The gift and curse of Ronda Rousey in a comic book movie

The Bad

So far, we haven’t seen any range from Ronda Rousey. She’s been tough in everything she’s in. The million dollar question is can she be more? Comic book characters have depth. Let’s take She-Hulk for example. Rousey would be believable when she’s mean and green and, as she’s a legit fighter, the action part wouldn’t be difficult to sell. The bigger concern would be whether or not she could pull off Jennifer Walters. Could she convincingly portray Walters in the courtroom or nail the facial expressions when she transforms.

Even if she’s not in court or in her human form, there’s another glaring problem as well. Rousey isn’t the most convincing voice actor. In Mortal Kombat 11, Rousey voiced Sonya Blade and at times it was, well, choppy. A big part of playing a CGI character is the talking, so if she isn’t able to pull that off, there’s no way she’d capture the character. In all fairness, however, this was her first attempt at voice acting and, much like she’s grown as a talker in WWE, she could do the same here.

This may seem excessively critical, but it’s the truth. Rousey has grown in her new career and taken a giant leap in her acting ability. There’s no doubt that she may have what it takes to play a character in the future.

Right now, though, the concerns of some fans are understandable, especially for DC, as people may end up spending too much time saying how this was just “another bad move” instead of giving her a real chance to play the role.