KENNETH BRANAGH’s BELFAST Pays Sweet Homage to Lee and Kirby’s THOR

The Oscar-nominated flick makes a little side trip to Asgard…

This weekend, I watched Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, a lovely autobiographical drama that on Tuesday garnered a bushel of Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture.

The mostly black-and-white film is set in 1969 and 1970 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland; it’s part family history, part historical drama and part sentimental journey. There are a number of memorable scenes but for me, the one that jumped off the screen features Jude Hill as Buddy — Branagh’s fictional stand-in:

Jamie Dornan (rear) and Jude Hill (foreground)

It’s a wordless scene, simply showing Buddy completely absorbed by 1967’s Thor #139 — and of course Branagh would go on to direct the Thunder God’s first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Neat, eh? The issue is classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (inked by Vince Colletta) and is naturally adorned with all sorts of cinematic spectacle reminiscent of Branagh’s 2011 film.

So I suppose that’s art imitating life imitating (or predicting) art. (I think I got that right.)

Oh, and do see Belfast. It’s quite good. The kid who plays Buddy is phenomenal, especially, and Branagh himself was nominated for Best Director.

MORE

— MARVEL to Release JUNE 1962 OMNIBUS to Mark SPIDER-MAN, THOR Debuts. Click here.

— 13 THOR COVERS to Make You Feel Good. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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4 Comments

  1. Wow! If Branagh read that comic as a kid, I wonder if it influenced the representation of Bifrost in the MCU. In the comics of that era, the Rainbow Bridge was usually depicted as a literal foot bridge that Asgardians raced down to reach Midgard. The MCU version, of course, is more like teleportation. I figured the Star Trek transporter was the main inspiration, but it also looks a lot like Sif’s transit spell as depicted here. Hmmm.

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  2. Wow! If Branagh read that comic as a kid, I wonder if it influenced the portrayal of Bifrost in the MCU. In comics of that era, the Rainbow Bridge was a literal foot bridge Asgardians raced down to Midgard. The MCU version, of course, is more of a teleporter. I figured the Star Trek transporter was a main inspiration, but it also looks a lot like Sif’s transit spell, as seen on this page. Hmmm.

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  3. Colletta inks over Kirby layouts is THOR.

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