenger on a journey that takes him to the far corners of space, interacting with all sorts of new space gods and wondrous new locations. And then we also see old King Thor, who’s the last king of Asgard, thousands of years in the future, where something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Linking all these eras and Thors together is one villain, an all-new character [Gorr, the God Butcher], who is basically, at least initially, a serial killer of gods. He’s a guy with a serious axe to grind against all immortal beings in the cosmos, and he’s going around doing his best to kill them all off, one at a time, as brutally as possible. That villain’s story unfolds over the course of all these different eras. He starts as a serial killer of gods, but by the end, he has become something even more frightening.”

Aaron on Esad Ribic’s artwork:

We’re a few issues in at this point and it’s looking terrific. Just look at the first two covers, which fit together in one big image. I think once people see those two covers, it’ll be obvious that this is a special moment for Thor, art-wise. Esad is doing what I think will be a defining take on this character for a long time to come. The pages have been just amazing. All I do is get out of the way and let him go. It’s jaw-dropping work. I’m just trying to give him enough stuff to go wild with. He’s getting to design new locations, new sorts of cities of the gods, obviously a whole new villain, and new creatures swirling around him. Esad has been sinking his teeth into all that stuff and making it his own.

Most people in the last couple of years have seen Esad’s stuff on Uncanny X-Force, I think. He contributed a lot to the look and feel of that book, just with those first several covers. And then he and I previously worked together on the Wolverine: The List one-shot from a few years ago, with Fantomex and Marvel Boy. I think the covers and the pencils for these first few issues of Thor are some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen from Esad.

Source: Newsarama

Marvel has released another teaser announcing the teams behind one of their upcoming Marvel NOW! relaunches. Jason Aaron (Incredible Hulk) and Esad Ribic (Uncanny X-Force) will be the team behind Thor’s new title! Look for more new Marvel NOW! teasers throughout this week.

Not too long ago we reported that ‘Chuck’ star Zachary Levi may be joining ‘Thor 2’ as Fandral. Levi was originally up for the role in 2010 but had to back out due to a third season of ‘Chuck’.

Recently Levi spoke with the Huffington Post about the talks on the internet of him replacing Joshua Dallas who would not be returning.

“There was quite a lot of rumbling that went on,” Levi laughed. “That all of a sudden popped up. I was in Japan at the time and I was on Twitter and people started Tweeting me that Josh Dallas had to back out of the film and they were saying, “Oh opening! Opening!” And I think maybe my fans knew that I had to back out of Fandral back in the day, then they started this whole stuff about me in the movie.”

“I can’t really comment on that at the moment, but I would be honored to be in that movie. I would be crazy honored to be in that movie. It would be this very amazing kind of kismet, serendipitous, roundabout way of being about to play the role as well. I have no intention of not acting. I’m constantly going for the roles that I can get & that I’m passionate about. It’s kind of 1 hand feeding the other. I think the more I can succeed in my acting career, the more exposure that gives to myself […]. So I’m fully trying to do that.”

With ‘Thor 2’ getting ready to go into production he may just be biting his tongue until the possibility of an announcement at Marvel Studios Comic-Con panel on Saturday in Hall H. I’ll be making a giant update Saturday night full of all the juicy details of Hall H unless somehow I get eaten by a frost giant while in line. For Asgard!

UPDATE: While it was just yesterday that he was unable to discuss the matter, Levi proudly confirmed on the Tonight Show he will be playing Fandral and appearing at Comic-Con this weekend to promote. This also confirms we will be getting ‘Thor 2’ casting news at Saturdays Marvel Studios panel.

‘Thor 2’ swings into theaters November 15, 2013.