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| Erik Selvig (Marvel Cinematic Universe) | |
|---|---|
| Marvel Cinematic Universe character | |
 Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig inThor | |
| First appearance | Thor (2011) |
| Created by | |
| Portrayed by | Stellan Skarsgård |
| In-universe information | |
| Title | Doctor |
| Occupation | Astrophysicist |
| Affiliation | |
Erik Selvig is afictional character portrayed byStellan Skarsgård inMarvel Cinematic Universe filmsThor (2011),The Avengers (2012),Thor: The Dark World (2013),Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), andThor: Love and Thunder (2022) as an astrophysicist who becomes involved with the AsgardianThor and the government organizationS.H.I.E.L.D. To tie into these appearances, the character is seen in several MCUtie-in comics. The character also appears in other media, including non-MCU comics published byMarvel Comics. He was also the main protagonist of the 2018 tie-in prose novelThe Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath.
Erik Selvig was born in 1953. Being of Scandinavian origin, Selvig grew up hearing stories about the legends ofAsgard, such asThor andBifrost. In adulthood, he became a professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Culver University, where he metBruce Banner. During his tenure as a university professor, he metJane Foster, whose father was his colleague, and took her under his wing.
Selvig, Foster, andDarcy Lewis were travelling inNew Mexico to study thermonuclear astrophysics. While researching in the desert, a storm hit them, with a powerlessThor suddenly appearing. The trio took him to a local hospital, but he escaped, although he was later captured byS.H.I.E.L.D. He went to S.H.I.E.L.D. and told them he was a man namedDonald Blake, and they released him. However, Thor's brotherLoki sent theDestroyer toEarth to kill Thor. After the brutal battle, Thor prevailed, and left forAsgard, saying goodbye to Selvig. After the incident,Nick Fury recruited him to study theTesseract, while unknowingly being under Loki's control.
While researching the Tesseract, Loki opens a portal and arrives on Earth. Loki kills multiple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and takes Selvig andClint Barton / Hawkeye under his control. In a secret location, Selvig worked to stabilize the Tesseract. Afterwards, he took the Tesseract to the highest point of theStark Tower, and opened a portal, summoning theChitauri, who began invadingNew York City. There he was confronted byTony Stark, who knocked him out. Now freed from Loki's mind control, he toldNatasha Romanoff that they could use Loki's scepter to disable the portal. Romanoff disables the portal while the otherAvengers manage to stop the invasion. Afterwards, Selvig is comforted by Thor, to whom he give the Tesseract.
A year later, the effects of Loki's mind control affected Selvig deeply, causing him to have a mental breakdown. Thor comes to ask for his help, asMalekith, aDark Elf, was about to unleash a destruction event called "the Convergence". He worked with Foster and Lewis to develop teleportation devices to send Malekith and his army to theirrealm. Thor defeated the Elves and sent them back to their realm.
By 2015, Selvig had fully recovered from his breakdown. While leaving after giving a lecture, Thor asked for his help, to continue the vision given to him byWanda Maximoff. Thor took him to the Water of Sights, where Thor had visions of the sixInfinity Stones. When Thor lost control of his body, Selvig saves him and the two left from the location. After the Avengers stopUltron's plan for world destruction, he joined the newAvengers Compound and began his work to assist the Avengers in keeping the world safe.
In 2018, Selvig is killed byThanos duringThe Blip,[a] but was brought back to life in 2023 by Banner. Sometime later, he hosted aNOVA special dedicated toEinstein-Rosen bridges.[b] Later, Jane consults him for her cancer treatment but he says that the treatment is ineffective.
In an alternate timeline where zombies infected Earth, Erik Selvig was among the infected. He was found by Kamala Khan, Riri Williams and Kate Bishop escaping on a Quinjet after swallowing a shrunken Intergalactic Transmitter before he succumbed to the infection. Kamala reluctantly dug the transmitter out of his stomach before he attempted to attack them, but to stay stuck in a sit belt.
I choseThor because of [director]Kenneth Branagh ... I try to pick different films, I go and do those big ones and having done that I can usually afford to go and do some really small obscure films and experiment a little.
In October 2009,Stellan Skarsgård joined the cast ofThor,[2] which was written byAshley Edward Miller,Zack Stentz, andDon Payne;[3] Skarsgård signed a five-film deal with Marvel.[4] His character Erik Selvig appears in thepost-credits scene at the end ofThor, which was directed byThe Avengers directorJoss Whedon. This set up Selvig's role in that film.[5] After also appearing inThor: The Dark World andAvengers: Age of Ultron, Skarsgård noted in February 2015 that he had one more Marvel film in his deal, that he would not be appearing inThor: Ragnarok, and that he possibly could appear in anotherAvengers film.[4]
Selvig appears in the MCU tie-in comicsThe Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week andThor: The Dark World Prelude in the same capacity as he does in the films.
Erik Selvig is the main character of the 2018 novelThe Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath, which takes place after the events ofAvengers: Infinity War.[6][7][8] In the novel, Selvig survives the Blip,[9] although inAvengers: Endgame it was revealed that he was killed by it.
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