Kevin Feige Talks 'Thor 2:' New Villain Promised

After The Avengers, the Marvel Movie Universe is a whole new world and, if you listened to our podcast, you know its bounds are limitless. Iron Man 3 is now filming, Captain America 2 is in the works and Thor 2 will start shooting before the year is out aimed at a November 15, 2013 release date. There are two other films in the works as well.

On the Asgardian front, all we've really heard about the movie is that director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) would create a whole new Asgard. That along with some casting - Natalie Portman's Jane Foster will return along with Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and other supporting characters - hasn't really given us a good idea of the plot. A recent report added some more pieces to the puzzle, though, with Mads Mikkelsen likely to play a new villain.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has now confirmed that Thor 2 will have a "major new villain" but it will not be Thanos, whose finger prints were all over the events of The Avengers. Read his quotes and more after the jump.

Feige spoke to Empire Magazine (via Comic Book Movie) about Thor 2 and said the following:

We're going to see the other side of Asgard. It's not all polished and golden in this film. And the events of Avengers will have affected Thor for sure. His relationship with Loki will continue to evolve, and the biggest part is Natalie and Thor returning with Jane Foster.

When asked if Thanos would be the villain (a logical leap considering his cosmic playground and connection to Loki) Feige said the following:

No, future, future. But there will be a major new villain. A major, major new antagonist...

When I spoke to Feige he seemed pretty adamant that Thanos would likely start to figure in around the Guardians of the Galaxy release. So who could challenge Thor in Thor 2?

Besides Loki, one thing Thor lacks are "major villains" in his own universe. He has plenty of adversaries but most of the ones you've heard of are from different comics. If you're talking Thor specific the Enchantress is probably second on the list but, assuming it's Mikkelsen, that's terrible casting. Maybe then it's the fire demon Surtur or rock troll Ulik. They're definitely top Thor villans, but just feel secondary compared to Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four's adversaries.

Also, it's a bit of a bummer that Thanos won't play a role in Thor 2. Feige could obviously be lying out of his ass – always a possibility – but at least we'll have that to look forward to in the future.

Who will be Thor 2's major villain?