"Avenger" fans, assemble! The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Marvel has found its actor to play the second villain in "The Avengers: Age of Ultron". Thomas Kretschmann, who plays Van Helsing in NBC's "Dracula", has signed the deal to play Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in the film.
News of Marvel developing a second antagonist for "Avengers 2" broke out last year when Latino Review reported that the studio was looking for a "physically-imposing man".
So who exactly is this von Stucker character? Well, in the Marvel universe, he's a skinhead Nazi with a high position in HYDRA, which we all know from the first "Captain America" film as the evil organization led by the Red Skull.
At first, Marvel was considering actors Marton Csokas and Dougray Scott to play the Nazi supervillain. But after much deliberation, a final decision was made in the form of Kretschmann.
The actor, who was seen in "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie and Peter Jackson's "King Kong", will be commanding Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson's characters, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, in "Age of Ultron", as stated in an article on Hitfix.
The villainous trio will be joining James Spader who was casted as the upcoming film's ultimate bad guy, Ultron. The "Boston Legal" lawyer turned "The Office" regional manager was approached by Marvel last year to play a big role in "Age of Ultron".
In the comic book world, Ultron is a robot hell-bent on destroying the Earth. He suffers from Oedipus Complex caused by his creator [SPOILER ALERT!...Maybe? Well, for non-hardcore Marvel fans, anyway] Hank Pym. If you're an avid follower of the Marvel Cinematic Universe news updates, you might remember an article or two about Michael Douglas playing Pym in the upcoming "Ant-Man" movie.
To give you an idea of how messed-up this guy's head is, he creates a robot of his own as his wife. But the thing is, his metallic spouse was modeled after Jocasta, Pym's wife.