It was directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by the writing team of Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz along with Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character alongside Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins.

During this time, the rights were picked up by various film studios until Marvel signed Mark Protosevich to develop the project in 2006, and planned to finance and release it through Paramount.

In 965 AD, Odin, king of Asgard, wages war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and their leader Laufey, to prevent them from conquering the Nine Realms, starting with Earth.

In the present,[b] Odin's son Thor prepares to ascend to the throne of Asgard but is interrupted when Frost Giants, secretly allowed in by his brother Loki, attempt to retrieve the Casket.

Against Odin's order, Thor travels to Jotunheim to confront Laufey, accompanied by Loki, childhood friend Sif and the Warriors Three: Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun.

As punishment for Thor's arrogance, Odin deems his son unworthy and strips his powers before exiling him to Earth as a mortal, accompanied by his hammer Mjölnir, now protected by an enchantment that allows only the worthy to wield it.

Sif and the Warriors Three, unhappy with Loki's rule, attempt to return Thor from exile, convincing Heimdall, gatekeeper of the Bifröst—the means of traveling between worlds—to allow them passage to Earth.

[70] Mark Protosevich, a fan of the Thor comic book, agreed to write the script in April 2006, and the project moved to Paramount Pictures, after it acquired the rights from Sony.

[72] In December 2007, Protosevich described his plans for it "to be like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential.

Del Toro was a fan of Jack Kirby's work on the comics, and said that he loved the character of Loki, but wished to incorporate more of the original Norse mythology into the film,[80] including a "really dingy Valhalla, [with] Vikings and mud".

[82] Later that month, Kenneth Branagh entered into negotiations to direct,[83] while Daniel Craig was offered the leading role, but ultimately turned it down, citing his commitments to the James Bond franchise.

[85] In February 2009, Samuel L. Jackson, who had briefly portrayed Nick Fury at the end of the film Iron Man, signed on to reprise the role in Thor as part of an unprecedented nine-picture deal with Marvel Studios.

[90] The next day, Marvel announced that Tom Hiddleston, who had worked with Branagh before and had initially been considered to portray the lead role, had been cast as Loki.

[92] Feige mentioned that the film would take place on both modern day Earth and Asgard but Thor's human host, Dr. Donald Blake, would not be included.

[15] Branaugh was drawn to the intelligence Portman brought to the role, while Stenz felt that "pretty much every notable Hollywood actress between the ages of twenty-five and thirty" were seen for the part.

[97] Filming on Thor was scheduled to begin in Los Angeles mid-January 2010, then move to Santa Fe, New Mexico from March until late April.

[28] In February, Paramount Pictures entered negotiations with Del Mar, California to use a 300-yard stretch of beach to film a scene for Thor involving six horses running down the terrain.

[100] On March 15, 2010, production of Thor moved to Galisteo, New Mexico where Cerro Pelon Ranch,[101] an old-fashioned Western film town, was extensively modified for the shoot.

In response Barraza stated, "It saddens me because the movie is great and because I was acting alongside some tremendous actors that I admire very much, but I understand the nature of films, and it's not the first or last time that scenes will be cut".

[111] Branagh stated that the 3-D process initially made him cringe but said "We came to feel that in our case 3-D could be the very good friend of story and character for a different kind of experience".

[112] The post-credits scene that sees Nick Fury approach Erik Selvig to ask him to study the Tesseract, was directed by The Avengers's director, Joss Whedon.

Doyle described Thor as "the most commercially high profile film I have done since Frankenstein",[119] adding that the composing process had the challenge of trying to find a tone that fit the duality of Asgard and Earth.

"[122] In July 2010, Marvel Studios held a Thor panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con during which Kenneth Branagh, Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston, and Clark Gregg discussed the film and showed some clips from it.

Rick Marshall of MTV News believed it to be the weapon Mjölnir belonging to Thor, writing, "It continues the grand tradition of connecting the film to another property in development around the Marvel movie universe.

[131] A video game titled Thor: God of Thunder based on the film was developed by Sega using the voices and likenesses of actors Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Jaimie Alexander, and was released on May 3, 2011.

The website's consensus reads, "A dazzling blockbuster that tempers its sweeping scope with wit, humor, and human drama, Thor is mighty Marvel entertainment.

[154] Richard Kuipers of Variety stated, "Thor delivers the goods so long as butt is being kicked and family conflict is playing out in celestial dimensions, but is less thrilling during the Norse warrior god's rather brief banishment on Earth".

[156] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper liked the film "Thanks in large part to a charming, funny and winning performance from Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in the title role, Thor is the most entertaining superhero debut since the original Spider-Man".

[157] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a negative review stating, "Thor is a failure as a movie, but a success as marketing, an illustration of the ancient carnival tactic of telling the rubes anything to get them into the tent".

[186] Additionally, Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and Sean Gunn reprise their roles as Guardians of the Galaxy members Peter Quill / Star-Lord, Mantis, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Groot, Rocket, and Kraglin Obfonteri.