Why M. Bison From Street Fighter (2026) Looks So Familiar

The main antagonist of the "Street Fighter" series is M. Bison, crime boss of the Shadaloo organization, who dresses like a military dictator. In "Street Fighter" video games and animation, numerous voice actors have played Bison, from Canadian actor Richard Newman ("Beast Wars") in the West to Norio Wakamoto ("Dragon Ball Z," "Cowboy Bebop") in "Street Fighter" parent company Capcom's native Japan.

M. Bison has also been brought to live action in three "Street Fighter" films. The late Raul Julia (best known as Gomez Addams in the 1990s "Addams Family" films) played Bison in the 1994 "Street Fighter" film. In fact, it was Julia's last film role before his death, and he's widely considered the best part of the movie. Neal McDonough played the villain in 2009's "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li," though without the character's famous outfit. In the new 2026 "Street Fighter" film (which includes a tribute to Julia), Bison is played by David Dastmalchian, an actor skilled at both comedy and playing genuinely disturbed villains.

Dastmalchian's film debut was in "The Dark Knight." He had a brief but memorable role as Thomas Schiff, one of the Joker's henchmen, who gets interrogated at gunpoint by District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) — an early sign of Dent's two-faced dark side. Since then, Dastmalchian has appeared in many other DC Comics productions (and he's discussed his habit of playing comic book characters with /Film). 

He appeared as Polka-Dot Man in "The Suicide Squad," with small guest roles on TV series "Gotham" and "The Flash." Dastmalchian also appeared as Kurt, one of Scott Lang's (Paul Rudd) criminal friends, in the Marvel movies "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp." 

Dastmalchian has also contributed to DC Comics animation; he voiced the Penguin and Calendar Man in the animated film "Batman: The Long Halloween," Mr. Freeze in the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired "Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham," and most recently played the Riddler in "Batman: Knightfall."

With how many superhero movies and TV David Dastmalchian has been in, it's not surprising he even has a side career as a comic book writer. But his career is far more varied than just geek media.

In 2023, Dastmalchian worked with "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan again on "Oppenheimer." He had a small but crucial role as William Borden, director of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and the author of the pivotal, slanderous letter to the FBI accusing J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) of being a Soviet double agent. He also had a small role in the first "Dune" film as Piter De Vries, a Mentat employed by the Harkonnens.

In the 2024 horror film "Late Night with the Devil," Dastmalchian got a chance to lead a movie. "Late Night with the Devil" is presented as unearthed footage from the 1970s showing a genuine demonic possession, and resulting murders, on a talk show. Dastmalchian plays the program's host, Jack Delroy, who may or may not have struck his own deal with the Devil. 

Outside of films, Dastmalchian has a prolific TV career, too. His most recent roles include Gurathin in the Apple TV sci-fi series "Murderbot," and Mr. 3 in Netflix's live-action adaptation of legendary manga "One Piece." Now, he can add M. Bison to his long list of roles.

"Street Fighter" is playing in theaters.