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.”
[via IGN]
64 Comments
Fuck yeah, he’s right. In the comics, after Ragnarok happened, the Asgardians were reincarnated in human bodies, so Thor had to travel around the world and find them. It would be pretty awesome if that was also the plot of the next Thor movie — just a Thor and Valkyrie road trip, with Jane Foster Thor along for the right, as they pick up the new Asgardians and remind them who they were.Which is also, I like to point out, how we can get Kid Loki.
Thor and Valkyrie road trip, with Jane Foster Thor along for the ride…Sounds like a Todd Phillips’ pitch to Marvel execs.
Thor and Valkyrie road trip, with Jane Foster Thor along for the ride… I have a DCU/MCU crossover stinger for this one: after the credits, Thor and Valkyrie and Jane are driving and stop at a rest area. Just pulling out as they come in is a dusty red pickup truck. Guy driving is blonde with a goatee, there’s a little man with a fringe of white hair next to him, the other passenger has a big ring on his finger.
But can Thor also be wandering around outer space bugging the hell out of Starlord? As fun as your movie sounds, I kind of want to see that one first.
Guessing James Gunn doesn’t want it, which is why we’re getting Thor 4 first.
“Wait, Valkyrie, there’s a special etiquette I learned for this. Ahem. ‘Thankyou for the lovely coffee, could I please have another cup?’”
And then Loki commits The Crime That Will Not Be Forgiven.He then becomes God of Stories and then runs for President.
That’s an ugly fucking drawing of Loki. Yikes.
God, an adaptation of Gillen’s Journey into Mystery would break people. Especially if they nail the casting of Kid Loki.
In the that whole Norse Mythology thing Ragnarok is not the destruction of the universe. But the end of a cycle of rebirth, afterwards all the gods are reborn and they do it all again. No single Asguardian who has every died needs to stay dead, they did Ragnarok so there’s an easy valid way to bring them back.
Kid! Fucking! Loki! As much as I like the idea of a Hiddleston Loki show I’m intensely annoyed it’ll have us miss this bloody amazing arc…
And he finds Heimdall as a man who is obsessively and needlessly guarding a bridge in post-Katrina New Orleans (or a substitute for it)
One way they could bring him back is if everyone remembered that all of these films are made up and resurrecting a dead character is a fairly minor writing challenge for any competent writer. I feel like this should be obvious to everyone but there are grown-ass adults who seem to struggle with the concept.
It’s even less of a challenge when the character has been previously shown to be divine and the story world already contains magic, advanced science, and resurrected characters.
And even LESS challenging when we literally just saw Tony Stark resurrect half the universe with a thought and a snap. I certainly have no trouble accepting part of Tony’s Infinity Wish was ‘…and that guy Heimdall and the other Asgardians I’ve heard Thor speak of too.”
Even less challenging when you remember that it was Hulk’s snap that brought back half the universe and he spent an entire film doing stuff with Thor and even hung around Heimdall for however long they had between the end of Ragnarok and the mid-credits scene.
A Wizard did it.
I like Idris Elba but I’m not sure if death having no consequences is something that will be good for the movies.
Loki came back to life via time travel shenanigans and precisely zero people complained because it is a movie and it’s all made up
Fair enough but it doesn’t mean they have to bring back everyone just because some people wanted them back. Not to mention the issue of scheduling, having to pay actors for their return, finding a reason for them to be in the story (they are at least are trying one with Loki). The big problem with Heimdall as stated in this article was not doing much that was interesting and that’s not going to be fixed just because they bring him back. I’d rather he stay dead and not waste Idris Elba’s time and talent.
Thats what I’m saying though – characters dying and coming back to life are exclusively behind-the-camera decisions. The idea that a character can’t return because of a thing that happened in a film is an embarrassing one to be held by anyone over the age of 11, and yet i see adults regularly talking like this.
feels like there are basically two kinds of nerds: the kind of get excited about stuff and the kind who get excited about complaining about stuff.
It has worked for comics for decades! Besides, after Phase 4, I get the feeling that the “serious” MCU is over and the rest is going to be gravy.
Even comic fans have been rolling their eyes at constantly reversed deaths for a long time now. It’s often considered a “jump the shark” moment for a reason. The serious MCU that had a movie where the villain was beaten via dance off?
Another way to bring Heimdall back is by remembering that an immortal character can’t really die.
Except Heimdall had one job but Thor can command the bifrost himself with Stormbreaker so I’m not sure what they could really do with his character.
Would that many people really complain if he just showed up again with no explanation?
Just the usual people who complain about these movies yet for some reason can’t seem to stop going to them.
If he shows up shirtless I guarantee no one will care
Given one of the MCU’s hallmarks is continuity porn, I’m gonna say yes.This isn’t the comics where neither the writers nor the readers give a fuck about consistency.
Consistency means fuck all in the MCU too. Just do it. No one that matters would care, and no one that cares would matter.
Like how Professor Hulk just showed up with no explanation or backstory?
You being stupid doesn’t make things bad, it just means you don’t get to talk about them and be taken seriously at the same time.
“where Elba doesn’t even get his own heroic sacrifice” – except he totally does; he beams the Hulk to Earth, which directly goads Thanos into killing him. (In what universe would Thanos not striking back have served that movie and its villain?) But, because Elba’s one of the AV Club’s darlings, facts take a backseat to virtue-signalling whining every. damn. time.
Virtue signalling.Check with your doctor about maybe upping the dosage.
“But, because Elba’s one of the AV Club’s darlings”Elba is on the cover of this month’s Vanity Fair, is People’s 2019 Sexiest Man Alive, has a DJ residency in Ibiza and was handpicked to be the Bad guy going up against two of world’s biggest action stars at the same time. Sounds like he is everybody’s darling.
I can only assume by “handpicked to be the bad guy” you mean his role in Cats, and that you mean James Corden and Taylor Swift are the world’s biggest action stars.
Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson don’t agree to get their asses kicked on film by just anyone. Ask Vin Diesel. And yes, casting Elba as the alpha predator in a really expensive film adaptation of a globally famous broadway show is affirmation of his baller status.
Oh, is this about that Calvin and Hobbes movie from a while back? Had no idea Elba was in that.
Yes, he plays the dad, Calvin’s frequent nemesis.
Beating up Jason Statham builds character.
Statham is great but I dunno if he’s one of the worlds biggest action stars. How many people went to see the meg?
Enough people to make it a smash hit in the US and China. It actually beat box office projections, becoming the first Statham vehicle to cross $100 million mark in its first two weeks of release. Meg 2 is green lit and considering the first cost $150 million (which is an endorsement of Statham’s star power in itself) there’s every reason to believe it was a big success.
ah damn, did I chose the wrong statham film I haven’t seen to shit on? Parker? Spy?
Spy did well and Statham got good reviews but he wasn’t the lead. Parker was the bomb you were looking for.
many, many people it was a huge hit.
Report on a mega star expressing passing interest in reviving a role /= virtue-signalling whining every. damn. time.Though I’m starting to think that some trolls have Google Alerts set up just to be able to come make the accusation.
‘Thor: The Search for Heimdall’.
Heimdall is one of the dullest MCU characters, even Wong gets to have more fun. Marvel is not averse to bringing an actor back: I’d rather see Elba as the next Luke Cage, or Galactus, or an Xman villain like Apocalypse or Magneto.
He’d be a great voice for Galactus, that is for sure.
Yeah, but it would have to be Stringer Bell Elba, and not any of his British accents.
Well, Magneto can’t be an Auschwitz survivor anymore, we need to pick a more recent conflict that also Americans have heard of and remember now. That’s the main problem. Bosnia’s too regional, Iraq’s too fraught with religious pitfalls, anything in Africa is forgotten to all but the Canadian peacekeepers and newspaper readers, and what, you’re gonna make Magneto a Rohingya? Nope.
Rwanda’s genocide is still remembered. A filmmaker whose name i’ve forgotten recently suggested that Giancarlo Esposito would make a great Rwandan Magneto. I agree and think Elba would make a good candidate as well.
Make it so that Hulk’s snap brought back everyone Thanos killed in the events of Infinity War.
That’d bring back Vision and Loki too even though it’s already covered that TV Loki will be the one from the Time Heist.
Though at this point, I’d prefer a reveal that Hela survived Ragnarok, having to carry around with a shopping cart (made out of swords) full of Asgard rubble to keep herself powered. Maybe buddy her up with Korath (complete with Drax-induced brain damage), a Dark Elf (maybe the one that was in The Collector’s collection), Ulik, and a copy of Ultron that got shot into space somehow and is stuck in a robot body that looks like a trash can (as a reference to the original comic Ultron made by Hank Pym).
It would be worth it just to see him in character with those magical gold eyes one more time. He’s got the golden eyes!
I think Thor: Love and Thunder is a movie I’ll see no matter what. They could announce that the roll of Heimdall will be Idris Elba’s voice over CG-enhanced footage of kid Shirley Temple and I’d go, “yup okay so when’s opening weekend?”
I would also like to be paid a whole bunch of money to not do much and be bored on a movie set.
Of course he could be resurrected, given that it’s science fiction, but he shouldn’t. Part of what made Infinity War so appealing is that they were actually killing characters, just like heroes standing up against a powerful alien invader might actually die in real life. It made the film more deep and meaningful. Honestly the only reason I can take Loki and Gamora being somewhat reprieved is a) if he stays in his alternate timeline and b) I like her and tell myself it was a one time only consequence of time travel.
Everyone’s talking about resurrecting him, but like, they can just do a flashback or something. Or a prequel. Or a dream sequence. Or a robot double. Or a Skrull. Or a ghost.Like, they’ve got plenty of options that don’t involve making death a revolving door like the comics do.
Make the post credits scene Darryl talking about his new roommate who came to him complaining about an old sports injury: Hemidall.
There’s always the Loki series. Heimdall could see Loki changing the time line and goes after him. Or sends some of the other characters who didn’t get enough screen time. He stays back acting like the Zordon of the Warriors 3 + Lady Sif.
I think we are like 2 years away from everyone in Hollywood trying to work with Taika Waititi over an over again. Him and Jordan Peele might be the two most gifted film makers of this generation.
so many people in these comments truly deserve wedgies.
‘uhh, actually it would ruin his heroic sacrifice and break continuity’ – the worst people. god it’s not the band i hate it’s their fans.