Not so long ago, a disgruntled former Marvel employee (or at least someone representing themselves as one) took to Reddit (that bastion of employment tribunals) to say Marvel were concerned about the Thor franchise and were making major strides to hire a big name director to rescue it. Back then, Adam McKay, Matt Reeves and Gareth Edwards were all suggested - all of whom would have brought something different to the table - but now, according to some digging by Heroic Hollywood's Umberto Gonzalez, a different name has been suggested. Now, Gonzalez - who has a track record for occasionally making wild leaps of speculation (or listening to the wrong sources, depending on who you believe) - is saying to take his suggestion with a pinch of salt, but he claims to have worked out that Thomas Daly might be the man in the middle. Gonzalez seems to have a checklist of "clues" that point towards Daly: that he's a young and upcomer, that he worked for the Royal Shakespeare Association, that he's had success with short films and his debut film received a lot of buzz. Oh, and that he's from "overseas". All of that does fit Daly's profile: he's only made Tiger House so far and he's widely talked about as a "hot young thing", so who knows. Confirmation will apparently follow shortly, though it's best to remember precedent and iffy track records, as well as the fact that the "source" here doesn't have total faith in his own claims: https://twitter.com/elmayimbe/status/649848195757924352 Whether it's true or not, the rumour does ask some questions of how Marvel view the franchise. After The Dark World, it wouldn't have been that much of a surprise if Kevin Feige had dropped Thor entirely from the stand-alone slate, and used him as a powerful ringer in the Avengers movies only. The sequel was awful - a serious low-point for the MCU - and it was already clear that without endlessly recycling the Loki/Thor dynamic, there was little excitement for fans. Hopefully, all out civil war on Asgard, and rumours of Thanos playing some part should change that sagging feeling, but it's still very much the black sheep of the MCU. And having an untried young talent lead it could be deemed as the wrong gamble, even if it does follow Marvel's Pixar-like fascination with unexpected and developmental director hires. It's very early in the day for Thor Ragnarok at the minute, given that Tom Hiddleston barely knows what's happening with Loki's future, but even now it feels like the trilogy ender needs to set out on the right path with a strong first step. If true, is this really it?
