While Peter Dinklage has been a fixture of both TV and film since the 90s, it wasn’t until landing the fan favorite role of Tyrion Lannister in the HBO phenomenon Game of Thrones that he truly broke out, quickly becoming a household name in the years since that series’ 2011 premiere. While Dinklage was never at a loss for work prior to Thrones – appearing in movies like Elf and shows like FX’s Nip/Tuck – his stock currently resides squarely on the A-list level of Hollywood fame.

According to Variety, Dinklage is likely soon to add another huge entry onto his resume by joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, arguably the biggest film franchise in the world not named Star Wars. Told over the course of 14 films to date, the MCU as a whole has hauled in over $10 billion for Marvel and parent company Disney at the worldwide box office. Dinklage is presently in early talks to appear in both Avengers: Infinity War and its still currently untitled sequel, both of which will shoot back to back. The particulars of Dinklage’s potential role have yet to be revealed.

Interestingly, this of course wouldn’t be Dinklage’s first foray into the world of Marvel, with him having played Dr. Bolivar Trask in Bryan Singer’s 2014 hit X-Men: Days of Future Past. This would make him the first actor - with the obvious exception of cameo master Stan Lee - to ever play roles in both the MCU and FOX’s X-Men film franchise. He won’t be the first ever person to make the jump from FOX to Marvel Studios comic book movies though, as that distinction goes to Chris Evans, who played Human Torch in two Fantastic Four entries before assuming his current role of Captain America.

Dinklage is the first actor from outside the MCU fold to be announced as joining Infinity War’s cast, which is certainly quite understandable when one considers just how many existing MCU characters have to be successfully crammed into the film and its immediate follow-up. Not only is every prior Avengers regular returning, but the Guardians of the Galaxy are joining the crew, as are Civil War additions like Spider-Man and Black Panther.

Actual plot details for Infinity War are still mostly nonexistent, outside of the fact that intergalactic badass Thanos will finally step off his throne and bring the fight to The Avengers. Having already played the villainous Trask in Days of Future Past, one wonders if Dinklage will end up on the heroic side this time out. If so, the banter between he and Robert Downey Jr. might very well end up as the stuff of legend.

Source: Variety

  • Avengers: Infinity War Release Date: 2018-04-27 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Release Date: 2017-05-05