Marvel Studios’ plans for their Cinematic Universe post-The Avengers took a knock yesterday with the news that Patty Jenkins has vacated the director’s chair on the upcoming sequel Thor 2, which is currently slated for a release in 2013. According to Deadline, Jenkins – best known for directing the Charlize Theron drama Monster, along with the pilot episode of AMC’s The Killing – is said to have left the project due to ‘creative differences’ with Marvel, although the report goes on to state that the filmmaker will “probably end up working on one of these superhero films, but perhaps not on a sequel”.
Development of Thor 2 is proving to be a bit of a headache for Marvel, who were forced to push the sequel’s original release date back from July 26th to November 15th following the departure of Thor director Kenneth Branagh. Jenkins was only confirmed as his replacement back in October, securing the position ahead of Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones), and now Marvel find themselves back to square one, with the studio said to have already begun their search for a new director to link up with stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki).
Should this latest development force another delay, Marvel do have another sequel scheduled for release in 2013, with Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) taking over directing duties from Jon Favreau on Iron Man 3, which stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Gwenyth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Don Cheadle (War Machine) and is currently set to arrive in cinemas on May 3rd, 2013.
