News
Idris Elba to Play Heimdall in Thor
November 19, 2009
Idris Elba has joined the cast of Marvel Studios' Thor, reports Heat Vision.
Elba will play Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard, who stands on the BiFrost Bridge ready to defend the city from intruders.
He joins a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgard, Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson and Tadanobu Asano.
To be directed by Kenneth Branagh, the comic book adaptation will be released by Paramount Pictures on May 20, 2011. Shooting will begin mid-January in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Elba also stars in Warner Bros.' comic book adaptation The Losers, opening April 9.
Related Articles From Other SitesPosted by: HOLLA on November 19, 2009 at 23:57:02
WTF?!?!?!?!?! i thought Skarsgard was Heimdall..wow...i wasalready going to watch THOR atleast 3 times..now im EXTREMELY interested..marvel just got my money 10 times over
Posted by: webhead2006 on November 20, 2009 at 00:03:49
interesting developments i still wonder who the heck is colm and stellan going to be. How many other thor characters are left for them?
Posted by: DeadNotSleeping on November 20, 2009 at 00:06:36
Wait, what? Strange choice but I'm game. This could still work out cool.
Posted by: Whaaaaaat? on November 20, 2009 at 00:07:15
At the risk of sounding racist, does anyone know of any dark skinned Norsemen/women? I guess its ok. It just seems silly when they change the ethnicity of a character (fictional or not) to appease and appeal to certain groups. Whats next? Black Panther starring Matt Damon? See my point?
Posted by: Dirk on November 20, 2009 at 00:23:10
hmmm. Why change the character to a black guy? People would go ape *hit if they changed Black Panther, Falcon, Blade, Luke Cage to a white, asian or latino. Fact of the matter is if they didn't add a black actor for the role then people would call racism and say that there are only white people in the movie. I hate that the world has came to that but it has. Stay true to the source material please. Who am I kidding though, we have Beyounce wanting to be Wonder Woman and people wanting Will Smith to play Captain Nemo (which is an Indian) or Captain America. It's perfectly alright to change white characters into other races but no ONE dares change any other race into a white character without being called racist or someone raising hell. I hate this. Sad thing is I bet money Superherohype moderators will erase my comment. Lord knows we can't speak our mind.
Posted by: Abe on November 20, 2009 at 00:25:44
I thought it was the Rainbow Bridge, not the BiFrost Bridge. Either way it still sounds like a great movie is in the works.
Posted by: tisk tisk tisk on November 20, 2009 at 00:30:10
I am sick of white characters being changed into black characters. Call me racist all you want but if a black character was changed into a white character people would go nuts!! I agree with the top posters, lets have a white Blank Panther. I want Jason Statum to play him because he is a great actor and has the body and fighting style to pull it off. People always say color doesn't matter so choose the best actor for the job. Would black people mind if someone casted a white person to play Luke Cage? What if they found a white actor that could portray the character great. It was perfectly fine to cast a black man in the role of Kingpin for Daredevil and no one complained because they said ''he is the best actor for the job because of his size'' Truth is black people won't allow it because they know it's wrong to the source material and Blank Panther, Luke Cage were created as black characters. Then why is it alright to screw with other Superheroes that were white from day one? Apparently it doesn't matter if your white. Now that is racism at it's best!
Posted by: Sarah on November 20, 2009 at 00:30:41
**** YES, STRINGER BELL!!
Posted by: twilighthour on November 20, 2009 at 00:31:12
I'm embarrassed for the human race right now...seriously. *shakes head* Let's see how the man plays the character. Let's see how this actor pulls off this powerful mythological figure. Stoic defender of Asgard and guardian of the Rainbow Bridge? That's what I'm looking for. Fiercely loyal to his dear friend Thor? Let's hope so. Lopping heads with a gigantormous axe? He better be! *looks over previous sentence and notices a distinct lack of one particular descriptor.* Get yourselves up to date with the modern concept of racial tolerance or get off my planet. For real.
Posted by: mike on November 20, 2009 at 00:36:11
"I am sick of white characters being changed into black characters. Call me racist all you want but if a black character was changed into a white character people would go nuts!! I agree with the top posters, lets have a white Blank Panther. I want Jason Statum to play him because he is a great actor and has the body and fighting style to pull it off. People always say color doesn't matter so choose the best actor for the job. Would black people mind if someone casted a white person to play Luke Cage? What if they found a white actor that could portray the character great. It was perfectly fine to cast a black man in the role of Kingpin for Daredevil and no one complained because they said ''he is the best actor for the job because of his size'' Truth is black people won't allow it because they know it's wrong to the source material and Blank Panther, Luke Cage were created as black characters. Then why is it alright to screw with other Superheroes that were white from day one? Apparently it doesn't matter if your white. Now that is racism at it's best!"
fan boys rock....moron
Posted by: Hudd on November 20, 2009 at 00:38:35
White people are, like, so persecuted. I can't believe they'd take a minor character no one gives a s*** about in something as important as a comic book movie and make him non-white. Just more of the same from the liberal intelligentsia, am I right? God, when will the repression of whites cease? When--I ask you, WHEN--will we be able to finally speak our minds and be given some sense of control in this country!?!
Posted by: lmao on November 20, 2009 at 00:38:57
haha there are no black asgardians that I have ever seen haha. Just more hollywood crap trying to include every single ethnic group to stop from seeing racist haha. Just like tv commericals show. Always has to be a white, black, latin in a group as if every group of people that hangs together is from all races. I don't have one single white or black friend, I must be racist.
Posted by: Get Over It on November 20, 2009 at 00:39:55
Race isn't exactly a defining characteristic in this case. The characters in Thor are Norse GODS, not mortals, so the appearance of the character and the race of the actor really aren't a big deal.
I doubt that the producers decided to find a black actor specifically to add diversity and then happened to settle on Elba out of all the black actors who auditioned. More likely that they weren't race-specific in the casting announcement and Elba was the best guy who showed up, or that Branagh wanted to work with Elba specifically (rather than a generic black actor) and decided that he could pull off the character.
And no comparison with Black Panther--race matters more when casting an African King than when casting an immortal being. A deity could be of any color, regardless of where they're worshipped.
Posted by: twilighthour on November 20, 2009 at 00:40:27
...and by tolerance I meant and should have said "blindness". Shame on me for my outdated terminology! Mark my words, this movie is going to put Marvel Studios on a Pixar-like climb to greatness. Yep.
Posted by: nevaRWilliams on November 20, 2009 at 00:41:51
boo freakin hoo!
i dont get the complaining. is he thor? NO is he loki? NO is he even a main substantial character? I DOUBT THAT. so in this case, we are now bickering and whining about a side cameo role... its not that important. probably just for us to say. "hey, look, there is heimdall in a thor movie". you'll get over it. i already have.
Posted by: alright get over it on November 20, 2009 at 00:47:29
Point taken with Black Panther since he is an African King but there are alot of English people in South Africa that have been there for 100's of years. Africa isn't just black.
so how about a white or latino Blade or Luke Cage? Is that alright?
Posted by: The Freakin' Pope on November 20, 2009 at 00:48:08
If there were as many black superheroes as white ones, it'd be easier to argue a white guy playing Luke Cage. As it is, there are maybe five, no more than ten, relevant black superheroes out there (and most of their origins are directly tied to their race). If you can't see that making one of them white isn't the same as making the Kingpin black, then I recommend you turn off your computer and go back to reading Sarah Palin's book.
Posted by: brian on November 20, 2009 at 00:48:21
wow. a lot of **** head racists out there.
Posted by: Rhodes on November 20, 2009 at 00:49:53
White panther dose exist he's a black character though. however black panther represents a technologically advance kingdom that likes to shut themselves out from the world pretty much like thor but with a magically advance kingdom. Luke cage= Wonderman when your talking about basic(original) powers. Nick Fury's blackness in the ultimate has never been an issue of racial change, they wanted to make him like sam jackson they made him look like sam jackson. people liked it so guess what *points to the end of Iron man 1* .
Idris Elba is a great actor, he's not very hip hop with this acting, there is such a thing as a black man that isn't a gangter or a blackman trying to be white.... anyway there are some norse with naturally dark skin...
Posted by: I want white panther on November 20, 2009 at 00:50:44
I want a white panther played by Chuck Norris. I want a white Luke Cage played by vin diesel
(he's has black in him so it shouldn't be that far of a stretch) and Blade played by Christian Bale. Why would Gods choose to have different colors to represent black and white anyway?
Posted by: Whaaaaaat? on November 20, 2009 at 00:56:11
Hey Hudd, let me try and put it into perspective for you. Here is a list of African Gods and Mythos and my choice of who will play each part in a movie.
SHANGO: God of Thunder-Michael Clarke Duncan, ELEGUA: Trickster God of Crossroads-Chris Tucker, ABASSI: Nigerian Creator God and Lord of the Sky-Don Cheadle, YEMAYA: Mother of Waters and Childbirth-Halle Berry and lastly, ORISHAS: Guardian spirits under the collective patronage of top God-Kevin James...
Sing it with me...'One of these things is not like the other,...'
Posted by: how is it racism? on November 20, 2009 at 00:56:15
Why is it racist to want a character to be the same color as they were created as? Of course you say people didn't complain about Nick Fury being changed to a black person. Imagine if Luke Cage was changed to a white person. Why is one side alright but the other isn't? You say there isn't many black characters so it's wrong to change them white because there are so many white characters, tough ****! it's not our fault that people don't really create alot of black superheroes. I don't see many mexican superheroes but you don't see me go off about it. Lets see a white character changed into a latino character for a change instead of black. Black people are always talking and bring up the race card, never have I seen a Latino person do that.
My lord a technology advanced Nation in Africa, they couldn't have gotton more science fiction then that could they? What a hellhole.
Posted by: mike on November 20, 2009 at 00:57:38
i can see your point, but i also have to point out that i am only seeing like three black superheroes mentioned.its not like they casted an black actor as thor.i kinda like the switch up.not so sure on the actors ability though,lol. and remember heroes reach out to all kids, its good to show them things that they can identify with.the closest thing i could identify with when i was growing up was the living lightning.lol pathetic!
Posted by: Ted Knight on November 20, 2009 at 01:02:05
I love Whaaat post! post of the day!!! If they had a movie about African gods and made one white, latino or Asian black people would protest.
Posted by: Josh on November 20, 2009 at 01:02:53
I believe Idris Elba would look much better with long hair and an "M" tattooed on his face (in a movie Brett Ratner would be banned from) rather than the guardian of Asgard. My statement is not racist, nor prejudicial. It is simply based on the fact that the character happens to be white, and unlike Nick Fury, Marvel has never changed his image to a black man. As far as Nick Fury is concerned, I am thrilled that Marvel asked for Jackson's permission before modifying the character for the "Ultimate" series , and Jackson was so enthusiastic to bring the character to life on the screen. I think that shows a lot of class for both the actor and the comic book company.
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