When I first saw The Punisher: War Zone I pretty much hated it.  Yet another Punisher reboot that simply didn’t work.  However, upon further reflection over subsequent months I realized War Zone wasn’t bad. Actually, it was Ray Stevenson’s performance as Frank Castle that single-handedly saved the film.

Stevenson continued to flesh out his bad ass resume as Titus Pullo in the mini-series Rome. While Titus was a more benign individual at times it didn’t take much to bring out the Punisher-esque tendencies when he reverted to his soldier role.  In fact, Rome had some of the best action sequences ever and Stevenson again was brilliant in this capacity.

So, what happens when you combine The Punisher and Titus Pullo? How about one of  Thor’s Warriors Three: Volstagg? Of course, the most obvious question was how Stevenson would fill out Volstagg’s large, um…physique:

“…a solution is at hand, in the shape of a fat suit. “It’s fantastic,” said a beaming Stevenson. “I’ve tried the suit on, and what they’ve done is kind of sex him up: he’s sort of slimmer but rounder.”

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It shouldn’t be completely surprising that an actor of Anthony Hopkins stature has decided to take the role of Odin, the father of Thor and Loki, in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming big screen adaptation of the comic Thor. After all, famous actors playing parts such as this in big budget fantasy or genre movies is not completely unheard of.

As an example, take a look at the original Clash of the Titans, which featured the great Laurence Olivier as Zeus. Or, how about a little movie called Star Wars, which cast the great Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi. Plus, Hopkins himself has been in a few genre movies previously, including Dracula and The Silence of the Lambs.

In case you’re not familiar with Thor, the film, which is scripted by Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz, centers on partly disabled med student Dr. Donald Blake’s discovery of his Norse god alter ego, the hammer-wielding Thor. Once he discovers his secret identity, watch out for all hel to break loose.

Thor, featuring Hopkins as well as Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman, hits theaters on May 11, 2011.

By now, you may have hear there’s a live action Thor film coming out in 2011 from director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel Studios. And while its probably a safe bet that Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury will make an appearance in Thor and perhaps Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark may as well (as he did in The Hulk), there had been no decisions on who would play the title role of Thor and his nemesis Loki in the film. That is, until now.

According to various sources, Thor will be played by actor Chris Hemsworth, who was recently featured in the small but pivotal role of George Kirk in J.J. Abrams Star Trek, and Loki will be played by the relatively unknown british actor Tom Hiddleston. Don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with either of these actors as, to be honest, I had to look up Hiddelston myself to find out more about him.

Hemsworth, on the other hand, is already sort of known for his role as Geoprge Kirk in Star Trek and for being cast as the lead in the remake of Red Dawn, a role originated by Patrick Swayze. So far, these are the only two roles in Thor with confirmed casting, which puts to rest rumors that Josh Hartnett would be playing Loki and disappoints me that Alexander Skarsgård won’t get to play Thor — which I thought would be a great choice.

Of course, there’s still many more roles left to be cast and with Brannagh reportedly in meetings at Marvel’s HQ this week, we’ll probably see some more casting news coming out pretty soon. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see Natalie Portman in the movie after all.