With a big trailer now out there and the release only six months away, we pretty much thought we knew the entire cast of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Joss Whedon is once again the writer and director, and in front of the camera we have the exhaustive roster of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, James Spader (via performance capture), Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andy Serkis and Thomas Kretschmann. But, it turns out, there was still room for more.
This could be construed as significant spoiler territory, so if you want to know nothing, or feel you already know too much, we're giving you ample opportunity to look away. Here's that extended trailer from last week again. You may not want to look underneath...
Right, you were warned. So if you're still here the news is that Idris Elba, in a mischievously unguarded moment with the Telegraph, has revealed that both Heimdall and Loki will appear in the linchpin Marvel sequel.
“I’m doing a scene with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston," is the meat of the scoop, It's a small quote (although there's context around it about Elba's relationship with the Marvel movies, his broader career and his recent musical adventures), but it prompts big questions about how Loki's current situation will be progressed by Age Of Ultron. As of The Dark World, Thor currently thinks Loki is dead. Will that have changed by the end of Avengers 2? Or will Loki still be invisible to Thor, perhaps manipulating Heimdall?
As we learned last week, Ragnarok is beckoning as The Infinity War also looms, and it looks like we'll get a bit more of the journey towards it in Avengers: Age Of Ultron than we anticipated. We'll learn the full score on April 24 next year.