In the early days of the MCU, filmmakers like Jon Favreau, Joe Johnston, Kenneth Branagh, and Joss Whedon helped shape what's now become the biggest franchise in history.
Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and The Avengers each felt unique, and J. Michael Straczynski's work heavily inspired the God of Thunder's movie. Branagh only stuck around for Thor's origin story, which was well-received, but often criticised for heavy usage of Dutch angles.
That's a camera shot where the horizon line is intentionally tilted off-balance relative to the frame. Thor frequently leaned on them, and it turns out even Marvel Studios wanted to tone down their inclusion.
In a new interview, Branagh responded to the grumbles from moviegoers and pointed to the comics as his main source of inspiration for framing the action that way.
"I could never understand why people were so baffled by that choice," he mused. "I go back to any run of the comics, but a classic one, the Kirby runs, and just look at the framing. Look at the framing."
"It’s all canted. It’s all, you know, German Expressionist—which of course already sounds like it’s mega-pretentious—but it was really just more about visual impact. It was just what would hit you in a story about gods. You needed to make some things more or less important."
"I know that there was a conversation at some point in some part of the Marvel universe where they had a conversation about what it would cost to horizontalize this movie," Branagh revealed. "And I am glad to say that the cash price for that process was so prohibitive."
Ryan Reynolds, who co-stars in Mayday with the Thor director, was also on hand. The Deadpool & Wolverine star quickly rushed to his defence, explaining, "Take issue with a Dutch angle, or is it that somebody said they had an issue with a Dutch angle and everyone else [followed]? That’s classic in film."
He continued, "You know, when you read about film on social media, it’s like everybody has an 'Oh, this is an outrage and a disgrace,' and it’s like, come on, man. Do you think it really is, or do you know anything about this?"
Released in May 2011, Thor was the first Marvel Studios movie that didn't revolve around Iron Man. It was considered a huge risk at the time, especially with relative unknowns Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston playing the God of Thunder and his villainous brother, Loki.
At the box office, Thor grossed $449.3 million, which, adjusted for inflation, is roughly over $650 million by today's standards. Despite that, Branagh didn't return for the sequel, handing the reins to Alan Taylor, who delivered a disappointing follow-up with 2013's Thor: The Dark World.
You can hear more from Branagh and Reynolds in the player below.