Karl Urban (Skurge)

Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster)

An elite warrior of Asgard “who has sort of lost her way” is how Thompson describes her character. The actress and Waititi wanted to deviate from the comic book version of Valkyrie, and instead create a more timely character. “There’s an unfair position that women are sometimes put in, in the context of superhero movies and action movies where at once they have to be very strong and fierce, but also sexy,” Thompson said. “Obviously, it’s still a superhero movie and so you’ve got to figure out when you need to stand with your hands on your hips and what makes sense. But we wanted to create a character that occupied her own iconography.” “There’s one word I hate in all scripts in Hollywood at the moment in describing women, and that is the word “badass”. That word has just crept into every script that is pushed around this town now. It’s terrible, because it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a dumb male writer’s way of saying, ‘Ah, uh, she’s like, she, uh, she’s tough’. Then straight after that it’s like, ‘She’s badass, but she’s got a beauty about her. And she’s sexy. Unconsciously sexy.’” “I’m The Grandmaster,” Goldblum said. The actor, who sports a bold blue lip in the movie, described his time on set as a “golden memory” but was hesitant to reveal too much about his big character debut. “If you followed the comic books [then you know that] he’s one of the elders in the universe. His brother is the Collector, immortal, has fought and beaten death, has superpowers galore, and his games are a playful, playful sort.” Every great baddy needs a good lackey; enter one tattoo-headed Skurge. The Asgardian warrior has been operating the Bifrost bridge in the absence of Heimdall (Idris Elba). “Then Hela turns up, and Skurge quickly realises that he either has to join her or die,” Urban said. “He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s bright enough to make the right choice for him. He’s a survivalist.”