On June 2, the world will get to see Patty Jenkins' take on a comic book story focusing on a powerful demigod who chooses to leave the seclusion of a mystical land to save the mortals of Earth. While that sounds like Wonder Woman, it's also a perfect description of her original pitch for Thor: The Dark World that almost came together in 2013. Patty Jenkins recently opened up about her unmade Marvel movie and explained that it essentially would've been a recreation of the Romeo and Juliet narrative between Thor and Jane Foster, saying:
I pitched them that I wanted to do Romeo and Juliet. I wanted Jane to be stuck on Earth and Thor to be stuck where he is. And Thor to be forbidden to come and save Jane because Earth doesn't matter. And then by coming to save her... they end up discovering that Malekith is hiding the dark energy inside of Earth because he knows that Odin doesn't care about Earth, and so he's using Odin's disinterest in Earth to trick him.
Patty Jenkins recently revealed her Thor: The Dark World pitch in an interview with Buzzfeed News, and it has officially become one of the coolest "what if" superhero movies that never happened. The core DNA of the final film is clearly there, but Jenkins would've leaned more heavily on Shakespearean themes and mythology established by Kenneth Branagh in the Dutch angle-heavy original film. When viewed in the context of the entire franchise, it works. The star-crossed lovers angle is prominent in her version of the story, and I think it matches up with the finale of the first film in a more cohesive way.
Despite the overall complexities of The Dark World's narrative, Patty Jenkins was able to distill it down to its most essential elements, saying:
And so it was like, I wanted it to be a grand [movie] based on Romeo and Juliet... a war between the gods and the earthlings, and Thor saves the day and ends up saving Earth.
I think it's safe to say that this sounds like a better movie than the one we ultimately received. Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World is widely regarded as one of the weakest films in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of the film's many issues, arguably its biggest flaw is the fact that it lacks any sense of distinctive character or style. There's ultimately no way of knowing whether or not Patty Jenkins' version of the film would've turned out any better, but her pitch is certainly appealing.
In the end, Marvel's loss seems to have become DC's gain. Wonder Woman has received rave early reviews, and it promises to send the DCEU in a fantastic direction. Diana Prince's first solo movie will debut in theaters on June 2.
