‘Thor: Ragnarok': Who Is Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster Character?
You probably saw the news today that Jeff Goldblum is joining the cast of “Thor: Ragnarok,” but you probably don’t know what the hell this “Grandmaster” is.
Well, I have good news: It’s exactly the kind of odd character that you’d want Goldblum to play in your space fantasy adventure. The Grandmaster is one of those characters that Marvel refers to as “eccentric” — and since most Marvel characters are eccentric by normal standards, then you know it’s really crazy. Oh, and in the comics the Grandmaster is usually is dressed like he is in the picture above. Which is great.
First off, the Grandmaster is old. Really, really old. He is counted as one of the Elders of the Universe, meaning that he has been around for billions of years. The Grandmaster is, of course, an alien. His species is long extinct and his home galaxy is destroyed. As a side note, we’ve already met an Elder before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Collector, Benicio del Toro‘s character in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” is also one of those ancient beings.
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Each of the Elders has a “thing” they do — the Collector collects things, obviously, and the Grandmaster is all about games. Specifically, he likes to invent his own games and tournaments. Usually, they have some kind of cosmic significance, and, often, the participants don’t even know they’re players in these games.
It helps that the Grandmaster has the power to travel through time and dimensions. He’s been known, in the comics, to take superheroes from one era and pit them against heroes from another, like sending modern Avengers back in time to fight superheroes during World War II.
With that in mind, recall also that Mark Ruffalo will appear in “Thor: Ragnarok” as the Hulk, who was last seen at the end of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” flying into space to parts unknown. There’s a comics story called “Planet Hulk” that begins similarly and ends with the Hulk as an arena gladiator on an alien planet. The Grandmaster wasn’t involved in those shenanigans, but it’s not difficult to imagine him setting up something like that or at least arranging to have Hulk fight Thor. Given the current divide within the Avengers after “Civil War,” it would make sense to bring that conflict forward, even out in space.
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As an ancient god-like being, the Grandmaster obviously has some superpowers. In terms of physical capabilities, he’s basically Captain America on steroids. He’s also extremely intelligent and has crazy mind powers — he can read thoughts and control minds and so forth. He can teleport and travel through time, and he can resurrect people. He can manipulate energy in whatever way the story currently being told demands.
The Elders are known to each have an Infinity Gem, and the Grandmaster’s is the Mind Gem. In the MCU, however, Vision has that one in his head, so if the Grandmaster has one, it wouldn’t be that one.
There are six Infinity Stones altogether, and so far we’ve seen four of them in the MCU: the tessaract, which is that blue cube from “The Avengers” and the first “Captain America”; the Orb, which is the thing everybody was fighting over in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and which ended up in the hands of the Nova Corps; the Mind Stone, which, as mentioned above, is in Vision’s head; and the Aether, which was the subject of “Thor: The Dark World” and was left in the care of the Collector.
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Which only leaves the Soul Gem, which is typically associated with Doctor Strange, and the Time Gem unaccounted for.
Though the Grandmaster’s place in “Thor: Ragnarok” remains unknown, you can at least rest assured that it’s probably going to get awesome and weird. Let’s just hope Goldblum gets to sport that yellow getup he wears on the page.