Richard Armitage Reveals His Captain America: The First Avenger Character’s Hidden Talent

While he’s better known today for playing Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit, before he went to Middle-earth, actor Richard Armitage was a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Armitage played Heinz Kruger in Captain America: The First Avenger. Kruger was a top Hydra assassin who killed Dr. Abraham Erskine and attempted to steal a vial of Erskine’s super soldier serum for the Red Skull.

Steve Rogers, who had only just then become the world’s first super soldier, stopped Kruger from escaping. When questioned by Rogers, Kruger chose death and bit down a cyanide capsule.

But when has death ever really stopped anyone in a superhero universe. During an exclusive interview, ComicBook.com asked Armitage if he’d ever be interested in reprising his role as Kruger for a future Marvel project.

“How do you come back from cyanide poisoning? I guess I’d have to be a clone of myself,” Armitage answered.

It turns out there was more to Kruger than simply being a Hydra assassin. Armitage revealed that Kruger had a whole history that was never revealed in Captain America: The First Avenger.

“He was an interesting character,” Armitage said. “I didn’t realize there was a kind of background to him. When I started looking into it, I thought it was just something they’d created for the movie, but there was a whole kind of biog for him and a backstory and one of the things that always amused me was that he was a great opera singer. You never got to explore that in the movie.

“He had a great singing voice. That would be a great scene, singing with cyanide.”

Armitage can next be seen in the espionage drama Berlin Station. The series premieres on Epix on Oct. 16, 2016.