No Thor for Vaughn?

Last summer, it was announced that Matthew Vaughn (LAYER CAKE, STARDUST) would direct the live-action version of Marvel’s Thunder God THOR.

Apparently that’s not the case anymore. Buried in the Hollywood Reporter’s article about Marvel’s new film schedule is this little tidbit of info:

“Matthew Vaughn no longer is attached to direct the project because his holding deal expired December.”

This is a particularly interesting revelation as the studio just announced a release date of June 4, 2010 for their THOR movie. The popular version of the comic character is a powerful god who shares a body with a disabled mortal in between summoning lightning and hitting things with his hammer Mjolnir to protect humanity.

The HR article also states that writer Mark Protosevich (I AM LEGEND) is working on a “polish” of the script… but if Marvel plans to use a version of the character resembling the one comic fans are familiar with, he’s already done plenty of rewriting. His original draft was set during the days of the Vikings instead of the modern day, with a substantial part also taking place in the fantastical realm of Asgard (the script also seemed like more of a Norse mythology lesson than a comic superhero story), which doesn’t exactly fit their possible plan to include the character in their already-announced AVENGERS flick.

Vaughn is currently working on the script for the live-action adaptation of Mark Millar’s rather uninspired new comic series KICK-ASS.

Thanks to ‘Rafael’ for the heads up!