For comic book fans, to see what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become is rather extraordinary. In the last 10 years we have seen characters hit the big screen that we never expected to be portrayed in live-action, and as a result one can only imagine the heroes and villains we'll get to meet in another 10. There are hundreds if not thousands of fan favorites still waiting to be adapted -- but if Thor: Ragnarok VFX Supervisor Jake Morrison had his druthers, he would bring the legendary Beta Ray Bill to the movie world. He recently told me,
I think I would love to do something with Beta Ray Bill, having been in the Thor universe for a good while. We put a small Easter egg on the tower in Sakaar, which is great fun, but I think he's such a cool character, and the Walt Simonson run in the comics, that one, that iconic cover with Beta Ray Bill in full regalia, clashing with the Mighty Thor. I think that's an immensely cool moment.
With Thor: Ragnarok arriving on DigitalHD this week, I recently had the chance to hop on the phone with Jake Morrison to chat about his latest work. Because of Morrison's history with the franchise - having worked on Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World and Ant-Man -- I asked him if there was any specific character that he would love the chance to play around with. After struggling to pick from the literal thousands of options Marvel has created over the years, he decided to pick the famed horse-faced Korbinite who is notably one of the few in the universe worthy of carrying Mjolnir -- as depicted on the cover of The Mighty Thor #338:
For those unfamiliar with the character, Beta Ray Bill was a creation of Marvel legend Walter Simonson for his run on Thor. He is the champion of his race and a noble hero - which is why he is deemed worthy to carry Mjolnir and possess the powers of the God of Thunder. As noted by Jake Morrison, there is a subtle nod to him in Thor: Ragnarok, as his face is one of the ones depicted on the Tower attached to the gladiator arena, but fans are still hoping that the character could have a legitimate role in a movie someday.
A few months back, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige mentioned that Beta Ray Bill was considered for a part in Thor: Ragnarok, but because the role wouldn't have been significant enough they decided to "do it later." At this current point in time it's really hard to pin down exactly when "later" may be -- especially because Chris Hemsworth has been discussing the end of his Marvel contract -- but hopefully we will eventually see a day where the legendary character makes his legit live-action debut.
