In a movie as nonsensical as the new Street Fighter adaptation, getting too into the weeds of “consistency” with the video games might seem like a fool’s errand, but there is one thing about the film that myself and other fans of Capcom’s fighting game series are having trouble getting past: What the hell did they do to Cammy?

For those not in the know, Cammy’s place in the Street Fighter universe is that of a tool turned into a hero. She is one of series villain M. Bison’s “Dolls,” a group of young women brainwashed by the Shadaloo organization. Cammy has been a mainstay of the series since Super Street Fighter II, and has spent much of these games fighting against Bison and trying to reclaim her autonomy. However, she was at one point a servant of Bison, and that is the role she plays in the Street Fighter movie. That’s not the part that Street Fighter fans are beefing with; it’s that the typically stoic soldier has been turned into a depraved, flirtatious, Harley Quinn-style character that feels like a stand-in for a different character.

Cammy is portrayed by Mel Jarnson, who fighting game movie fans might recognize from her brief performance as Nitara in the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie. This version of Cammy is portrayed as M. Bison’s right hand, and is one of the only characters who isn’t portrayed as sniveling underneath his heel the whole time. As she carries out Bison’s orders, she is no-nonsense and commands the room, but she’s also strangely seductive (she straight up flirts with Chun-Li at one point), prone to sudden outbursts, and feels like she’s filling in the sadistic character role that would have been filled by Juri in a different movie.

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