‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Cast, Updates: Jeff Goldblum Prepares for Evil Grandmaster Role Through Comic Book Research

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ actor Jeff Goldblum revealed that he was preparing for his new role as the evil Grandmaster by poring over old comic books for research.

According to Comicbook.com, Goldblum posted a photograph of himself reading an old ‘Thor’ comic book by Marvel, specifically ‘The Mighty Thor #374’, in preparation for his new role as the villainous Grandmaster in Taika Waititi’s upcoming ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. The Instagram post was captioned, “I'm nothing if not conscientious. #thorragnarok #thor3 #thegrandmaster#marvel #marvelcomics Chris Hemsworth Marvel.”

It seems that the 63-year old actor doesn’t mind poring over old editions for some character research.  According to BBC America, the issue held by Goldblum was written by Walter Simonson with art by Sal Buscema and was published in December 1986.

Although the comic book Goldblum chose to feature didn’t have anything to do with the Grandmaster, it did follow Hela as cursed Thor by taking away his power of physical regeneration and cursing him with unending life. Hela is set to be introduced in the upcoming film, with Cate Blanchett portraying the character. It remains unclear whether this storyline will be adapted in the new film.

Goldblum’s Grandmaster is considered one of the Elders of the Universe. The actor previously described his character as "a hedonist, a pleasure-seeker, an enjoyer of life and tastes and smells." In the original comic books, Grandmaster spent the majority of his long life entertaining himself by playing games and devising his own tournaments and contests of skill and chance to which he challenged his opponents with high stakes.

According to Cinema Blend, the character enjoys pitting two individuals or teams against each other. He possesses power primordial - residual energy left behind from the Big Bang that created the universe - which gives him abilities such as super strength, speed, durability, stamina, agility, intellect, and even immortality. He can also manipulate energy for a variety of purposes including resurrecting the dead.

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Kevin Feige. It is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and is intended as the sequel to ‘Thor: The Dark World’.

The film is scheduled to be released on November 3, 2017.