Following last year's San Diego Comic-Con, an officially released video from Marvel Entertainment confirmed that Geraldine Viswanathan is playing a character called "Mel" in Thunderbolts*.
The Drive-Away Dolls star has previously said that she's Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's "little righthand man." However, fans have put the pieces together and come to the conclusion that Viswanathan must have been cast as the MCU's Melissa Gold, a.k.a. Songbird.
Whether she'll have the same supersonic sound abilities as her comic book counterpart remains to be seen. Unfortunately, this is likely another example of Marvel Studios plucking a relatively obscure character from the source material - who admittedly has significant ties to the Thunderbolts - and giving them a new role to play.
Talking to Screen Rant, Viswanathan was asked if her mysterious Thunderbolts* character has any relation to a "songbird." To that, she replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Never in my life have I heard something like that," the actor claimed. "Yeah. Oh, look what you've done. Now, I'm all nervous. In this film, in You're Cordially Invited, I sing. I sing a song, but I'm not a bird. That's right."
So, while we're pretty sure she is Songbird after reading those remarks, that still doesn't necessarily mean she'll suit up (unless Val has found herself a superhuman who, while unassuming on the surface, is capable of protecting her).
Songbird, originally known as Screaming Mimi, debuted in the pages of Marvel Two-in-One #54 in 1979. She was created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and John Byrne, later becoming the superhero known as Songbird after joining the Thunderbolts. The original members of that team don't appear to be a priority for Marvel Studios; instead, the focus has shifted to characters from existing MCU franchises.
"The scale of [Thunderbolts*] was ridiculous and terrifying in a new way," Viswanathan explained in another recent interview. "It was like, 'Oh, there are 500 extras and a helicopter in this scene, so I’d better not [frick] up my line.'"
"[Julia Louis-Dreyfus] is the actual queen. I call her the most perfect person in America," she added. "It was insane to work with her and then be watching puppy videos together."
Marvel Studios, and a crew of indie veterans, who definitely sold out, present Thunderbolts*, an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.
The cast of Thunderbolts* will be led by Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as "Bob."
Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is currently set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2025.