Legendary's Street Fighter movie has reportedly cast another iconic character, with Deadline reporting that the film has brought on board David Dastmalchian to play the power-mad dictator M. Bison in the upcoming film.
Dastmalchian is probably best known for his role as Abner Krill / Polka Dot Man in James Gunn's 2021 DC Comics superhero movie The Suicide Squad, and for his performance as Jack Delroy in the 2023 supernatural film Late Night with the Devil. Before all of that, though, he managed to successfully build up an impressive résúme as a character actor, appearing in a number of films from acclaimed directors such as Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners).
The character that Dastmalchian is reported to be playing in the new adaptation is unquestionably Street Fighter's most recognizable villain, with M. Bison having appeared in countless titles in the series since his debut as a non-playable final boss in the 1991 arcade title Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. In those games, he is typically depicted as the leader of the evil crime syndicate Shadaloo — a group that is intent on exerting their influence around the globe.
He was famously portrayed on screen by Raúl Juliá in the 1994 live-action adaptation, directed by Steven de Souza, with the actor Neal McDonough turning in a much less memorable performance as the big bad in the 2009 movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
News about the casting for the Street Fighter film has been coming in thick and fast since the end of last month, which is when the actor and rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson seemingly confirmed on social media that he had been cast as the Mike Tyson-like boxer Balrog.
Since then, more announcements have been shared on various news site, with the following names having been attached to the project: Jason Momoa (Blanka), Noah Centineo (Ken), Orville Peck (Vega), Joe Anoa’i / Roman Reigns (Akuma), Andrew Koji (Ryu), Alan Ritchson (Guile), Callina Liang (Chun-Li) and Andrew Schulz (Dan Hibiki).