About 3 weeks ago, Jeff Goldblum was asked about the possibility of starring in either a DC or Marvel superhero film and was a bit cagey with his answer. Now we know why! Marvel has officially announced that not only Goldblum, but Karl Urban, Cate Blanchard and Tessa Thompson have joined the cast of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’!
Goldblum will be playing the role of The Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe and deemed one of the most powerful in this group. Elders are very obsessive (we met another Elder in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy – the Collector), and as his name may suggest, the Grandmaster is fanatical about games of chance and skill. In the comics, he once possessed the Mind Gem but lost it to Thanos (which in the Marvel Cinematic Universe the Mind Gem now is part of Vision) and at one time, courted Death – yes, the same Death that Thanos is in love with. Obviously, Goldblum’s role is quite a connected one in the overall MCU story arc.
Urban (‘Dredd’ ‘Star Trek’) has been cast in the role of Skurge, aka The Executioner. Initially in the comics, Skurge was an antagonist of Thor and was often used by Loki to carry out his evil plans. He played an important role in the ‘Ragnarok’ comic book storyline so saying any more may be a spoiler.
As for Thompson (‘Creed,’ ‘Dear White People’), her role has been confirmed and she has been cast as Valkyrie, who in the comics is a fierce Asgardian and was a one-time love interest of Thor. Considering Natalie Portman won’t be appearing in the film, Thompson may be playing the romantic female lead opposite Hemsworth (lucky girl!). Valkyrie is also a core member of the Defenders so could this finally be a way to bring in the Marvel television universe into its cinematic one?
While it has already been known that Blanchard would be in the film, it’s nice to have it officially announced she will be playing Hela. Marvel also released this piece of concept art which gives us a first look at the supervillain who will be teaming up with Loki:
Also set to return to Asgard are Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Idris Elba as Heimdall, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin
Unfortunately, the one person that seems to be not mentioned is Jaimie Alexander who was said is unable to reprise her role as Lady Sif due to scheduling conflicts with her NBC series ‘Blindspot.’ However, things may have changed as she did tweet this little teasing nugget in response to a fan’s disappointment:
@JaimieAlexander Whoa! WTF?!! they just announced the cast for Thor 3 and NO SIF?!!! Sadness overload!
— Mr. Monkey (@Junsocko) May 20, 2016
Don’t worry ;) …. https://t.co/LvbYNWmBNa
— Jaimie Alexander (@JaimieAlexander) May 20, 2016
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ will mark the third film of the ‘Thor’ trilogy and the fifth time Chris Hemsworth will play the much worthy demigod, Thor. With the action rumored to mainly take place in the cosmos, Thor will need someone powerful to go against to impress fans and today’s press announcement has given us something to look forward to and more!
What do you think of the news? Can this third ‘Thor’ film finally deliver a film worthy of the demigod’s powers? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is slated to open in theaters on November 3, 2017.
Source: Marvel
