As almost everyone in the world has realised by now, there’s a brand-new Tomb Raider film is in the works. And, with fans everywhere clamouring for an actress worthy of the bedraggled, yet feisty, Lara seen in the popular Survivor reboot of the infamous gaming franchise, MGM are in the market for an actress aged 21 (or younger), a little grittier and a little more naive.

So why on earth has 31 year old Captain America: The Winter Soldier actress Hayley Atwell been linked with the role? Because of bloody Twitter, obviously.

Yup, over in Camp Lara, fans have been busily tweeting their support for Atwell to step into Miss Croft’s iconic hiking boots – and the actress, who stars as Peggy Carter in the Captain America series, is apparently a fan of the fans’ choice. Well, that’s judging from the number of retweets she’s been giving the social media casting campaign, at least:

Dear @mgm_studios – @hayleyatwell would be a fantastic Lara Croft.What a beautiful, believable bad-ass! I’d see that film at least twice.

— L.M. Haworth (@lmhaworth) April 16, 2013

@mgm_studios – Fans of the Tomb Raider franchise want the talented @hayleyatwell for the role of Laura Croft! Come on MGM. Make this happen.

— sam (@samtaztic) April 16, 2013

Watched “Captain America” with Toshi over the weekend (his first time – mind blown) and now I’m onboard: @hayleyatwell for Lara Croft.

— Drew McWeeny (@DrewAtHitFix) April 16, 2013

And, after spreading the love about online, Atwell explained that she is more than happy to volunteer herself up to bring one of the most iconic female computer game characters EVER made to life. If only so she can learn how to string a bow and arrow:

“There’s some kind of online campaign for me to do Tomb Raider Reborn, which I know has just come out as a game. MGM have the rights to turn it into a film, which would be fantastic to do because I’d get to spend a year of my life training hard and pick up all sorts of fantastic fun skills.”

It’s an interesting idea, certainly, and one we could definitely get behind – but it seems more likely that MGM will, as we’ve previously said, be looking to source new game Survivor for the movie plot, making the talented Atwell a decade too old to play young Lara. Remember that the rebooted Lara Croft isn’t just younger, either – she’s a self-confessed tomb-hater (“I hate tombs”), more prone to making mistakes, more likely to get horribly impaled by jaggy spikes, prone to questionable attacks from sex-crazed men AND psychologically vulnerable to the dangers of the world around her. And she has a bow and arrow. Anyone else thinking Jennifer Lawrence or Felicity Jones are a shoe-in for the role?

Would you like to see Hayley Atwell take on the role of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Survivor? Why?