It’s likely the biggest news of the day: Kenneth Branagh is in talks to direct Marvel Comics’ big-screen adaptation of “Thor,” according to Variety.

The film, written by Mark Protosevich, follows partially disabled medical student Donald Blake, who discovers he has an alter ego as the powerful Norse warrior Thor.

Branagh is indeed a quite surprising pick, especially because we haven’t really seen him direct a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. His most recent directorial effort was “Sleuth.”

The trade said Marvel would soon announce a distributor for the project, which is expected to hit theaters 2010. The studio will self-finance the film as well.

Branagh’s other directing credits include the 1994 version of “Frankenstein,” “Hamlet” and the Oscar-winning ”Henry V.” In front of the camera, he most recently starred in “Five Children and It.” He will next be seen in Bryan Singer’s WWII drama “Valkyrie.”