According to Variety, Dracula star Thomas Kretschmann has been added to the cast of Avengers: Age Of Ultron as the villainous Baron Strucker.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Sgt Fury And His Howling Commandos #5 (1964), Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was the Red Skull’s second in command and later leader of the green-clad terrorist organisation Hydra, all of which ties in neatly with plot threads left unresolved in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Rumours that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Strucker could wind up as the parents of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch also have a nice symmetry as the comic-book Strucker also had twins – Andrea and Andreas von Strucker, aka Fenris and Swordsman.
Like Wanda and Pietro, Andrea and Andeas were mutants, but their mutation was a result of their father’s genetic tampering with their embryos, which could be neat way of sidestepping the Magneto parentage and mutant heritage that 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films effectively bars Marvel Studios from using.
The Avengers: Age Of Ultron is due in cinemas 1 May 2015. You can buy Avengers Assemble on DVD for £10.99 or on Blu-ray for £14.99 from Amazon.co.uk.
Age of Ultron Comic-Con Annoucement Footage and… by teagone
