No Offense To The Meg, But John Wick's Ruby Rose Explains Why Keanu Reeves Is The 'Number One' Movie Opponent

From playing Abigail in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter to her stint as Kate Kane, a.k.a. Batwoman, in the Arrowverse, Ruby Rose has a lot of experience fighting fictional opponents. So who ranks #1 on her list of on-screen adversaries? I’m sorry to say to The Meg fans out there that it’s not the 2018 movie’s giant shark. Instead, Rose has declared Keanu Reeves’ John Wick as her greatest movie opponent.

Ruby Rose worked opposite Keanu Reeves in 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2, where she played the mute assassin Ares. While speaking with NME about her new movie SAS: Red Notice, Rose ranked Sam Heughan’s character, Tom Buckingham, as one of her toughest movie opponents, but then explained why Reeves’ John Wick edged him out with the following words:

I think Keanu Reeves will always be the number one. Not only is it Keanu, who I just adore, it’s John Wick – a film franchise I think is just fantastic. We had so much fun doing it and that was a very iconic moment for me.

Considering how Keanu Reeves’ stuntman once said that everything we’ve heard about the actor’s pleasant demeanor is 110% true, it’s hardly shocking that Ruby Rose adores him. And as far as Rose’s work on John Wick: Chapter 2 goes, those two certainly had one of the franchise’s more memorable fights, with Ares, who worked for Riccardo Scamarcio’s Santino D’Antonio, getting into a brutal clash inside a hall of mirrors towards the end of the sequel.

Naturally John Wick came out of his fight with Ares victorious, though it was unclear whether her wounds were fatal or not. Given her absence from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, it’s possible Ares simply expired in that hall of mirrors, but with two more John Wick movies on the way, I’m not ready to rule out that she’s simply healing from her encounter with the Baba Yaga and will eventually jump back into action. Ruby Rose clearly had a good time shooting John Wick: Chapter 2, so it’s a good bet she’d be game for another round as Ares.

2017 was a big year for Ruby Rose, because in addition to John Wick: Chapter 2, she also starred in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage and Pitch Perfect 3. This year, along with SAS: Red Notice having already come out in the United Kingdom and about to premiere in the United States, she’ll soon be seen in Vanquish. Rose’s is also slated to star in the Lionsgate comedy 1Up, and considering that her character from The Meg, Jaxx Herd, survived the havoc wreaked by the megalodon shark, perhaps that means she’ll be back alongside Jason Statham in The Meg 2.

As for Keanu Reeves, along with obviously returning for John Wick: Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, which will shoot back-to-back, he’s reprising Neo for The Matrix 4, which comes out on December 22. Stay locked on CinemaBlend for more news updates on both Reeves and Ruby Rose’s respective careers, and learn what else is hitting the big screen later this year in our upcoming 2021 movie guide.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.