Stranger Things Star Sadie Sink Joining The Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Well-known Marvel leakers have said that Sadie Sink is currently being looked at for the role of Songbird in Marvel's upcoming Thunderbolts film.
After becoming a star on Stranger Things, and demonstrating her dramatic acting skills in The Whale, could Sadie Sink be coming to the MCU? According to the very popular sub-reddit, r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers, a Mod Queue thread has leaked that Sink is “being looked at” for the role of Songbird in the upcoming film, Thunderbolts. The red-haired actress has been mentioned by fans as a potential Jean Grey for when the X-Men are rebooted, but bringing the sound-based hero Songbird to life is a better match, and an incredible opportunity.
On Stranger Things, Sadie Sink has demonstrated, in her complicated role as Max Mayfield, the ability to get across a wide spectrum of teenage emotions, making each and every one of them feel important, a skill required in bringing the Marvel hero to life. Just as Max has dealt with survivor’s guilt, grief, depression, and feelings of worthlessness, Melissa “Songbird” Gold also battled those feelings during her first two decades in comics, first as a Thunderbolt, and later as an Avenger (sort of).
Songbird technically debuted in Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1 #449, released in 1996, alongside the rest of the Thunderbolts. It’s actually Melissa Gold’s debut as Songbird, since the character started as the villain, Screaming Mimi, alongside her long-time partner in crime Angar the Screamer. After a shootout with the police, Angar died in Melissa’s arms, leading to the character getting stricken with grief and survivor’s guilt, showing how Sadie Sink can bring these complicated feelings to Marvel’s villain team-up film.
What makes Songbird one of the best, most underutilized Marvel superheroes is how she grows from her origin into a capable leader and an actual hero, instead of just pretending to be one. Using a special harness developed by The Fixer, Songbird can create solid sound constructs out of her voice, effectively making her a heroic version of Klaw (the comics version, not the Black Panther character). A frequent part of the various Thunderbolts incarnations, Songbird also was part of the 1999 epic Avengers Forever and the short-lived Sunspot-led Avengers Idea Mechanics (A.I.M., yes, the M.O.D.O.K organization), and while the character is not being used currently, a recognizable star like Sadie Sink can raise the character’s Marvel profile.
Before Guardians of the Galaxy, none of the characters were household names, and now all of them are beloved pop-culture figures. None of the original Thunderbolts are well-known, and only one of them, Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo, has been depicted in the MCU. If Sadie Sink can bring Songbird to life in Marvel’s next phase, could the rest of the team, Mach-5 (aka Spider-Man foe The Beetle), Atlas, Techno, and Meteorite somehow make the jump to the big screen?
Whether or not Sadie Sink is the one wearing the golden harness, news that Songbird is joining Marvel’s movie version of The Thunderbolts is great news. Currently, The Thunderbolts line-up includes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John “U.S. Agent” Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky “The Winter Solider” Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and the only one so far that has never been a part of the team in the comics, Red Guardian (David Harbour). Thunderbolts, also featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford, is currently slated for release on July 26th, 2024.
