Actor Martin Freeman has become a bit of a sensation in recent years. No, he's not leading man material in the traditional sense, but his well-received roles in "Sherlock," the "Hobbit" trilogy and the first season of FX's critically acclaimed "Fargo" have earned him a passionate fan base. It is these fans that have been pondering non-stop as to his mysterious role in May's "Captain America: Civil War."

Today, they have their answer.

A recent story in Empire Magazine confirms a previous rumor that Freeman will play the role of Everett Ross. It's OK if your immediate response to that name was: WHO? Ross is not a household name, even among Marvel comics fans, but he does play an important role in the "Civil War" storyline. Ross is an expert of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, where Chadwick Boesman's Black Panther comes from (and where Ultron got his vibranium from in the last "Avengers" movie). In the film he will be a member of the Joint Counter Terrorist Center, an organization that monitors the super powered beings Captain America squares off against.

Though Ross is a Wakandan expert, the Empire story sees him in Germany, a country Captain America knows all too well. He can be seen standing with Emily Van Camp's Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers' potential love interest in "Civil War." Who knows what type of political jockeying he's up to at that point in the story?

Since Ross is connected to Black Panther, we can guess that "Captain America: Civil War" will not be his only appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We're betting he'll pop up in the standalone "Black Panther" movie scheduled to hit theaters in July 2018. In "Civil War," Black Panther will be hunting Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, after he was framed for a terrorist attack. It's possible that Ross may have something to do with all that.

"Captain America: Civil War" will hit theaters on May 6.