Cate Blanchett to join Taika Waititi's Thor?

Cate Blanchett (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP).

She's played a Queen, an elf, and several high society types, but now Australian actress Cate Blanchett looks set to join the Marvel universe.

The Oscar-winner is in talks to play one of the female leads in Thor: Ragnorak, according to Variety.

New Zealand director Taika Waititi is on board to direct the film with Chris Hemsworth returning as the hammer-wielding Norse god Thor alongside Jaimie Alexander and Tom Hiddleston.

Mark Ruffalo will play his Avengers character The Hulk, who is set to battle Thor.

Blanchett was this week nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the 1950s lesbian romance, Carol, putting her on track for her seventh Oscar nod.

While regarded as a serious actress, Blanchett's biggest box office earners were the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fantasy trilogies in which she played the elf Galadriel.