Taika Waititi is assembling an impressive cast for Marvel’s fourth Thor movie which already sees Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie of New Asgard, Matt Damon as fake Loki, Melissa McCarthy as fake Hela, Sam Neill as fake Odin, Luke Hemsworth as fake Thor, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Taika as the lovable Korg, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin.
One late-stage addition was Oscar-winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, The Nice Guys, Man of Steel) landing a secret role in the Marvel flick and the actor has now revealed who he’s playing on the Melbourne show Joy Breakfast with The Murphys. Crowe announced that he is playing the Marvel Comics version of Greek God, Zeus. The father of Marvel superhero Hercules, a character part of The Olympians (a cosmic take on Greek mythology) and future member of The Avengers.
Having Zeus in the mix could allow Hercules to eventually move his way into the MCU alongside the villainous Ares (member of The Dark Avengers). It was bound to happen as they’ve scaled-back the Asgardians after the destruction of Asgard and with the introduction of the Eternals in their own movie, it was only a matter of time before the cosmic version of the Olympians (connected to the Eternals) would make their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There is a strong chance that Crowe’s Zeus could be killed-off by Bale’s God Butcher, given the nickname we’ll likely see some gods get dusted before he clashes with Thor and Lady Thor. Russell and Christian previously worked together on the western remake 3:10 To Yuma from James Mangold (The Wolverine, Ford v. Ferrari, Logan), so a reunion might actually be quite fun to watch. What isn’t known is if we’ll see other Olympians appear in Thor: Love & Thunder or somewhere else down the line.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Marvel announced a Hercules: Prince of Power series for Disney+ at some point as the character would certainly warrant his own series similar to Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ironheart giving the superhero a chance to be explored in a episodic format.
It’s kind of neat that we’ll potentially have Black Knight, Sersi, and Hercules all mingling in the MCU in the very near future at the same time, as the trio were part of an incarnation of the Avengers lineup. Suggesting the studio isn’t just building-up towards Young Avengers and The Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers but other splinter teams of the Avengers.
I’m sure fans already have their fan-cast for Herc, but comedian and podcaster Jon Gabrus has been campaigning for a while now to play the superhero. Interestingly enough, Russell’s The Nice Guys co-star Ryan Gosling (former Micky Mouse Club actor) had actually played a different version of the demi-god in Young Hercules, a prequel series to the Sam Raimi-produced series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys from the 1990s.
The sequel was penned by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Production is still taking place in Sydney and it’s possible we could be getting more casting surprises in the coming weeks/months.
Thor: Love & Thunder will open in theaters on May 6, 2022.
SOURCE: JOY BREAKFAST
THE RONIN 