Why Mister Terrific From James Gunn's Superman Looks So Familiar

The release of a new superhero movie is always exciting, but James Gunn's "Superman" is especially anticipated. Not only is it the first big screen installment of Gunn's cinematic DC comics-based universe, but it's also introducing many beloved DC characters aside from the usual Superman comics gang. One such character is Mister Terrific, a genius engineer and scientist with a range of technological powers and abilities as well as proficiency in hand-to-hand combat. In the film, Mister Terrific is played by 46-year-old actor Edi Gathegi, who doesn't yet have much name recognition despite the fact that he's been working in television and film for a very long time. Gathegi's face may be familiar but probably difficult to place for many — that's where Looper can help.

The Kenyan-American actor's career dates back to 2006, when he made his debut as a cab driver in the Jason Statham film "Crank." The following year, he appeared as Boa in three Season 1 episodes of "Lincoln Heights" and he also had a run on "House." Gathegi played Doctor Jeffrey Cole, one of the many doctors from Season 4 who competed for a chance to work on House's diagnostic team. He also had single-episode arcs in shows like "Veronica Mars," "CSI: Miami," and "Life on Mars" around this time, but meatier roles would soon follow, both in TV and film. In fact, "Superman" is not Gathegi's first superhero movie. Read on for all the details about his career to date.

Prior to being cast as Mister Terrific, Edi Gathegi appeared as a Marvel character on the big screen. He played Darwin in the 2011 Fox film "X-Men: First Class," in which he acted opposite Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and more notable members of the film's mutant ensemble. Darwin, a mutant introduced to the Marvel comics universe in the 2006 book "X-Men: Deadly Genesis" #2, has the ability to adapt in order to survive any threat to his life. In theory, he's indestructible, but that's not the case in practice, at least in the films: Darwin suffered a wasteful death (which also didn't make sense) in "X-Men: First Class." However, it's possible that he may not have been cast as Mister Terrific many years later if Darwin had survived, so perhaps it was for the best.

The year before he played Darwin, Gathegi appeared in another blockbuster film: "Twilight." Fans of the franchise will recognize him as Laurent, a morally bankrupt vampire who comes to target the franchise's protagonist, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Laurent is ultimately killed by Jacob's tribe of shapeshifters in "Twilight: New Moon." Despite not making it to the end of the franchise, it was a dream role for Gathegi. "My dirty little secret is that I have always wanted to play a vampire but I have never really been attracted to vampire films," the actor told the fan website Twilight Lexicon. "But the story of 'Twilight' is more of a romance set in a world where vampires exist. Stephenie Meyer did a wonderful job defining this world and making it accessible and intriguing and the story is so truthful, kind, and compelling."

While Edi Gathegi hasn't managed to land any starring movie roles yet, he did play a lead character in a TV show at one point. He co-starred in "StartUp," a web series that debuted on Crackle in 2016. The cast of "StartUp" includes a lot of well-known faces, such as Adam Brody, Ron Perlman, Martin Freeman, and Otmara Marrero. It follows three strangers — Nick Talman (Brody), Ronald Dacey (Gathegi), and Izzy Morales (Marrero) — as they attempt to launch a project centered on digital currency with the potential to be very lucrative. Despite its strong cast, "StartUp" received mixed reviews from critics and was cancelled after three seasons. 

Gathegi wasn't a lead in the popular NBC show "The Blacklist," but he did have an extended arc as a sketchy character named Matias Solomon, appearing in over 20 episodes across the main show and the spin-off series "The Blacklist: Redemption." Solomon was a CIA asset in Ethiopia before he enlisted to fight in the Eritrean-Ethiopean War, during which he committed multiple war crimes. Despite this, Solomon is still utilized as a little-known asset by the CIA after the war.

Currently, Gathegi is playing a character named Dev Ayesa on the underrated sci-fi series "For All Mankind," which explores an alternate timeline in which the USSR put a man on the moon before the United States. Ayesa is an accomplished engineer and businessman who founded the private company Helios Aerospace. He is also partially responsible for the construction of the first-ever viable nuclear fusion reactor in the show's timeline. Gathegi has appeared in 17 episodes so far and is expected to reprise his role when the Apple TV+ series returns for a fifth season.