Idris Elba remains open to an MCU return, despite the obvious

Idris Elba has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, but it wasn’t until Thor: Ragnarok that you got the impression he was actually enjoying his experience as part of the franchise.

Prior to Taika Waititi breathing fresh life into the Odinson’s standalone saga, the actor admitted he was equal parts frustrated and unenthusiastic about his stint as Heimdall, which was fair enough when he wasn’t given anything of substance to do other than spout leaden exposition and occasionally wave a big sword around at the entrance to the Bifrost.

Of course, Heimdall was killed off at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but that didn’t stop him from popping up once more during the end-credits scene in Thor: Love and Thunder, when he welcomed Jane Foster to Valhalla. So, not only is Heimdall dead, but he’s also enjoying the afterlife, but Elba still refused to permanently close that door during an interview with Collider.

“Pretty much his whole sort of like arsenal of gifts have been tapped into one way or another. He’s all-seeing, you know. But he’s quite a warrior. We’ve seen him as a warrior as well, and he has an immortality around him and that would be something that we haven’t really explored so that I think may be interesting. Hey, listen, you know, the Marvel world is ever-expanding. You just never know.”

An episode or two of What If…? isn’t out of the question, but unless it’s a multiversal variant, it’s hard to see how Heimdall could escape from Valhalla to return to the realm of the living in the future.