That’s right, Bilbo Baggins himself will be walking in to yet another war as the actor Martin Freeman was confirmed today by Marvel that he’d be joining the cast of Captain America: Civil War. The third Cap movie has quite the stacked cast of characters already, including the star-spangled man with a plan, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, the Winter Soldier, Falcon, Baron Zemo, Crossbones, Black Panther, and possibly War Machine, Nicky Fury, and the Vision. No official statement has been made as to who Freeman will play, but we have some speculations.

Aside from this recent stint on a little trilogy entitled The Hobbit, as well as the widely under watched BBC series Sherlock, Freeman earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work on the Fargo television show and went on a pub crawl with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Edgar Wright’s The World’s End. Here’s Marvel Studios‘ official word on the matter at hand from producer Kevin Feige:

“From his roles as Bilbo Baggins and Doctor Watson to Tim in ‘The Office,’ Martin’s range from the dramatic to the comedic has consistently impressed us. We couldn’t be more honored or excited to have such a talented actor join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

So who is Freeman playing? My guess is that he will be playing some kind of political figure who drives Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to enforce the film’s “registration act” like agenda against the will of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Henry Gyrich comes to mind, a man sent by the government to evaluate and report on the Avengers on-goings. However, there are also ties to the fictional African nation of Wakanda, which could point us in the direction of Everett Ross, an expert adviser to the government on the country.

There are also possibilities that he could be someone completely unforeseen. Perhaps he’s the head of Damage Control, a corporation that thrives on rebuilding civilization in the aftermath of superhero events like the battle of New York. The bigger the mess to clean up the higher the profit. Based on his age, maybe Freeman will play an older, wiser Uncle Ben type? Spider-Man will be introduced in this film. The wild card choice that would be hilarious is Frank Castle aka The Punisher.

The key element that has most likely had many Tumblr users change their pants is the fact that Dr. Watson will be starring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside his cohort Inspector Sherlock Holmes or as the common folk refer to him as Benedict Cumberbatch. The Batch was cast last year to embody the Supreme Sorcerer himself, Doctor Strange. They won’t be in a movie together in the MCU yet, but their releases are only six months apart.

I could only imagine that fan fictions are being furiously written right now to get their characters together in holy matrimony. We know how much fun the brothers Russo directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and I bet they’ll throw a wink to fans to acknowledge Sherlockians.

Here’s the official portrait profile from Marvel of the actor:

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Captain America: Civil War will also star Chris Evans as Steve Rgoers aka Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa aka Black Panther, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones, and Emily VanCamp as Kate aka Agent 13. This film hits cinemas on May 6, 2016.

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Source: Marvel