Avengers: Infinity War may well have served as Idris Elba’s final outing in the MCU, but fortunately, the actor doesn’t seem too broken up about it. In fact, until recently, he didn’t even know what the MCU was.
Though the all-seeing Asgardian Heimdall was among the first of many casualties in the Marvel mega-hit, Elba has quickly moved on to new things, including his directorial debut Yardie. While speaking to Yahoo Movies about the new British crime drama, the topic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe arose, leaving the star momentarily confused.
“What’s MCU?” Elba asked. Upon clarification, the actor laughed before responding, “Oh, right, I have never heard that before. I thought it was Manchester United… but don’t worry about it.”
You read that right, folks. Despite being a part of the Marvel Studios franchise for several years and multiple movies, dating back to 2011’s Thor, Idris Elba claims to have somehow never even heard the term ‘MCU.’ It’s almost as if the guy doesn’t spend his time reading all our franchise coverage and browsing the online fan forums.
Heimdall’s demise in Infinity War looks like one of film’s few deaths that could actually stick in the long term. If so, Elba seems pretty acceptant of his fate, telling Metro a few weeks ago that he’d enjoyed his five-film run in the saga.
“I’m sure they decided to get rid of as many characters because they’ve run their natural course,” he added. “I loved playing him, he was my G, my guy.”
Nonetheless, Elba also hinted that in “a show about superheroes and guns,” a comeback is never completely off the table. Hey, if Loki and Gamora can get their resurrection fan theories, then why not Heimdall?
With Avengers 4 due for release on May 3rd, 2019, it’s predicted that quite a few of the Avengers: Infinity War deaths will be undone. As for Elba, the actor’s future remains to be seen, but at least we now know that he won’t be playing James Bond.