Idris Elba is both a phenomenally talented and charismatic actor, as well as a recognizable star more than familiar and comfortable working in the realm of effects-heavy blockbusters. And yet, for some reason, no movie has managed to combine the two and give the 48 year-old a role in a big budget flick that he can actually sink his teeth into.
He did get the single greatest line in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, but that was by far the most memorable part of his contribution. Throughout five appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Heimdall, he wasn’t given a great deal to work with, he was relegated to the background in Prometheus, buried under makeup in Star Trek Beyond and did his best with a one-dimensional bad guy in Hobbs & Shaw, while The Dark Tower was just awful from the ground up.
James Gunn will be looking to remedy this in The Suicide Squad, though, when the Golden Globe winner suits up as Bloodsport, the de facto leader of the team’s latest iteration, although he takes second billing in the cast behind the returning Margot Robbie. Now, a new look at the Luther star in costume has been revealed, and while it’s not as good as the trailer we thought we were getting at CCXP, you can check it out down below.
Elba was originally set to replace Will Smith as Deadshot before his character was changed, presumably in the hopes that Smith will return to the DCEU one day in the future. As far as substitutions go, The Wire star is a pretty great one to step in and head up The Suicide Squad‘s titular band of misfits, and based on what we’ve seen so far, the soft reboot is going to blow David Ayer’s maligned original out of the water.
