Idris Elba Confirms He Talked with Marvel About Playing Luke Cage

Idris Elba would be a pretty awesome Luke Cage. He'd be a pretty awesome anything, really (James Bond!!!!), but as half of Marvel's Power Man & Iron Fist duo he would have kicked some serious ass. A film based on the unlikely combo had been talked about for years with nothing happening, and we know now that they'll each get their own solo TV series on Netflix. But back when those movie rumors were still circulating, Marvel thought Elba would have been great for Cage, too.

While talking to HuffPo, Elba was asked about superheroes he would like to play and revealed that he had talks with Marvel about playing Luke Cage....

Elba: "Yeah, man, I wouldn't mind giving that a go. But, no, other than that, I don't really have any superhero that I like. 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..."

So what's to stop Marvel from asking him back for the TV series? He's obviously no stranger to the episodic format with shows like The Wire and Luther on his resume. The likely reason is his continued role as Heimdall in the Thor movies, which despite his character having a slightly expanded role in the sequel, it still feels like he's being misused. It would be unfortunate if such a small part is what keeps Elba from playing bigger Marvel heroes.

As for who might really play Luke Cage in the Netflix series? There's always Terry Crews, right? And thanks to CC Scorsese over at DeviantArt for that sweet image of Elba.