Legendary welterweight and former Champion Georges St. Pierre stars as Batroc the Leaper in the hit Marvel movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Batroc the Leaper isn’t a name that most moviegoers and Marvel movie fans would recognize. In the Marvel comics, Batroc is a French kickboxing villain skilled at hand to hand combat. A perfect role for an MMA fighter to take on.
Unlike many professional fighters who stumble and fall in acting roles, St. Pierre shined in his small but memorable role as Batroc.
Batroc actually plays a vital role in the opening of the film. He leads a band of mercenary pirates who capture a SHIELD ship. Captain America and his allies rush in to save the day and the Captain himself ends up facing off with Batroc.
This is where St. Pierre gets to show audiences around the world his fighting talent. Instead of an unrealistic computer generated fight, St. Pierre and Chris Evans battle hand to hand, with Captain America discarding his iconic shield.
As expected for a villain introduced in the first minutes of the film, Batroc is defeated by the film’s hero but not before displaying his powerful kicks and fighting style. Now movie fans and audiences unfamiliar with the sport of MMA have witnessed the skills of St. Pierre.
Batroc survives his encounter with Captain America, although he is taken into custody by SHIELD. As the film reaches its climax and Captain America faces off against the Winter Soldier and a resurgent HYDRA, it is revealed that none other than Nick Fury was the one who hired Batroc to capture the SHIELD ship in the film’s opening.
Since Batroc is never seen being killed in the film nor is it implied that he is, fans of St. Pierre and Batroc may get to see him in future films or in future Marvel television series.
While this isn’t St. Pierre’s first movie, it is certainly his biggest to date. He, along with Randy Couture in the Expendables franchise, have risen up to perform well in an acting role. The same could be said for Gina Carano who fought like a war goddess in the hit action film Haywire.
With the exception of Dwayne Johnson and a handful of other wrestlers who have gone into acting, most wrestlers stumble and fall in acting roles, despite the over the top nature of wrestling entertainment.
However, St. Pierre, and the rest of the MMA athletes who have gone on film, are a welcome boost in quality for athletes-turned-actors and actresses. Hopefully more quality roles and films are in the future for many fan favorite MMA athletes.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is currently in theatres.