Gunn's Gamble: Idris Elba Confirmed for Bloodsport

James Gunn is one of those rare genius intellects in Hollywood. He turned a third rate team like Guardians of the Galaxy into an entire Star Wars-like franchise. Except it may even be better than the current state of Star Wars movies. If you have seen the first Guardians of the Galaxy you know what I mean. It had a meaningful story, insane graphics, and in your face action, just the way Marvel fans like it! Gunn has been hired to reboot the Suicide Squad in the same vein.

One of his top-flight actors will be Idris Elba from a seriously great show "The Wire." Who will Elba play, none other than the villain Bloodsport? Who? Yeah, I know I had to look it up too. He first appeared in John Byrne's Superman #4 back in the late 80s. Is this a throw-away character? Are they seriously going to run with Bloodsport? What kind of recent returns and pricing have we seen since this info came out? Bottom line: is it worthy of speculation?

Superman #4

Bloodsport was a deranged lunatic gunning down innocents in Metropolis. He had been manipulated by Lex Luther and given a teleportation device to access high tech weaponry on-demand and convinced that Superman was the problem. He wounded Superman with Kryptonite bullets before being subdued and sent to a mental institution. He was created by John Byrne in his Superman saga in Superman #4 in 87'. Can this tech cretin actually make us some super-moolah?

1-Year

This news is out today. It is so fresh that I am one of many writing about Gunn's gamble on that movie. At this point, we have to trust the creative to bring his concept to life on screen. I prefer the John Cena character Peacemaker. It provides an interesting contrast between peace and war, further, I think Cena can pull it off. While they haven't given Elba enough of a character to work with. It may be that the story kills off one or both of these characters. There are so many characters in the DC Universe it is almost irrelevant to the fans. However, Peacemaker has a little better track record probably because he has been around longer. He was first created in Fightin Five #40 in 1966.

Conclusion

If you own Superman #4; then just hold onto it. You will have a chance to unload that book for money before the premiere. I never thought I would write this, but John Byrne's Superman series is slowly gaining value. At the very least give it a couple of weeks for the message on Elba and Bloodsport to circulate online.

I don't think this book will hold up over time. Once the movie comes out its time in the sun is over. Do not own this after the opening night (Probably sometime in 2022 the way this pandemic is going.)!  The Fightin Five #40 could be an alternative. If Cena's character lives you want to own a copy of this 1966 book. We don't need to be genius level intellect like Gunn to do the obvious and buy something to do with Peacemaker, the Fightin Five #40 is a good bet. Good luck with the hunt for another Silver Age key.