Geez, it seems you can’t turn around this week without hitting one Marvel casting announcement or another. And fresh off three new additions to “Ant-Man,” the comic book studio has booked their bad guy for “The Avengers: Age Of Ultron.”
THR reports that Thomas Kretschmann has been cast as Wolfgang von Strucker in the movie. Wait, Thomas who? He’s the guy playing Abraham Van Helsing right now on NBC‘s “Dracula,” and he’s mostly known stateside for his genre movie work in stuff like “Blade II,” “Wanted” and “Resident Evil: Apocalypse,” while also showing his dramatic chops in stuff like “The Pianist” and “U-571.” So yeah, the German actor should do just fine playing the ageless former Nazi at the head of HYDRA.
The actor joins franchise newbies Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and James Spader in the Joss Whedon-directed movie, with of course, all the other Avengers expected to return. And as per usual with Marvel contracts, Krestschmann has apparently been signed for multiple movies.
“The Avengers: Age Of Ultron” opens on May 1, 2015.