For a long time, there were rumors of Marvel developing a movie for Luke Cage, the hero with near impervious skin and superhuman strength that once went by the moniker of Power Man. While not a movie, an announcement was made earlier this month that revealed that the House of Ideas would be teaming with Netflix to create a television series for the heavy-hitting Avenger and his allies Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones starting in 2015, as well as a mini-series titled ‘The Defenders’. But back when there were only talks of a film, a number of actors were connected to the role over the years including Terry Crews, Isaiah Mustafa, and The Rock. Recently, another big name that is already apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe let it slip that he too was once in talks to play Cage. Who could it be? It’s Idris Elba!
In an interview with The Huffington Post where they talked about ‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom’, the possibility of playing James Bond, and ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’, the actor behind Heimdall the gatekeeper of the Bifrost in ‘Thor’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’ shared that he was once talking to Marvel about playing the founder of Heroes For Hire and leader of many Avengers teams. When asked about what superhero films he’d like to be the leading man for, he didn’t single out anyone in particular, but he brought up the current leader of the Mighty Avengers:
“There was talk about Luke Cage at one time — I thought Luke Cage was a pretty interesting character. They were going to do it, but I don’t know what happened.”
While it’s great to have him as part of the Asgardian side of things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s too bad that Elba won’t get the chance to play Luke Cage on the small screen for Netflix. The actor has an impressive resume of TV credits including ‘The Wire’, ‘The Office’, ‘The Big C’, and ‘Luther’, so he’s certainly comfortable in the medium, and he’s established himself as a badass onscreen, most recently in ‘Pacific Rim’. But with the world of Marvel Studios all being connected, the chances of the same actor playing multiple characters seems unlikely.
How do you think Idris Elba would have been as Luke Cage if Marvel had continued forward with a movie for the hero? Are you disappointed that he probably won’t get to play the role now? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
