According to a report from Collider, Christian Bale is in talks to join the cast of Marvel Studio’s Thor: Love And Thunder, the fourth installment of the superhero franchise.
Bale, of course, is best known to comic book film fans as having played Bruce Wayne/Batman in director Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
There is no word as to what character Bale may be playing and Marvel had no comment on the report.
Chris Hemsworth of course will be back as the franchise’s titular Asgardian God of Thunder.
Love And Thunder is being directed by Taika Waititi, who directed the last solo Thor outing, Ragnarok, in 2017. Waititi will also be reprising his role as the alien Korg in the film. Also returning from the film is Tessa Thompson, who played the Asgardian warrior Valkyrie.
Returning to the franchise after skipping Ragnarok is Natalie Portman as Thor’s occasional love interest, the scientist Jane Foster. The new film will loosely adapt a recent storyline from the Thor comics wherein Jane is granted the ability to use Thor’s magical hammer, essentially becoming a female version of the superhero.
While it takes a lot to genuinely surprise me anymore when it comes to the casting of a comic book movie, this news has caught me off guard. Bale is known to be an intense actor, one who brings a certain focus and energy to the set with him every day. (For an extreme example of that look for Bale’s infamous shouting match on the set of Terminator: Salvation.) Waititi has struck me as someone who runs his film shoots in somewhat of a loose manner. While I am of course very interested to see what Bale is going to be doing in the film, I am concerned with how the two are going to work together once cameras start rolling.
Thor: Love And Thunder is set for a November 5, 2021 release date.
