A serious actor like Anthony Hopkins (who has admitted on several occasions that he barely understands what's going on in the scripts he's handed by Marvel) agreeing to play Odin was a shock, but lent the studio a lot of credibility for Thor's first movie. Back in 2008 though, Brian Blessed was confirmed to play Thor's father, and fans were very excited.Somewhere along the line though the decision was made to replace him with Hopkins, perhaps because Marvel wanted an actor who would bring a greater level of dramatic weight to the role. Blessed is great, but could have veered into being too comedic.
