The Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardians that join the God of Thunder's cause in "Thor," have officially been cast — depending on where you get your news, that is.
Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano and Stuart Townsend have reportedly landed the roles of Volstagg the Valiant, Hogun the Grim and Fandral the Dashing in "Thor," Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the classic Marvel character. But some are already doubting the news, given the fact that the initial Variety report has been removed from the website.
[UPDATE: Marvel.com has confirmed the casting of Stevenson, Asano and Townsend.]
Whether Variety pulled the article due to factual inaccuracies, jumping the gun too early or any other number of reasons is unclear, but my hunch is that these are the actors we'll see alongside Chris Hemsworth's Thor — especially considering that several Marvel officials including Brian Michael Bendis, who is consulting on "Thor," linked to the Variety news on their Twitter feeds.
Assuming that the casting news is legitimate, it's certainly an intriguing round-up. I'm not familiar with Asano's work, but I think that Townsend and Stevenson are great picks for Fandral and Volstagg — though I'm not sure that they're better choices than the previously rumored Zachary Levi and Brian Blessed.
Also, I've got to admit that I'm holding out some hope that the wrong Ray has been named for Volstagg. My knee-jerk reaction upon reading the initial report was that Ray Winstone, not Stevenson, should play Volstagg — he's a much better match physically and personality-wise, but my only link to go on is the shared first name. It's a stretch, but a blogger can dream, can't he?
If Stevenson, Townsend and Asano are in fact lining up for "Thor," they join an already impressive cast that includes Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Colm Feore in an unspecified role.
What do you think of the alleged Warriors Three casting? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!
