Newsmaker of The Week : Idris Elba

Our Newsmaker this week is Idris Elba.

The 42-year-old made history as the first ever man to grace the cover of men's magazine Maxim solo (Men have appeared on the magazine's cover before, but always alongside a woman).

Sporting a stylish black leopard-print funnel coat and looking handsome as ever Elba fronts the cover under the fitting headline 'Man Up', and is described as an 'actor, musician, racecar driver and all-around badass' by the magazine.

'We've never in U.S. Maxim history had a man on the cover solo,' Maxim editor-in-chief Kate Lanphear told Racked. 'This is the very first time, and there was no one else in the world more bad-ass than Idris.'

Elba’s cover has been met to much positive social media response. Forbes reported that Maxim’s September 2015 issue boasts 36 more advertisers and a 143% increase in fashion advertising pages compared to last year’s September issue, the biggest annual increase in the magazine’s history. Placing Elba on its cover is part of the magazine's re-branding process, led by Lanphear who joined in September last year.

'I couldn’t be more happy with [the cover],' Lanphear told Forbes, who knew she wanted to put a man on the cover of Maxim when she first came on board. 'Choosing Elba as September’s 'Maxim Man' was a no-brainer. 'He’s so sophisticated and complex. There’s so much that he is amazing at.'

The London-born actor is also a DJ and got his major break starring as 'Stringer' Bell on highly acclaimed HBO drama The Wire. He played Nelson Mandela in 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' and will next appear as a villain alongside Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto in 2016’s 'Star Trek Beyond.' He recently broke Sir Malcolm Campbell's British speed record driving a Bentley for a UK TV show.

While fans are pushing for him to be named the next James Bond, Elba believes that such may not be the case. 'If I were the Bond producers and everyone was pointing me toward one actor, what's the surprise in that? Honestly, it's one of those things that if it should happen, it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy; it would be the will of a nation,' he told Maxim.

For more on Elba take a look at some pics from his maxim shoot and check back next week to find out who our next Newsmaker is.