Ronda Rousey fights her way into Hollywood

VENICE, Calif. — Ronda Rousey has a message for the female comic-book superheroes making their way to big screens: Stop being the weakest link.

"I'm tired of watching this thing where the woman's superpower is dumbed down. In The Fantastic Four, the woman is the invisible one. In X-Men, (telekinetic) Jean Grey gets tired all the time," Rousey says. "Wonder Woman is cool, but she has bulletproof bracelets, while Superman is a bulletproof dude. It's like she has really cool accessories. I think about that a lot."

So Rousey's taking action. The fast-talking mixed martial artist, the current UFC bantamweight champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in judo, is busting into movie roles, starting with The Expendables 3, which just hit theaters.

Rousey, 27, holds her own after kicking her way into the testosterone-filled boys club. Rousey noticed on the Bulgarian shoot that her character wore a holster and camouflage. It was the guys who were wearing all the bulky body armor.

"I think they wanted to show some form and not have me look like a block," she says. "But I kept saying, 'Body armor is for mistakes. I don't make any.' I thought it was kind of cool."

It's not exactly enlightened filmmaking, but screenwriter/star Sylvester Stallone wanted to shake things up in the third franchise film and was considering a number of actresses, including Milla Jovovich and Gina Carano, before he laid eyes on Rousey.

"I wanted someone beautiful and tough, and in walks this girl," Stallone says. "Talk about a one-off."

Rousey did her best to show off both attributes, shooting her introductory Expendables fight scene at a nightclub in a slinky red dress and 6-inch stiletto heals she had picked out at a Bulgarian shoe store. Even the stunt coordinator thought wearing the heels was crazy. Rousey pointed out that she fights on her toes.

In her second take of sidestepping while smashing a guy with a beer bottle, her heel snapped.

"It was broken, unsalvageable," Rousey says. "Someone had to go out and buy shorter heels to do the scene."

Rousey can make herself at home in any clothing environment. For an interview at her favorite coffee shop, she shows up in a tan tank top, accidentally matching hand brace (she won't discuss the injury) and no makeup, her hair still wet from a workout.

"I try not to look my best every day," she says. "If you are designered up every day, you cannot step it up. I'm all about flipping switches. I can go from jock to red carpet. It takes a little more to get glamorous than it does to get into killer mode. But I like to have that ace to pull out."

Switch-flipping is something she'll need to rule the UFC world while working on a growing slate of films following Expendables 3, including an introductory role in Fast & Furious 7 and the Entourage movie, both due next year. While she's quiet about both films, she acknowledges that acting is perhaps her toughest challenge.

"The running, jumping, shooting, climbing, throwing this guy — I can already do that," she says. "But this is sink or swim in a new environment. It's the walking and talking that's scariest."