Former Doctor Who star (wonder how much it rankles with him that he’s always going to be saddled with that particular tag?) Christopher Eccleston is set to  play Malekith the Accursed, the Big Bad in the forthcoming Thor sequel, the full title of which was recently revealed as Thor: The Dark World.

Eccleston, who played the legendary Time Lord in Doctor Who’s comeback season in 2005 is expected to play Maleketh the Accursed in the big budget superhero sequel directed by Alan Taylor, previously best known as director of Palookaville in 1995. The first Thor movie, released in 2011, was directed by Kenneth Branagh and introduced movie audiences to Chris Hemsworth as the flowing-maned, hammer-wielding Norse God. Thor: The Dark World welcomes back most of the cast of the first movie, including Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg and Rene Russo as the amusingly-named Frigga. Eccleston, most recently seen in the intense three-part BBC thriller Blackout, is no stranger to Hollywood action blockbusters having played the larger-than-life bad guy Destro in 2009’s first GI Joe movie, The Rise of Cobra.

Thor: The Dark World is expected to arrive in cinemas in November 2013.

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