The Comics Connection You Never Realized In Queen Of The South

She may not have any actual superpowers, but Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga) from USA Network's Queen of the South is not someone to underestimate. After growing up in Mexico, she was forced to flee to the United States when her boyfriend's drug cartel murdered him and moved her to the top spot on their hit list. Once she's in the U.S., however, Teresa uses her tenacity and street smarts to become a powerful player in the international drug trade. Eventually, those who hunted her down learn to fear the Queen of the South.

Viewers likely recognize Braga from films like I Am Legend, The Shack, and her breakout performance in the acclaimed City of God. And that's not all. Braga also has the distinction of being one of those actors who has straddled the great divide and appeared in movies based on comics from both Marvel and DC properties. For her, it's a dream come true, as Braga revealed to L'Officiel, "My dad and mom always loved arthouse directors...but there was a side of my mom, especially, that was very connected to action films and superheroes and comics. I grew up very much in that world, so I am a nerd."

Here are the comic book movies where you can catch Braga living out her nerd dreams.

While the X-Men aren't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (although, it only seems like a matter of time), they are some of the most iconic Marvel Comics characters ever. Although some of the newer movies left a lot to be desired, the X-Men film franchise has a strong foundation. So strong, in fact, that it even introduced a whole new generation of mutants. The New Mutants is based on the comic series of the same name and focuses on a younger generation of super-powered mutants, including Dani Moonstar aka Mirage (Blu Hunt), Illyana Rasputin aka Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams). It sees the young could-be heroes banding together to learn the truth about why they are being held in a research facility by the duplicitous Dr. Reyes, who is played by Braga.

As a comics fan from childhood, Braga had a very specific reason for wanting to join the X-Men franchise. She explained to Screen Rant, "I'm a big fan of X-Men..they have, like brokenness in their hearts and they are still, like trying to find their place in the world, and X-Men talks a lot about shame and about rejection and how to overcome that and I always loved that because I always connected with that..." If you're not a Marvel fan but still want to see Braga's take on a comic inspired role, then you're in luck, because she was recently drafted to be a part of The Suicide Squad.

The upcoming sequel/soft reboot of 2016's notoriously divisive Suicide Squad, creatively titled The Suicide Squad, isn't scheduled to release until August 6, but we've already gotten a sneak peak at the enormous roster of characters that are set to appear in the film. Favorites from the original, such as Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag, and Viola Davis' as Amanda Waller, will be returning. But The Suicide Squad will feature new characters as well. There will be plenty of characters from the annals of DC Comics history, as well as some created specifically for the film.

One of those brand new characters is Sol Soria, the role Braga will play. At this time, there hasn't been a lot of official information released about exactly who Sol Soria is; speculation suggests that she is a take on the DC Comics character Juan Soria, a wannabe superhero who used nanite technology to give himself powers. When that didn't quite pan out for him, he turned to a life of crime, instead, which led to him getting drafted onto the Suicide Squad. It remains to be seen if Braga's character bears any resemblance to that one, and if not, exactly what Sol Soria's role in the film will be.

Strangely enough, The Suicide Squad won't be the first time that Braga has appeared in a film as part of a doomed team of bad guys and gals going up against incredible odds.

Although it originated as a feature film, the Predator franchise has spawned more than its fair share of graphic novels, and has the kind of deep lore that is associated with the world of comic books. The franchise produced two movies before going quiet. But as anyone familiar with the series knows, the Predator never stays dormant for very long. Twenty years after Predator 2, the franchise got a revival in the form of Predators. The film centers on a group of mercenaries, mobsters, and other amoral killers for hire who find themselves stranded in a jungle. Although in their regular lives they are predators, the group quickly discovers that they were brought to this strange place to be prey. Braga is among the ensemble cast, playing an Israeli sniper named Isabelle, who is haunted by her involvement in a fatal mission failure.

Although the reboot doesn't have quite the cultural cache of the originals, it remains one of Braga's favorite projects. While speaking with Coming Soon about the movie's 10 year anniversary, she said, "I have a lot of love for that film. It's a classic... I think it was so cool to make it. I remember I was there, it felt like a video game. So I think I have a lot of fond memories of that film."