#Indiana Jones 5 Adds MCU Villain Thomas Kretschmann to the Cast

Indiana Jones 5 is amassing quite the cast, despite details of the plot being kept hidden for the time being. The currently untitled fifth movie in the Indiana Jones franchise, which began in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark, is set to have it’s release in July, 2022. It is the first installment in the action-adventure series in over fourteen years, since the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), which received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike.

It has been announced that actor Thomas Kretschmann, the German-born actor that portrayed the villainous Baron von Strucker in possession of Loki’s staff in Marvel’s 2015 MCU installment Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain Wilm Hosenfeld in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (2002), has been cast in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie. Whether Kretschmann will play a hero or villain is to be determined, as the role is currently undisclosed. Kretschmann has also starred in films such as Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005), Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II (2002), and even lent his voice to Pixar’s Cars 2 (2011).
RELATED: Mads Mikkelsen Joins Indiana Jones 5
Indiana Jones 5 is the first film in the series to not have director Steven Spielberg at the helm, who stepped down in February of 2020 after stating he wanted to pass along the character of Indy to a new generation. Subsequently, James Mangold (Logan, Ford v. Ferrari) was attached to write and direct, with Spielberg in the producer’s chair. Mangold is reported to be writing the film with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, who previously worked with Mangold on the script of award-nominated Ford v. Ferrari.

More recently, Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) were cast to star in Mangold’s Indiana Jones film alongside Harrison Ford, reprising the role of the whip-wielding archaeologist/adventurist for the fifth time in forty years. Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen have made names for themselves with the former’s 2019 Emmy-winning series Fleabag, and the latter’s 2021 Academy Award-nominated film Another Round. Their roles in the upcoming Indy flick, however, remain unknown as well.

The fifth installment in the Lucasfilm franchise certainly has a lot of buzz around it already, considering it is the longest-recurring character Harrison Ford has portrayed in the entirety of his career (beating Han Solo by three years, and Rick Deckard by six), and will most likely be the final time we get to see Ford don the familiar fedora. However, with a successful director like James Mangold at the helm, and a cast comprising of Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the recent addition of Thomas Kretschmann, the latest (and possibly last) installment in the Indiana Jonessaga is sure to be a hit at box-offices worldwide.

It is too early to say what the addition of Kretschmann’s addition to the cast means for the plot of the fifth Indiana Jones and the legacy Spielberg built in 1981, but we can only assume more details will arise closer to it’s July 2022 release date.

Topics: Indiana Jones 5, Indiana Jones