We've met a lot of unusual aliens in the Marvel Cinematic Universe over since the start of the decade, but in terms of pure eccentricity, Benicio del Toro's The Collector and Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster are at the top of the list. How appropriate, considering that just like in the comics, these versions of the characters are brothers. The siblings have yet to share any screen time in the MCU, but according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, there is interest in eventually bringing them together, as has already been teased at a certain California Adventure attraction. When asked about the prospect of seeing Collector and Grandmaster in the same movie, Feige responded:
It would be awesome, man. It would be great. We love the idea that they're brothers. If you go on the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout attraction at California Adventure in Anaheim, you will see a picture on Collector's wall of he and the Grandmaster playing some sort of a space chess game, which right now is the only place you can see the two of them in a frame together, but let's hope that changes someday.
For those who haven't been to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, you can see the picture Kevin Feige is talking about below, which depicts the game and chance-obsessed Grandmaster getting angry over losing a round of space chess to Collector, the Marvel universe's most notorious hoarder. When Fandango's Erik Davis suggested that this scene could be shown in a future MCU movie, Feige answered, "Exactly!"
The Collector (a.k.a. Taneleer Tivan) first appeared in Thor: The Dark World's mid-credits scene, where he accepted the Aether from Sif and Volstagg after it was decided that with the Tesseract already locked up in Asgard, it wasn't wise to keep two Infinity Stones so closely together. After the Asgardians left, he murmured, "One down, five to go," making it clear that like Thanos, he seeks to obtain all six of the Infinity Stones. Collector returned less than a year later in Guardians of the Galaxy, where he tasked Gamora with bringing him the Orb, a.k.a. the Power Stone. Eventually he received his prize, but when his slave, Carina, attempted to use the Power Stone, his collection was destroyed, and it's unclear what he's been up to since then.
After briefly being seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 credits grooving to the music, we'll finally meet Grandmaster (a.k.a. En Dwi Gast in the comics) in Thor: Ragnarok. In this continuity, Grandmaster is the ruler of Sakaar, and he takes great pleasure in watching his captured warriors fight in the gladiatorial arena, like Thor Odinson and the Incredible Hulk. We have yet to learn what kind of relationship Grandmaster and Collector have in the MCU, but the idea of experiencing their quirks at the same time is too good to pass up, so here's hoping that the MCU brass find a way to pair them together in the coming years.
Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster will debut to U.S. audiences when Thor: Ragnarok is released this Friday, November 3. As for The Collector, Benicio del Toro is expected to reprise the role for Avengers: Infinity War, which comes out on May 4, 2018.
