Marvel Studios has major plans for Thor: Ragnarok. Not only will the threequel herald the return of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner to the fray after he slipped off the radar shortly after Avengers: Age of Ultron, but there’s also reports that the early script is shaping up to be Marvel’s darkest to date.
Exciting times for Marvelites, then, but perhaps not so much for Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder, after a report by Lainey Gossip has seemingly revealed the main villain that he’ll be tackling in the 2017 sequel. Spoilers abound!
Though her inclusion has been hinted all throughout the pre-production process, it is Valkyrie that has once again surfaced as the number one contender to star alongside Thor in a couple of years’ time. But beyond that, the outlet notes that Marvel is casting the net in search of another “high-profile female role” to feature in Thor: Ragnarok, with all signs pointing to a female antagonist. Should this indeed prove to be true – Marvel is yet to release anything official, much to the surprise of no one – it’ll herald the studio’s first major female villain to feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Lainey Gossip’s as-yet-unconfirmed report reads as follows:
If Valkyrie is really coming to the big screen, that will make two high-profile female roles being cast in Ragnarok, because I have heard that Marvel is also planning on bringing their first major female villain into their cinematic universe.
So, who could it possibly be? Hela, Queen of the Dead and Amora the Enchantress have emerged as early frontrunners, though it’s really anyone’s guess as to which villainess Marvel will settle on so soon in the film’s timeline.
Last we heard, Taika Waititi (Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows) entered negotiations to direct, though there hasn’t been any update on that front in quiet some time, either. What we do know is that Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson and Anthony Hopkins are primed to star, with Mark Ruffalo appearing as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.
With production pegged to get underway in Australia next year, Thor: Ragnarok will whisk us back to into Asgard’s corridors of power on November 3, 2017.
