Fan-casting a Rambo Reboot

With the news that Sylvester Stallone has named his choice to succeed him in his role as John Rambo (Read about that here) and I thought I'd take a second to look at some of the potential options as to who could replace Stallone in one of his more well-known characters.

Before we get into the actors who could portray John Rambo, it's fairly important to know about the character himself.

So who is John Rambo?

John Rambo is a former Vietnam vet as well as a highly skilled green beret. John went off to war, but returned a decorated yet broken hero. After what he encountered in Vietnam, Rambo is filled with self-loathing and although he hates killing, he's more than willing to use his skills to protect those closest to him. Rambo at first glance seems to fit the stereotypical butch, action hero, but in reality he is a broken man. He has suffered through watching his friends die, had a childhood of feeling unloved, faced unbearable torture and terror in the war, returned to a country that rejected him and labeled him a monster. Eventually he is seduced back into conflict and kills countless men before finally retreating to a life of misery, unable to forgive himself for what he had done.

Rambo grows to lose faith in humanity, God and believes that the world will never get better. Near the end of the current series, Rambo finds glimmers of hope but is likely still plagued by his demons of the past while struggling through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He carries a great deal of emotional depth, regardless of how culture has depicted him over the years.

So who can recreate Rambo?

It's hard to replace Sylvester Stallone, he's a one-of-a-kind actor but these are 3 actors who I believe could breathe new life into a Rambo reboot.

Tom Hardy

He is the name being attached to countless action films as of late, especially considering his most recent jaunt as Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road and he is preparing to follow the role into its sequel Mad Max: Wasteland.

Tom is for sake of argument, the epitome of an action star having star in countless action films including Sucker Punch, RocknRolla, Inception, Warrior and The Dark Knight Rises and of course Mad Max. All these films go to show his ability to portray the physicality of the John Rambo character. Add in his collection of war based characters like Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down and Deserter and you've got an actor capable of pulling off John Rambo with ease.

Dave Bautista

Another name that is making its rounds around the action film attachment rumor mill is Dave Bautista. Bautista started off as an MMA fighter and professional wrestler with WWE dating all the way back to 1998.

In the mid 00's he started venturing into Hollywood with small cameos here and there before finding his first staring in House of the Rising Sun. From then on he was hooked on Hollywood joining films like The Scorpion King 3, The Man with the Iron Fists, Riddick, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spectre, Heist, Highlander (rumored) and Kickboxer: Vengeance. Bautista has a solid collection of characters to build off of and Rambo could be his launching point for a franchise.

Chris Hemsworth

Chris Hemsworth is the final selection for who could take the mantle of Rambo, and he has been attached to several impressive characters over the years.

Chris started his rise in Hollywood in 2009 when he joined the Star Trek reboot as George Kirk, and he took off from there joining the Marvel world as the Thunder God Thor in all the Thor films as well as The Avengers. Hemsworth has also added several beautiful action movies to his repertoire as well, including: Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Dawn, Blackhat and the upcoming In the Heart of the Sea as well as rumored for Doc Savage.