Similar to Korg and Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum’s wonderfully eccentric Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok has been tipped for another appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the future. There’s a chance he’ll be part of the massive ensemble cast featured in Infinity War, as the Russo Brothers did promise a slew of unexpected characters, but we’re more inclined to believe that the studio will save him for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Why’s that? Well, because as fans of the comics will know, The Grandmaster is one of “a handful of survivors of one of the earliest races to inhabit the Marvel Universe.” In the source material, this group is known as the Elders of the Universe, which also count Benicio del Toro’s Collector amongst their number. Not only that, but the two characters are actually brothers, something that’s led to a lot of fans calling for some kind of team-up between them.
As it turns out, Goldblum is down for that, too, telling The Toronto Sun in a recent interview that he’d love to work with del Toro.
“Well, I overlapped with one day of Cate Blanchett’s shooting and she’s so spectacular as Hela,” Goldblum said. “I keep wanting to have scenes with her. We worked together on a Wes Anderson movie awhile ago — The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou — and I sure would love to do anything with her. But, in the comic books, the character of the Grandmaster is the brother of the Collector, played by Benicio del Toro, who I adore. So I would enjoy doing something with him. That would be fun.”
Continuing on, the actor also recalled how he reacted when Marvel first offered him the role, saying:
“I was thrilled. I never expected that, but I met (producers) Kevin Feige, Victoria Alonso, Louis Esposito and Brad Winderbaum and the rest of the Marvel people. And, really, Marvel has a really interesting and brilliant approach to making movies. They have a creative way about them and they’re ambitious. They went out and hired Taika Waititi, who is a brilliant and interesting director, to do it. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
While nothing’s been confirmed just yet in regards to where we’ll see the Grandmaster show up next, Jeff Goldblum has been quite vocal about wanting to craft a future for his character beyond Thor: Ragnarok, while Kevin Feige has also thrown his support behind the idea of having him cross paths with del Toro’s the Collector. As such, we imagine it’s only a matter of time before the two actors get to work together. Fingers crossed, eh?