Cate Blanchett and Michelle Pfeiffer will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in upcoming films, it was announced at Comic-Con San Diego.

Pfeiffer will join Ant-Man And The Wasp as will Laurence Fishburne, while Blanchett will play villain Hela in Thor: Ragnarok.

Two-time Oscar winner Blanchett told an audience of 6,500 fans at the convention on Saturday that she she got involved through a “happy accident”.

“It’s a universe that I’ve sort of been happily dragged into by my kids,” she said.

Chris Hemsworth said he became tired of Thor so he spoke to director Taika Waititi and they have made some changes and set him as having a “mid-life crisis”.

“I’ve put up with this character five times, this is Marvel’s 167th film or something, me personally I got a bit bored myself and thought we’ve got to try something different,” he said.

“All of us agreed, if we are going to make a third Thor we have to really push the envelope and experiment and take it to another level.

“So that was what this film was. Cut his hair, broke his hammer, changed his clothes, changed the world.”

Thor will battle with Mark Ruffalo’s The Hulk, who was seen to speak for the first time in a trailer that was premiered to the audience.

The Hulk has spent two years not as his alter ego Bruce Banner and therefore has the vocabulary of a two-year-old, Ruffalo said.

He added: “He’s enjoying his life for once and he’ll be damned if he’s gonna go back to Banner.”

Pfeiffer will join Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly in the sequel to their film Ant Man.

She will play Janet van Dyne, the missing wife of Ant Man’s alter ego.

:: Thor: Ragnarok is released on October 27, while Ant-Man And The Wasp will come out on June 29.