Idris Elba plays the villain Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad, but this won't be the character's first live-action appearance. Bloodsport first appeared in "Girl of Steel," the premiere episode of Supergirl season 3. The Arrowverse version of the villain only appeared in one episode, in which he was characterized as a ex-military gun-for-hire — how will The Suicide Squad version compare?
Bloodsport had an auspicious debut, first appearing in Superman #4 (Vol.2) in April 1987. Born Robert DuBois, Bloodsport had been drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, but fled to Canada rather than serve. His brother, Mickey, took Robert's place, tragically losing both arms and both legs in battle. The guilt of what his cowardice had done to his brother drove Robert mad, sending him bouncing from mental hospital to mental hospital. It was in one such hospital that Lex Luthor found Robert DuBois and decided he might be the perfect living weapon to turn against Superman while hiding his own involvement.
Luthor outfitted DuBois with a personal teleporter that would allow him to summon any weapon he could imagine to his hands and outfitted him with a considerable armory, including Kryptonite needles and a dart gun capable of firing them. DuBois was conditioned to imagine himself as the hard-edged soldier he might have been and sent out to cause enough chaos to draw Superman out. Unfortunately, DuBois proved to be more unstable than Luthor and his handlers predicted and he killed over two-dozen people in his efforts to draw Superman out. Bloodsport managed to wound Superman with his Kryptonite ammunition, but the Man of Steel was able to escape; after he healed himself, Superman took Bloodsport down after their second battle.
The version of Bloodsport created for the Arrowverse was not quite so well armed or as mentally unstable. Played by David St. Louis, this version of Robert DuBois served in the US Army and had been stationed at Fort Harrison, outside of National City. Nothing was said about his training while in the Army, but he was said to have been involved in organizing an attempt to bomb the City Hall of National City after he left the service, adopting the Bloodsport name when he became a freelance mercenary. It was in this capacity that he was employed by corrupt billionaire Morgan Edge to destroy National City's waterfront, so that Edge could snatch the land up for cheap as part of one of his development deals. Supergirl had relatively little trouble in bringing Bloodsport to justice, and he hasn't appeared on the show since.
It remains to be seen how closely Idris Elba's take on Bloodsport will adhere to the comics. James Gunn, who is writing and directing The Suicide Squad, has gone on record about reading every single Suicide Squad comic in an effort to remain true to the source material. Certainly, the base concept of a villain who can summon whatever weapon he wants to his hand is an interesting idea and the trauma behind the characters' origins sounds like the sort of material Elba might like to work with. However, given the modern attitudes regarding the portrayal of PTSD in movies and the fact that it has been several years since the U.S. Army had a draft, it seems more likely that the movie's take on Bloodsport may be an actual soldier, like the Arrowverse version, rather than a guilt-driven lunatic who thinks he's the second coming of Rambo.