As someone who knew practically nothing about comic books and superheroes before I started this job-- to the point that I once called Green Lantern a Marvel character and had the wrath of the Internet rained down upon me-- I've learned over the years not to giggle at silly comic book characters and ideas. A ring of power that allows you to create anything with your mind? Sure! A purple alien named Thanos who pops up at the end of a great movie and makes vague promises about what will happen next time? That seems reasonable.
But my snark was sorely tested two years ago with Thor, which just looked so ridiculous from the outset, a story about a beefy god who falls to earth, flirts with Natalie Portman, fights his brother who wears a giant curved horn helmet thing, and has conversations with Idris Elba in weird gold contacts playing a character named Heimdall. Then, lo and behold, Thor turned out to be pretty great, and I was shamed for all my skepticism. And yet, that doesn't mean I can hold it in when it comes to Thor: The Dark World, the sequel coming next year on November 8. We've known for a wile that the film's main villains wuld be the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, which I've had a hard enough time to adjust to, but now Variety reports that Lost veteran Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje-- a.k.a. Mr. Eko-- has signed on to play one of those villains, and oh boy, those names.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje will reportedly be playing dual roles, both Algrim the Strong and Kurse, which apparently add up to him being one of the lead villains. Former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston is already set to play another major villain, Malekith the Accursed, and of course the cast is rounded out by a lot of familiar returning faces like Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard. It's a killer cast, and probably enough to help me get over these insane names. I just need the year and a half between now and then to get used to it. I promise I'll be on board by then.
