Thor heading for the UK

Marvel's recently-revived Thor character (now being written with aplomb by J. Michael Straczynski) may be heading to the UK - but not in the comic.

The Daily Mail reports that after enjoying a successful British production on Neil Gaiman's Stardust, director Matthew Vaughn is hoping to keep the home-field advantage when production starts on Thor and is lobbying for a UK shoot for Marvel's god of thunder.

The film is scheduled for a 2009 release.

"It obviously bought us luck filming at home and I'm relieved that [Stardust] has performed so well in my own country," Vaughn said. "We have the A-list actors, designers, cinematographers and crew in Britain, so there's no need to make Thor among all that madness in Los Angeles."

Back in October, Comics2Film that an early script for the film (said to centre on the relationship between Thor and evil brother Loki and set entirely in the otherworld of Asgard) would have cost perhaps up to $300 million to make and was being revised, but Vaughn told Metro International "We’re trying to reshape it and get it down."

Based on the god of the same name from Nordic mythology and created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby, Thor first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 back in 1962.

In addition to the feature film, an animated Thor feature is in the works from Lions Gate Entertainment for 2009.