Idris Elba talks about playing Marvel characters

Now that British actor Idris Elba is deservedly starting to land some high-profile parts (including the new Alex Cross), could he someday headline a comic book movie?

Elba (Stringer!) is playing Asgardian god Heimdall in the THOR movie, but he could conceivably follow in the footsteps of Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds, and slip into the outfit of another character in the Marvel movie universe. When prompted about the possibility by Total Film, Elba said: “I have a picture deal with them [Marvel]. I can’t tell you much about that, but I can tell you I’ll be back.”

When pressed further, Elba admitted his interests went beyond the Bifrost bridge: “I wouldn’t mind having a crack at bringing Blade back, personally.” And more: “But erm, there’s a couple of things there that they have… Luke Cage is… very interesting.”

While I could really picture him as Wakandan king T’Challa, aka the Black Panther, Elba would certainly be a reasonable fit as either “Hero for Hire” Luke Cage, or as a Snipes replacement should the BLADE series get sequelized or rebooted.