Idris Elba figures they can probably bring him back for Thor 4 somehow, right?

By William Hughes | August 14, 2019 | 9:59pm

Aux Features Film

Idris Elba figures they can probably bring him back for Thor 4 somehow, right?

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Idris Elba has not had an especially great time during his tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; despite being a talented and charismatic actor, he got saddled early on with playing one of the dullest characters in one of the (until recently) dullest sub-franchises of the Disney mega-giant, a.k.a. Heimdall, a.k.a. Stoic Sword Man What Glares At Folk. The first two Thor movies did not help those Elba satisfaction levels—he’s talked in the past about the despair he felt while doing reshoots on the second one, called back to be covered in fake hair and hold a fake sword on a soundstage just days after embodying Nelson Mandela for 2014's Long Walk To Freedom. Even in the fun one, he gets stuck with one of the most boring parts, playing a game of Metal Gear Asgard while Cate Blanchett devours Valhalla one speech at a time. And then along came Infinity War, where Elba doesn’t even get his own heroic sacrifice, instead serving as a “No, seriously, we’re killing characters this time” apertif for Thanos’ murder of Loki. It’s enough to put a guy off playing strong, silent, boring types for good.

But not Elba! Presumably spurred on by director Taika Waititi’s continued interest in the Thor movies—and specifically, the Natalie Portman-heavy wackiness of the recently announced Love And Thunder—Elba has expressed his hope that Heimdall might find his way back somehow to the fold. (Also, he skipped watching Endgame, which we totally get.) His argument for such a resurrection is refreshingly straightforward: He’s a comic book character and a god, so, fuck it, just bring him back, okay? “Listen, Heimdall is essentially part of the god family,” Elba noted in a recent interview. “So you know, he essentially could be alive. I’m just saying! I’m just putting it out there!” Specifically, Elba was putting it out there on ABC Radio, where he went on to add that he’d be happy to return to the franchise if asked: “The Heimdall character goes way back into, you know, the Thor mythology…And I’m sure there will be an interesting way to bring that alive. Of course I would. Yes.”