With a release date in place of May 20th 2011, and with Kenneth Branagh already confirmed as director of the film, the next major step that Marvel needed to take with its big screen adaptation of Thor was to find its hammer-wielding leading man. And, according to reports this morning, it may just have found him,

Chris Hemsworth, who is currently on the big screen in Star Trek as George Kirk, spent five years of his life beavering away on the Australian soap Home & Away. He's also just snagged the lead role in the upcoming remake of Red Dawn. And he's, according to Variety, in "final negotiations" to take the lead as Thor as well.

His role as the Norse God is expecting to be confirmed shortly, and he'd also be expected to line up alongside The Avengers for 2012's movie of that, too.

Variety