Richard Madden is reportedly in talks to play Ikaris in Marvel's 'The Eternals'.

Richard Madden

Richard Madden

The 'Rocketman' star - who is also known for hit shows 'Game of Thrones' and 'Bodyguard' - is believed to have entered discussions for the upcoming superhero movie, with Variety claiming that he will play the lead role, though this has not been confirmed.

One part of the motion picture's storyline is expected to involve a love story between characters Ikaris, who is fuelled by cosmic energy, and Sersi, who relishes moving amongst humans.

Madden's attachment to the movie comes after Ma Dong-Seok was reported to have joined the cast alongside Angelina Jolie.

The 48-year-old actor - best known to UK audiences from 2013 zombie thriller 'Train To Busan' - and the 'Tourist' star's parts are too being kept under wraps for the time being.

The movie, which is being helmed by Chloe Zhao, is based on the 1976 Marvel comics by Jack Kirby.

Fictional species The Eternals are offshoots of the evolutionary process, and they were intended to be the Earth's defenders, which sees them do battle with the Deviants.

The film will be Jolie's first superhero outing, but she has starred in a comic book movie before - 2008's 'Wanted', which was an adaptation of Mark Millar and J.G. Jones series of the same name.

James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Terence Stamp also starred in the project, which was directed by Timur Bekmambetov and tells the story of an accountant who joins a secret society which his professional assassin father worked for.

Marvel was recently reported to be searching for an openly homosexual actor to play the lead role in the forthcoming film.

'Ruin' writers Matthew and Ryan Firpo have signed up to pen the script for the movie, and Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige will produce the picture.