Flavorwire

Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment of the venerable action franchise, is in theaters now (well, sort of; they did this tiered release where it went to IMAX screens last Friday, but everywhere else on Wednesday, so if you’ve got an IMAX screen in your city, you can go see it there, but if not, later, and… yeah). When it was in pre-production last year, much ink was spilled over the casting of Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner in one of the supporting roles, with speculation running rampant that the young actor was being groomed to take over the series’ leading role from producer/star Tom Cruise, who is, at 49, perhaps getting a touch long-in-the-tooth for all this running/fighting/climbing 100+ story building nonsense.

There does seem to be something of a dearth of young actors equipped to take over the action-hero mantle from folks like Cruise, Will Smith (43), Jackie Chan (57), and the stars of The Expendables. So we got to thinking about some of the twentysomething actors who we’d like to see take a shot at action stardom. Check out our picks after the jump, and add your own in the comments.

Kristen Bell

Hollywood has seldom dropped the ball the way they have with the lovely and talented Ms. Bell, who has spent the last several years appearing primarily in insipid comedies like When in Rome and You Again. Lest we forget, this terrific young actor first came onto our radar via the late, great Veronica Mars, where she played a hard-case junior PI with toughness and vulnerability. How hard is it to get from that show to a big-screen action vehicle? Make it happen, suits.