I've always found Stellan Skarsgård's involvement in Kenneth Branagh's Thor to be a bit funny. After all, his son, Alex, who is a mainstay on HBO's True Blood, was very much in the running for the title role before Chris Hemsworth landed the part. Now it turns out that not only will Stellan be playing a role in the solo superhero film, but he will be a part of Joss Whedon's Avengers as well.

Expressen (via Bleeding Cool) has learned that Skarsgard's character in Thor will be included in the superhero team-up movie due out next year. The actor plays a character named Professor Andrews, and while very little is known about his character, he is a scientist that works in New Mexico along with Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings' characters. As of now, the Avengers crossover cast members include Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man; Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk; Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America; Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow; Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson; and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye will also count should his rumored cameo in Thor turn out to be real).

This now puts a lot of question marks around Skargard's character. What larger role does he play in the film? Is he, per chance a member of S.H.I.E.L.D? Guess we'll just have to wait until May 6 to find out.