The Doctor will be facing off against The God of Thunder in Alan Taylor’s ‘Thor: The Dark World’ because Christopher Eccleston has just signed on to play Malekith the Accursed, the mysterious unnamed villain that Mads Mikkelsen had opted out of in favor of NBC’s ‘Hannibal’.

Previously, stuntman James Grogan let it slip that his stunt team was asked to be elves. With that little nugget of information, and with the title of Thor’s next big screen appearance that was unveiled at Comic-Con, there was much speculations that the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim would be involved. With the Dark Elves comes their ruler, the mighty Malekith, who has had a history with Loki and the Casket of Ancient Winters, which have both been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe already, so all the pieces make a pretty clear picture. But after Mikkelsen left the production, all were wondering who would fill the villain’s shoes since shooting is supposed to begin this month. Now, not only has Deadline confirmed the involvement of the accursed one, but they also gave us the scoop that Eccleston would be joining the cast.

The English actor is best known for his work as the ninth Doctor on the sci-fi staple ‘Doctor Who’, but he’s also appeared in ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’, ‘The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising’, and ’28 Days Later’. He joins the returning cast of Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, and Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, along with new addition Zachary Levi, who will be filling in for Josh Dallas as Fandral the Dashing.

‘Thor: The Dark World’ is scheduled for release on November 8, 2013.

I know certain fandoms in some corners of the internet are rejoicing at this news, but how excited are you to see Eccleston join the cast of ‘Thor: The Dark World’? Let us know in the comments!