Idris Elba is teasing his potential return as the DC Comics assassin Bloodshot.
“I would definitely like to tell the Superman story. There’s no doubt,” Elba tells Variety. “Bloodsport versus Superman. It needs to happen.”
The actor was referencing how Bloodsport was sent to prison for putting Superman in the ICU with a kryptonite bullet, a key element of his character’s backstory that’s alluded to in “The Suicide Squad.”
Bloodsport was one of the few remaining members of Task Force X that survived the battle against Starro in “The Suicide Squad.” While the film ended with Bloodsport blackmailing Amanda Waller into setting his team free, the assassin’s current whereabouts in the DC cinematic universe remains to be seen.
Variety caught up with Elba at the New York premiere of his new movie “Beast,” which sees the actor face off against a deadly lion.
Elba headlines as Dr. Nate Samuels, a father who takes his two daughters on an African safari following their mother’s death. The family later finds themselves being hunted by an enraged lion bent on revenge for the poachers that killed his pride.
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“It’s a monster movie, but it’s kind of the anti-monster movie,” writer Ryan Engle told Variety. “You have a unique situation where the hero and the villain, the villain being the lion, share the same desire to protect their family. It’s a really cool symbiotic relationship where they have to fight it out, but they’re going for the same thing.”
Iyana Halley, who plays Elba’s older daughter in the film, said she interpreted the lion’s behavior as a metaphor for the stages of grief.
“I think that the lion represents just going through something crazy and traumatic,” Halley told Variety. “He acts the way he does because of the poachers, so people can relate to the grieving part because that’s when things can get unpredictable.”
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur said it was important to show the audience that the lion wasn’t to blame for his behavior.
“It’s important that we don’t create a monster out of lions, they’re not to blame,” Kormákur said. “You can’t blame the tsunami when it hits us. There’s another reason for the tsunami before.”
While “Beast” is being promoted as a survival thriller, producer Will Packer praised the movie for spotlighting some pertinent real-life issues occurring in South Africa.
“It’s a man versus beast survival thriller, but at its core, it showcases a problem that’s real,” Packer told Variety. “This beast is man-made in that poachers come in and they separate these alpha males from their pride. Underneath the fun of Idris Elba punching a lion, we see that this is what happens when we don’t respect nature and treat our animals the way that we should.”
Lion poaching has remained prevalent in Africa given the demand for the creature’s skin, claws and teeth. Packer suggested that the driving motivator behind illegal poaching is economics.
“It’s an economic issue,” Packer said. “The poachers wouldn’t poach if people weren’t buying it, so that’s the key.”
Could a sequel with another giant animal be in the works? “The lion is not the most dangerous in Africa. I think there are different types of dangers out there,” Elba said. “You ever face a hippopotamus? That’s one of them for sure.”