Babylon 5 creator and The Changeling screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski has reported on his Facebook page that he recently completed filming a short cameo appearance for Marvel Studios’ upcoming comic book adaptation Thor.
One other piece of fun: I did a cameo on the new Thor movie. It was supposed to be just a ten second deal, but director Kenneth Branagh decided (against the evidence) that I can act, so he kept putting me in more bits. We’ll see what ends up on the cutting room floor, but it was a lot of fun.
In addition to his television and film writing, Straczynski has been scripting comic books over the past several years, having just completed a well-received run on Thor. He hinted that his role was related to something from his own run on the book.
I can’t comment on the role or anything specific to the story or characters out of deference to the production. All I can say is that it was something drawn from my tenure writing the Thor comic…so basically I’ve finally disappeared into my own narrative. Knew that would happen one of these days.
Straczynski now joins a rather small group of comics creators who have appeared in big screen comic book adaptations. Stan Lee, one of the key architects of the Marvel Comics universe and the publisher’s very public face for decades, has appeared in many of the films featuring characters he had created or co-created. Writer Chris Claremon can be spotted in the third X-Men film, fittingly as the movie’s plot liberally lifted many of its ideas from the “Dark Phoenix Saga” storyline, which Claremont co-created with artist John Byrne. Writer/director Kevin Smith is another Hollywood figure who has worked in comics. His critically acclaimed run on Daredevil would have portions adapted into the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck, earning Smith a small role as a New York City morgue attendant. Writer/ artist Frank Miller, whom many consider to have authored the definitive version of Daredevil, also appeared in the film. Miller would make the jump to director, giving himself walk-ons in the his films Sin City (co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and based on Miller’s graphic novel series) and The Spirit.
This will be Straczynski’s second on-screen appearance. For the final episode of his groundbreaking science-fiction series Babylon 5, he appeared as a technician shutting down the power on the newly decommissioned titular space station.
