Shortly after last year's San Diego Comic-Con, a video posted to the Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel 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 right-hand man." Fans soon put the pieces together and concluded that Viswanathan must have been cast as the MCU's Melissa Gold, a.k.a. Songbird.
A new TV spot for Thunderbolts* has been released by Marvel Studios today. It features a shot of Viswanathan that once again points to her playing Songbird (or, at the very least, an early version of the hero) thanks to what looks like a "songbird" necklace.
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 - before reimagining them. Without powers, by the looks of things.
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 like Black Widow, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man and The Wasp.
You can watch this new TV spot for Thunderbolts* in the player below.
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
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 2, 2025.