Ronda Rousey As Ms. Marvel? It Could Happen

The heat is on for Marvel to continue churning out hit superhero film after hit superhero film, but they haven't yet made a movie with a female lead. Ever since the studio debuted the Black Widow in the Avengers films, people have been rightfully fighting for a female superhero film. It’s not only a great idea, but it’s necessary, given the changing landscape of our world and the strengthening fight for gender equality. The company has already announced that it will make a Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel standalone film, but Marvel has yet to announce who will take on the responsibility that comes with being Ms. Marvel. That's where Ronda Rousey comes in. Recently, Professional MMA fighter Rousey posted fan art of herself as Ms. Marvel, and she kind of looks perfect.

At first, the idea might seem odd; bigger name actresses like Emily Blunt and Bryce Dallas Howard would be more typical picks for a movie like this, especially since both women have taken on action films with ease and strength before. But Ronda Rousey might actually be the best choice for Ms. Marvel and her human alter ego Carol Danvers. I know that some people may be thinking that this is, quite simply, a dumb idea, seeing that Rousey is an athlete, not an actress. Yet she's no stranger to Hollywood, having appeared in Furious 7, The Expendables 3 and most recently in the Entourage movie. Sure, in the Entourage film she played herself, but in two out of three of those films, she took on an action role and played a strong woman, which is exactly what Ms Marvel is all about.

As seen in these fan art photos that Rousey posted on her Instagram, she’s also got the right look down for Carol Danvers, who, by the way, is the character that will appear in the Marvel film and is also the first woman who took on the Ms. Marvel title. Danvers is a Human­Kree hybrid with powers of flight, energy projection and absorption as well as superhuman strength, stamina and speed.

As an MMA fighter, Rousey is well-­versed in the ideas of strength and stamina, and if you watch her fights, you'll see that the way she uses speed in her attacks is incredibly smart, and really remarkable to watch. There’s so much intelligence in how one moves and fights in MMA, and Rousey has talent in spades. These skills would absolutely come in handy in the most difficult of fight scenes for the Marvel film. Still, for people who might worry that Rousey is not experienced enough to play such an important role, I'll admit they do have a point. She'd be taking on a lot of pressure in being the first female superhero to get her own standalone film, and Rousey is only three movies into her Hollywood career.

But that being said, there'd be precedent; fellow fighter Gina Carano was able to carry the film Haywire solely on her shoulders. That film might not have been an Oscar contender, but it was an awesome action film with some great drama. And what pushed it over the edge in brilliance is that while Carano was new to the film scene, the rest of the cast helped cushion the film with star power that helped make the movie worth seeing for people unfamiliar with the fighter.

Carol Danvers interacts with many different Marvel superheroes on her many adventures, so providing Rousey with some actor support wouldn’t actually be that difficult. Danvers has great moments in the comics with Hawkeye and the X-­Men, and she’s guest starred in both the Avengers comics and the Defenders comics, the latter of which will be receiving its own series on Netflix after the next season of Daredevil and the new Jessica Jones series. Rousey has all the potential in the world to take on this part, and with the right script, director and cast backing her up, it could even take her to film stardom.

Still, to be honest, I would have preferred if the Ms. Marvel film had featured the newest incarnation of the character, with the South Asian Muslim female superhero Kamala Khan, as that would have shown that Marvel is really willing to push the boundaries of what they are willing to bring to the mainstream audience. But for now, I’ll settle for a Carol Danvers Ms. Marvel movie. And I have plenty of faith that Rousey can carry the film with strength, grace and a whole lot of badassery.