Irish star Barry Keoghan has tweeted about the "power of belief" after landing a major role as a villain in the upcoming Marvel movieThe Eternals.

The 26-year-old Dublin actor, acclaimed for his roles in The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Dunkirk, has been announced to play the villainous character Druig, whose traits include superhuman speed and strength, accelerated healing, flight and teleportation.

He joins an A-list cast that includes Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani and Bryan Tyree Henry.

Keoghan posted pictures of his new cast mates on social media, referring to them as "The Family".

The actor also pinned a tweet he sent to Stan Lee back in 2013 which read "Please Make me a Superhero", and commented: "The power of belief."

The Eternals are a group of superheroes who made their first appearance in Marvel comics in 1976.

The film, directed by Chloé Zhao, is set for release in November 2020 as part of the new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The Eternals stars Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, and Barry Keoghan

During the Disney 23 Expo where the casting news was announced, Keoghan brushed shoulders with one of his heroes - Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson - who he referred to as a "legend".

Johnson retweeted a photo of the pair and wrote: "Great meeting you BK. Congrats, kick ass and have fun on #TheEternals."

Great meeting you BK. Congrats, kick ass and have fun on #TheEternals. #mcu 👏🏾💪🏾 https://t.co/mJTZ9iFOmH — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 24, 2019

In other recent good news for Keoghan, cable channel FX gave his show Y a full series order.

Based on the critically acclaimed comic book series Y: The Last Man, Keoghan heads up an ensemble cast which will also feature Diane Lane, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland and Amber Tamblyn.

The show is slated to premiere in 2020.

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