Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard smiling on Abbott Elementary
(ABC)

Sheryl Lee Ralph Wants To Play a Superhero—Let Her!

The world is currently in love with Sheryl Lee Ralph, as they should have been for years. But since the beloved actress took on the role of Barbara Howard on the hit show Abbott Elementary, Ralph has taken home nominations and awards, and become someone that fans are just completely enamored with. And rightfully so! She’s amazing, and when she’s not singing or being a wonderfully funny and charming human, she’s hanging out with her new best friend Lisa Ann Walter, who plays Melissa Schemmenti on the series.

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That’s why the two of them talking to each other, spilling the “tea” as it were, is so funny to see. One of the segments of a new interview with Entertainment Tonight features Ralph and Walter sharing their secrets with each other. For Walter, she tells us about her love life and a 2-year relationship in which she didn’t have sex—much to Ralph’s surprise (and tea drinking). But when Walter asks Ralph what her secret is, it gets a bit more wholesome.

“I long to be a superhero,” Ralph says, and Lisa Ann Walter rolls her eyes (given her own tea that she spilled) but it’s still sweet to know that Sheryl Lee Ralph wants to be a hero. She’s been on Broadway and tackled countless roles on television and in movies, but the fact that Ralph really just wants to be a superhero is something that, honestly, we can all relate to—or at least I do, because I definitely also want to be a superhero.

And let her do it! If anyone would bring her A-game to something like a Marvel Cinematic Universe property, it’d be Ralph!

We have some ideas

Another universe’s Maria Rambeau would be pretty amazing. Hell, she could be a different universe’s Monica Rambeau, too. Point is, the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now wide open because of the multiverse, and many of the characters we know and love might not be played by the same actor throughout all of time. Currently, we have Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau/Photon alive in our main universe in the MCU, and while Lashana Lynch has played Maria in both Captain Marvel as well as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (where she got to be Captain Marvel), I think that having Ralph play one of the Rambeau women from a different universe would be pretty amazing.

Another option that would be new to the scene would be Mary Waller. Now, she’s not a superhero, but she’s adjacent. Mary Waller is the sister of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in the DCU, and we’ve not yet met her, so we could see Ralph and Davis acting opposite each other, which would be wonderful.

But no matter what, if Sheryl Lee Ralph wants to be a superhero, we should make it happen. Cast her as a new hero completely, or just let her be our new Sue Storm. The point is that we need this.

(featured image: ABC)


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.