Speaking as part of a recent interview, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn offered a surprising update on Idris Elba’s Suicide Squad Character, Bloodsport. Elba made his DCEU debut in Gunn's 2021 film, The Suicide Squad, joining the (at the time) fledgling super-powered universe as the iconic gun-toting supervillain. While some elements from Gunn's Suicide Squad film have made their way over to his new DCU (like John Cena's Peacemaker, Elba's character has been left hanging in the lurch.
Many had assumed that with the introduction of the DCU, the franchise had turned the page on Elba's DCEU character (despite at one point having plans for him), leaving him behind with the rest of the brand's former on-screen universe. However, that may not be the case, as James Gunn has teased Bloodsport's potential return in the DCU.
According to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn sees potential in bringing Elba back into the fray in the DCU.
When asked about characters from The Suicide Squad potentially coming back for the director's new DC continuity, Gunn posited that "I definitely am always looking for a place to put Bloodsport:"
“I definitely am always looking for a place to put Bloodsport and figuring that out, so we’ll see what happens.”
This is the first real update on Elba's character fans have gotten since shortly after The Suicide Squad's 2021 release.
The last audiences had heard about the DC Comics sharpshooter, he was supposedly being primed for a "big" future according to Elba, but that was before Gunn and his fellow DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran took over the brand and launched their new DCU reboot.
Significant elements from The Suicide Squad have made their way over from the now-defunct DCEU to become DCU canon, including characters like Peacemaker and Amanda Waller, and major plot events like the death of Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag Jr.
Elba starred alongside Margot Robbie, John Cena, and Sylvester Stallone in The Suicide Squad, playing the iconic DC Comics supervillain Bloodsport. Now-DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn directed the film, which saw a group of DC big bads deemed expendable take on a dangerous mission to destroy the mysterious Staro on a far-off South American island.
How Could Bloodsport Come Back in the DCU?
If James Gunn wants Idris Elba's Bloodsport in the DCU, then he will get him. At this point, the Superman filmmaker has complete creative control over the DC brand on screen, so nothing is stopping him from adding another character from his Suicide Squad movie to his new on-screen continuity.
It is just a matter of finding the right project to fit Bloodsport back into the DC puzzle.
Gunn has brought some DCEU characters to his new DCU unchanged—same actor and character (e.g., Peacemaker and Waller). But he has also mixed things up, with stars like Nathan Fillion having been in the DCEU, coming to the DCU as a brand-new DC Comics character.
If Bloodsport/Elba were to return, it would likely be a case of the former here. And with other Suicide Squad mainstays like Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn still hanging in the wind, perhaps there is a chance for these returning villains to come as a package deal.
Seeing as the upcoming Waller series is technically a continuation of the story from The Suicide Squad movie, it would make sense for a character like Elba's Bloodsport to pop up there if he were going to.
This could lead to another Suicide Squad movie, perhaps, or a solo film featuring Bloodsport as either the hero or villain.
If Elba is game and Gunn finds the perfect place to make it happen, why not bring back the much-celebrated actor for DC's new universe? It would just require some narrative finagling, which Gunn is almost certainly aware of.
