In what could be called the best comic book news of 2017, thus far, Variety reported yesterday that Game of Thrones star, Peter Dinklage, Tyrion Lannister himself, is in talks to join the cast of Marvel’s upcoming superhero epic, Avengers: Infinity War. Apparently, due to the shooting schedule for Game of Thrones, his involvement previously was not possible. However, with production on season seven wrapped and production for season eight pushed, his schedule opened up allowing for the possibility.
The even better news here is that he’s expected to appear in both of the upcoming Avengers films, Avengers: Infinity War and the heretofore untitled Avengers film — Avengers 4.
The unfortunate news here is that there is no casting announcement yet. We don’t even know if he’s a hero or a villain. However, there’s always a silver lining; our lining here is that we now get to play the speculation game!
Here are our top 5 choices for Mr. Dinklage.
The Watcher
Now, this is a tricky one because it’s unclear who has the rights to this character. He was created in Fantastic Four #13, so it’s entirely possible Fox Studios has the film license for The Watcher. However, he’s also a pretty vital part of the Marvel Comic Book Mythology, appearing in a multitude of comics over the years, That being said, it’s entirely possible Marvel still retains those rights or, at the very least, shares those rights. Doubtful, but still possible.
And just who is The Watcher? Uatu the Watcher lives on the moon and his entire purpose in the universe is to watch and take note of all the important things that happen in his segment of the universe. He belongs to an entire race of Watchers that span the universe, all of them doing the exact same thing — cataloging the important events. Due to his role, he is expected to abstain from interfering with any race, though that has not stopped him in the past. His appearance on earth typically signifies something terrible and awful is about to happen as he is there to watch it unfold first hand.
Thanos appearing on Earth to take the Infinity Stones for himself would definitely quality as that.
PIP THE TROLL
Pip the Troll is a very strange one to explain his entire back story, so we won’t even try. Needless to say, he is an ally to Adam Warlock and Gamora in the Infinity Gauntlet story lines and fought alongside them to defeat Thanos. Later, he was a part of the Infinity Watch, created to protect the Infinity Stones and keep them out of evil hands. He was given the Space Stone to watch over. This gifted him the ability to transport anywhere he’s already been.
We should also mention here that Pip is a lecherous, hard-drinking, maker of revelry — much like Tyrion Lannister. So it makes sense that even people like Rob Liefeld have gotten on the Pip Band Wagon.
Peter Dinklage/PIP Makes ALL THE SENSE!! pic.twitter.com/SNegWRiUha
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) January 11, 2017
Now, we will also say that we feel casting Dinklage in the roll of a little person like this is a bit too on the nose for Marvel and Dinklage. We feel that they’ll want to use a talent like Dinklage in a different way.
MODOK
This one, more than anything, is just for fun. It’s unlikely that the Avengers will incorporate MODOK into an already over-burdened storyline. He would be a completely new character in a film that’s trying to bring together a hundred thousand other characters.
However, fans have been clamoring for Dinklage to take on MODOK for years now, so we wanted to include it. MODOK was originally MODOC — Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing. AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) one of the perennial evil organizations within Marvel, expanded the brain of scientist George Tarleton so that his head dwarfed his body. They then gave him a floating chair designed specifically for this malady. Initially, his brain was simply to be a super computer for the evil organization; however, MODOC eventually turned on them to become MODOK — Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.
Involving him in the film would no doubt require a lot more explanation and backstory than they need on top of the fact that Thanos would really have no need for him. So while we all may want him to be MODOK, it’s highly unlikely and doesn’t make too much sense. Though, none of us are writing the script, so what do we know.
THE LIVING TRIBUNAL
The Living Tribunal presides over the entirety of the multi-verse and is a cosmic force. In fact, it is THE cosmic force. Other than The Beyonders, who live outside of time and space, there is no force more powerful than The Living Tribunal. Even Thanos fears this being. As such, he might be a necessary ally for the heroes of earth to fully defeat Thanos, especially once he acquires all of the stones for himself. He could also be utilized to kick off a new phase four for Marvel, with new actors in old roles while still maintaining a cohesive storyline that continues to link all the films together.
With Marvel’s most recent film, Doctor Strange, having mentioned The Living Tribunal as the power behind Baron Mordo’s staff, it could be that Marvel was laying the groundwork to get him involved in later films.
And sure, we can hear you saying that Dinklage doesn’t really “look” like this three-headed golden muscle god, but CGI can do incredible things and Dinklage, as an actor, could absolutely pull off being the single most powerful being in the Marvel universe.
THE BLACK ORDER
The Black Order, also known as the Cull Obsidian, was a cabal of terrible, incredibly powerful alien beings that came to Earth with Thanos as part of the Infinity storyline written by Jonathan Hickman. Their entire purpose was to help Thanos destroy entire worlds.
They included —
Corvus Glaive, a super strong, super fast general of Thanos who could cut through anything with his scythe and was actually immortal while holding it.
Black Dwarf, who was anything but that. He was a gigantic troll like character with super strength and impenetrable skin. Finally, there was —
Ebony Maw, a genius at everything and had the power to persuade anyone to do anything. With everyone else on the team being as strong as they were, Ebony Maw was still the most dangerous.
We mention this entire group because, with CGI being what it is, it’s entirely possible that Dinklage could play a majority of these characters. While we all know Thanos is incredibly powerful, it’s unlikely that he’ll appear on Earth by himself; he’ll absolutely have some generals with him.
He has two cats and knows all things about Doctor Strange but little else.
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