Vaughn takes Thor

He didn’t get to play with their mutants, but director Matthew Vaughn is dipping into Marvel’s vaults again for another comic book character.

Vaughn, whose fantasy STARDUST arrives in theaters this weekend (and whose LAYER CAKE was the best Guy Ritchie gangster movie Guy Ritchie didn’t make), will direct a live-action THOR flick for Marvel Studios. Vaughn has been noncommittally addressing the possibility in recent interviews, but has now made it official. Based on the Nordic thunder god, the powerful pretty-haired character shares a body with a disabled mortal in between summoning lightning and hitting things with Mjolnir to protect humanity.

Like IRON MAN and INCREDIBLE HULK, Marvel will be financing the project, so it should retain sensibilities from the comic pages (at least as much as possible when converting a character with tiger-stripe boots and a crimson cape to a different medium). The script comes from I AM LEGEND screenwriter Mark Protosevich, and the studio wants to get the hammer swinging before the end of the year to beat the impending Hollywood talent strikes (even though accelerated prep time was the impetus for Vaughn’s X-MEN exit).