In a fan Q&A with Buzzfeed to promote his new show, Jeff Goldblum revealed that he's currently having discussions with the folks at Marvel Studios about reprising his role as
The Grandmaster in
Thor: Love and Thunder. "
Hey, we’re talking about it, in fact. You know, I hope so. I love Taika Waititi, he’s a great director and a friend of mine, so I hope so."
Expanding upon his prevous answer, Goldblum also revealed that he's already recorded his role as
The Grandmaster for the animated Disney+ anthology series,
Marvel's What If...? Goldblum explained, "
But I played the part again a couple of days ago. I went to the Disney studios and I recorded the Grandmaster’s voice for an episode of a show that’s gonna be on Disney+ called What If…?"
Thor: Love and Thunder is currently slated to begin filming in August 2020 in anticipation of a November 5, 2021 theatrical release.
Curious about the next wave of MCU films and where the cinematic universe is headed in a "post-Avengers world" (as Disney CEO Bog Iger put it)? Click the next button below for a rundown of a few teams we'd love to see fill the void left by Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
1. Loners
A spinoff of the Runaways - the Loners are a group that even most comic book fans are unfamiliar with. First appearing in The Runaways' True Believers arc, the group is headed by Rick Jones and secretly sponsored by Captain America.
Its purpose is to provide a safe place for teenagers who don't know how to control their powers. But eventually, they adopt a policy not use their powers under any circumstances, even if their abilities could save someone's life.
The book explores the issue of whether superpowers are a gift or a burden and what it means to be a hero.
2. Avengers Academy
Yes, they're two different concepts.
Before a Young Avengers team can form, they should probably get some training, right? The MCU has already presented this concept to a degree, in Iron Man's mentorship of Spider-Man but the Marvel universe is a big place.
Odds are high that there are a lot more teenagers with superpowers than just Peter Parker. Who's teaching them to how to use their abilities and when to take direct action or let the police handle matters?
Whenever Iron Man walks away from the MCU, perhaps his legacy will live on as the founder of the facility?
3. Thunderbolts
A Thunderbolts film has been talked about at Marvel Studios for a number of years. At one point, it was heavily rumored that Netflix was developing a show based on the concept but the project never materialized.
With the MCU's recent string of strong villains, eventually, the studio will have to circle back and update its fans on what's happening with the likes of Daniel Brühl's Zemo, Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes, and so on. Characters as charismatic and compelling as these are too valuable to let rot away in some maximum security prison.
Before becoming Marvel's version of the Suicide Squad, the Thunderbolts actually formed when most of the Marvel Universe's heroes mysteriously vanished (sound familiar?). Under Baron Zemo's leadership, they publicly filled The Avengers' shoes while discretely aiming to line their pockets by selling The Avengers' secrets and technology.
4. Young Allies
Perhaps Sebastian Stan isn't ready for a solo Winter Soldier movie or looking to replace Chris Evans' Steve Rogers as Captain America but could he lead his own team? Sure, it would take some reimaging on Marvel Studios' part to modernize the Young Allies but the GotG films and Thor: Ragnarok prove that they aren't afraid to repurpose comic book stories to fit their own needs.
There's been a few incarnations of this team but the most recent was during Marvel's Heroic Age rebranding/reboot in 2010. Series writer Sean McKeever described the book as, "The idea behind Young Allies is that it's literally a group of young allies. It's not so much a team in the conventional sense as it is a group of like-minded people of the same generation. The basic idea for the book is that they're fighting for the soul of their generation. That comes to the fore immediately with the introduction of the Bastards of Evil, who are the unwanted sons and daughters of supervillains of course..."
The group was led by an alternate-reality version of Bucky Barnes but the MCU's version could easily play the part.
5. The Valkyrior - Fearless Defenders
Forget A-Force, the more interesting all-female team from Marvel in recent years was formed in Cullen Bunn and Will Sliney's criminally short-lived Fearless Defenders series.
When an ancient evil (Valkyrie's very own deceased former squadmates) returned, events led Valkyrie to assemble a new team of female warriors to combat them.
Valkyrie's backstory in Thor: Ragnarok aligns nearly-perfectly with the series'basic conflict, making it almost criminal not to develop this project.
6.The Dark Avengers
The MCU has been around long enough that there's been enough setup and worldbuilding to debut the first group of supervillains. But Kevin Feige and co. don't do anything that's expected.
Rather than lead with the Masters of Evil, wouldn't it make more sense for a group of villains to commit a crime under the guise of performing good deeds? Even if the group fails to accomplish whatever their self-servicing goal might be, they'd still earn a partial-victory by ruining the Avenger's brand and public perception.
7. Nextwave
Created by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen as a counter to the big event at the time (Civil War), the Agents of H.A.T.E. (Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) brought some minor Marvel superheroes to the forefront for a short period. The tone and off-beat humor of the book would make for a great film adaptation that would easily fit in somewhere between Ant-Man and The Guardians of the Galaxy. The Captain alone makes the title worthy of a silver screen adaptation.
8. The Annihilators
Some comic book purists were disappointed by the humorous take on the Guardians of the Galaxy and to this day, still refuse to accept James Gunn's vision for the characters. But all that does is leave the door wide open for a more stringent, cosmic team of kickass powerhouses. )
Also created by the comic book team of DnA (Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning), the lineup of Quasar, Ronan, Cosmos, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, and Silver Surfer is a real possibility thanks to the impending Disney-Fox merger.
9. The Westcoast Avengers
Before introducing a younger team of Avengers, perhaps the team's most popular second incarnation should get explored. And let's be honest, characters like War Machine, Scarlet Witch and Vision need to have their characters amplified a bit more. They'll never get that opportunity playing second fiddle to Iron Man, Cap, and Thor.
10. The X-Men
Obviously, the most coveted team that MCU fans want to be introduced into the universe is the X-Men (sorry, Fantastic Four) but Fox has been pumping out X-Men films for almost two decades.
One way to distinguish the new cinematic take on the team from the Hugh Jackman era might be to focus on the students at the Charles Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters instead of the teachers. There have been a number of new students enrolled in the last decade that have managed to become fan favorites and it's time they step into the limelight and get introduced to the non-comic book reading populace.