New 'Thor: The Dark World' Poster Showcases Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe has developed, it seems that the movies aren't the only parts coalescing together. While the individual franchises used to have distinct posters, Marvel has begun designing new posters in the same style. I noticed this when the first poster for Thor: The Dark World hit the Internet back in April, and the new poster for the movie unveiled by Entertainment Weekly on Thursday reinforces this observation. Is this Marvel's way of driving home the idea that whether we're talking Iron Man, Thor or Captain America, this is really all one giant franchise?

While the last poster for Thor: The Dark World only featured Chris Hemsworth as the title character, the new poster showcases the entire cast, including Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Jaime Alexander, Ray Stevenson and Zachary Levi.

Since we're on the topic of the Thor movies, I wanted to pass along a theory/rumor about the franchise. Last week, Furious Fanboy editor Jeremy Conrad brought to light the possibility that this would be the last time we'd see Hemsworth as Thor, as the actor only had a three-movie deal and negotiations for a new contract had failed.

The current word is that talks fell through and not only will Hemsworth not return as Thor in Age of Utron, but Thor won’t even show up in the movie at all. 

What about SDCC makes this rumor gain strength? The Age of Ultron teaser trailer Joss Whedon showed at the convention showed clear outlines of all current Avengers…except Thor. 

With the sequel adding Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (not to mention the Black Panther rumors), and not having a Loki-centric villain, Thor may not fit in well with the story Whedon is crafting. Without Loki causing trouble on Midgard, Thor showing up would be like Worf in the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies where he had some dumb excuse for appearing out of nowhere. The addition of several new characters to the roster, and again without Loki as the villain, may be enough to distract people from not having the Hemsworth Thor in the movie.

Like it or not, but the individual movies of each phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe exist to build up to new Avengers movies. Marvel can't be happy with the fact that Thor: The Dark World will be basically a dead end until they can get around to introducing a new actor as Thor, which probably won't happen until Phase Three or even The Avengers 3.