[spoiler]That just really doesn’t work for me, and I’m pretty sure Tom Hiddleston wouldn’t like it. The whole thing about Loki is that he’s not-quite a bad guy and not-quite a good guy, but even at his worst he’d never try to kill his parents. And no matter what he claims, he absolutely thinks of Odin as his father. If they go down this road, Thor absolutely will kill him.
A more reasonable option, on the other hand, is that Odin finally just died. He was already pushing the limits of Asgardian life and had to go into a healing trance before. He could easily be in one now, with Loki taking over in his absence (perhaps even with Odin’s blessing), so as to avoid risking attack from Surtur or more trouble from the Frost Giants. After the events of Thor 2, after all, Asgard might look a little weak after being directly attacked, and if Odin were to die in the aftermath it would be very bad.
That said, I desperately want to see Odin in Thor 3. We seriously need him to have this scene:
Odin: “For Asgard!” [Fires energy spear]
Thor: "For Midgard! [Shoots lighting from Mjolnir]
Loki: “For myself!” [ZZZZZZZZZottttttt!!!]
[/spoiler]
If it makes you feel any better, there is very strong reason to suspect that particular interview snippet (on the red carpet, with the director, talking more broadly about Loki’s character arc) was taken very much out of context, [SPOILER] as the “he” referred to in the conversation up until that point had been consistently LOKI, not Odin. If you listen to the entire conversation (which I cannot find at the moment, my apologies) it is much more clear that Alan is NOT referring to Odin when he makes that statement. He’s basically saying that “yes, we killed off Loki because we needed to for plot purposes, but we really wanted to use that last scene to make sure people knew that we didn’t REALLY kill him off.”
Anthony Hopkins WANTS Odin to be dead, because he doesn’t want to do it anymore (and is not slated for any more Marvel films at this time), but both Kevin and Alan have consistently and specifically refused to directly answer the question of Odin’s fate at the end of the film. [/SPOILER] Kevin has specifically stated that he is purposefully keeping that information vague so there is more incentive to have a Thor 3.
They’re pretty close to the same height, and that would be a great call-out to the audience. I’m pretty sure that Hemsworth and Hiddleston would love working with him also, so there’s that.
During the reporter scrimmage on the red carpet at the premiere, someone asked Hopkins what was up with Odin, and Hopkins pulled a face and said something spoilerish in a relieved tone of voice. In other interviews, he’s been obviously less than thrilled with the role. Finally, he isn’t (to my knowledge) signed for anything else with Marvel.
So those three data-points say to me that he’s done. Perhaps they can offer him enough money or something to induce him to sign again, but honestly, under that much makeup and costume, they can make someone else look like him for a lot cheaper if he’s genuinely not interested in pursuing it any longer.
It’s basically doing the same thing Agents of Shield is doing: being a participating comic for the Infinity Gauntlet crossover series of Marvel screen ventures.
So it was a comic book. Giant-Sized#1.
[spoiler]Can’t say I’m too happy with Infinity Gems being changed to Infinity Stones, but I’ve learned that Hollywood has to do things Hollywood’s way, so I accept that certain elements will be altered.
Awesome to see The Collector! I suppose it would be asking too much for Marvel to eventually make Thanos Quest. I would expect, at least, to see an appearance by the In-betweener in Guardians of the Galaxy. Or maybe it’s already known. I really don’t have much Google time lately.[/spoiler]