Deadline (via GameFragger.com) has revealed that David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad) has joined the cast of Legendary Entertainment's live-action Street Fighter movie as its lead villain, M. Bison.
The actor has become a mainstay across film and television thanks to memorable supporting turns, but this will mark his biggest role to date. Dastmalchian was most recently seen in The Life of Chuck and received widespread praise for his work in Late Night with the Devil.
Comic book fans will know him best for playing Kurt in the Ant-Man franchise and as Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad. He's also voiced multiple DC characters, including Calendar Man and The Penguin, and played Abra Kadabra in The Flash.
Next up for Dastmalchian is Dexter: Resurrection and season 2 of Netflix's hit series One Piece, where he'll play the evil Mr. 3.
Back to M. Bison, he's the primary antagonist in the Street Fighter video game series. The tyrannical leader of the criminal organisation Shadaloo, seeking world domination, Bison wields Psycho Power, a dark energy that enhances his strength and allows mind control.
It was recently confirmed that WWE Superstar Roman Reigns will play the villainous Akuma in Legendary Entertainment's upcoming Street Fighter movie.
Rounding out the cast are Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, 50 Cent as Balrog, Jason Momoa as Blanka, and Orville Peck as Vega. Kitao Sakurai (Bad Trip) is directing from a screenplay by Dalan Musson (Captain America: Brave New World).
Since Street Fighter's launch in 1987, the series has sold over 49 million units worldwide, becoming one of the most well-known and highest-grossing video game franchises of all time.
Along with films based on original IP, Legendary has a successful track record for adaptations, including leading video game franchises. Recent titles include the six Academy Award-winning Dune, not to mention multiple entries in its cinematic Monsterverse, and movies like Detective Pikachu and Enola Holmes.
Hollywood has attempted to adapt Street Fighter in the past, including a 1994 movie that bombed. It starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na Wen, and the late Raul Julia among others, while a 2009 effort - Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li - featuring Smallville alum Kristin Kreuk also flopped.
When we spoke to Dastmalchian for Batman: The Long Halloween, we asked which of his many comic book roles stands out as his favourite.
"[Laughs] Oh, it's impossible to pick. If you look in my office or if you'd have looked in my room many years ago, and now I'm a 'grown-up' quote, unquote, it's an office, but I've now sorted the thousands of comic books I've collected," the actor started. "I can go from Justice League to Detective Comics over to my love of Marvel and Dark Horse and Image and Boom and you name it!"
"To me, there's so much magnificent work and so many characters brilliant people have imagined over time, for me, it's hard to quantify exactly which character I like most. Each of them is unique and they're like your children or something when you get to bring them to life," Dastmalchian continued. "I'll say too, what a challenge thinking about Tim Sheridan in adapting one of the greatest comic book achievements of all time. You think about what Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale did and it's inspired so many comics. It's gone on to be canon and the dialogue and scripting is done so well. It's so beautiful and a really gorgeous script, so it was a lot of fun to sink my teeth into."
Street Fighter doesn't have a confirmed release date. Stay tuned for updates as we have them.