Angela Bassett as a superhero ball-buster? Sounds perfect. Bassett has accepted a role in the new Green Lantern movie, keeping tabs on the superheroes of Earth, and kicking ass in general. But her role is so much bigger than that.
Variety announced that Bassett will be playing the role of Amanda Waller, a very important figure in the DC Universe. Waller runs the government's Suicide Squad, a group of ex-supervillains who are sent on missions that they're not expected to survive. (Hence the name.) She also helps out with the secret spy organization, Checkmate, and sometimes the mysterious Project Cadmus. And she deals with the Justice League. Which means that not only is the character heavily connected, but that there might be some other DC Universe supers making a cameo down the line. After all, what's the point of throwing in Amanda Waller if you don't mention that she used to work with Lex Luthor? It's a thought, anyway.
Here's a picture...
Clearly they are sexing up her live-action image a bit, which is too bad except that Bassett is sure to give an amazing performance. And more importantly, does this character's presence mean DC's trying to set up the Suicide Squad or Justice League the way Iron Man helped to incorporate S.H.I.E.L.D. into the Marvel Universe films? Someone like Bassett definitely exudes bad-ass leadership, so we could easily see her turning up in a few more DC films, including The Flash and the Superman reboot. Hey, if it worked for Paramount...
Shooting for Green Lantern is presently underway in New Orleans with a release date of June 17, 2011.