Rihanna gets her hands on a giant weapon in new Battleship image

You might not have guessed it from the trailer, but pop megastar Rihanna is making her movie debut in alien invasion flick Battleship next summer.

Thanks to a new image that's been unveiled, we now have definitive proof that Ri-Ri does actually show up in the movie, and it appears she's packing some serious firepower.

It seems that for her first acting gig she's admirably avoided the token hottie role, which seems to have gone to Brooklyn Decker instead.

The trailer focusses mainly on Taylor Kitsch's naval officer Alex Hopper and his frosty relationship with future pa-in-law Liam Neeson, at least before the mahoosive aliens show up and launch their offensive.

Peter Berg ( Hancock , Friday Night Lights ) is directing the board game-inspired flick.

If you want to try to catch a glimpse of the back of Rihanna's head, here's that trailer again:

Battleship is set to open on 18 May 2012.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.