At only 25, Kaitlyn Dever has covered almost all of the bases a performer can in the decade or so that she has been acting professionally. Her filmography is filled with comedies like the hit, long-running sitcom Last Man Standing, crime thrillers like Justified, fact-based dramas like the Netflix exclusive limited series Unbelievable, horror TV shows like Hulu’s Monsterland, and now, with Dear Evan Hansen, even musicals.
The one major box she currently has left unchecked is superhero movies, despite some fans already being hard at work to figure out who she could play in the Marvel movies one day. We had the same idea in mind, which is how we came up with this list of comic book characters Kaitlyn Dever seems like the right choice for, including one that could lead to a reunion with her Booksmart director.
Gwen Stacy
In 2019, Olivia Wilde made her feature-length directorial debut with the delightful coming-of-age comedy Booksmart, starring Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein as soon-to-be graduates looking to have the night of debauchery they never got to have in high school. The following year, Wilde’s follow-up was announced as a Spider-Woman movie with Sony, but without any confirmation of which iteration of the female webslinger the film will focus on. Most people’s money is on Jessica Drew, but I have another cool idea in mind.
To be honest, I am not 100% convinced that Kaitlyn Dever is right for Jessica Drew, but I do think she could be a wonderful Gwen Stacy, whose tenure as Spider-Woman has yet to be adapted for live-action. For the sake of giving Wilde and Dever an opportunity for their second collaboration, I think the teenage superhero’s story should be the focus of her own Marvel movie. Some blonde hair dye is all the preparation the actress would need.
Black Cat
On second thought, a live-action comic movie about Jessica Drew is probably more likely to happen than a live-action Gwen Stacy movie at the moment. Nevertheless, that does not mean that Kaitlyn Dever could not be a part of Wilde’s Spider-Woman movie in some way. In fact, I have another great character in mind for the actress that would only require a different shade of blonde hair dye.
One of Jessica’s most trusted allies is Felicia Hardy, otherwise known as Marvel’s answer to Catwoman, Black Cat. While the platinum blonde anti-hero (noted for her affection for Peter Parker) was once adapted for live action and portrayed by Oscar nominee Felicity Jones in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, she never got to officially debut as her felinesque, femme fatale alter ego. I would say that Dever definitely has the right mix of class and spunk to make comic book fans’ dreams come true and finally bring Black Cat to the big screen in her proper form.
Kitty Pryde
Speaking of having a good mix of class and spunk, there are few different members of the X-Men who famously fall under that description. One such young mutant is Shadowcat, otherwise known by her birth name, Katherine Pryde, or her more casual nickname “Kitty.” The inspiration for her crime fighting alias is her ability to phase through solid objects, but she can also communicate with others telepathically, as well as resist telepathic manipulation.
The character was previously portrayed by Academy Award nominee Elliot Page in X-Men: The Last Stand from 2006 and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, but for whenever Kevin Feige and co. begin casting their inevitable X-Men movies reboot for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would recommend Kaitlyn Dever. I am actually not the first person to make this suggestion as fans have noticed that she already has the right look and, of course, the versatile acting talent to be the next Kitty Pryde. She would not even need to make any alterations to her hair.
Hope Summers
Kitty Pryde is not the only mutant from the X-Men comics whom Marvel fans have campaigned for Kaitlyn Dever to play in a movie (or even a TV show, perhaps). Said character (who has gone by all kinds of different aliases, from Exploding Girl to Antichrist) is really named Hope Summers, which is a last name comic book experts will likely recognize. That is because she is the adoptive daughter of Cable - the partially cybernetic time traveler from Deadpool 2 played by Josh Brolin, who is also the son of Scott “Cyclops” Summers.
Hope actually made her cinematic debut in the 2018, Ryan Reynolds-led sequel (as played by Islie Hirvonen) in a flash-forward to Cable’s timeline. However, that brief cameo did not give us a chance to see her demonstrate her ability of power manipulation - which means that she can literally do anything that any other mutant can, making her a perfect match for any formidable foe. Plus, since we know that Cable was able to prevent her murder in the Deadpool 2 ending, that is proof that she already exists in the cinematic Marvel Multiverse and it is only a matter of time before Kaitlyn Dever can step in.
Aurora
In the event that Kaitlyn Dever does get cast in the MCU, it would not be the first time she has worked with a Marvel star, such as Anthony Mackie in Detroit, Hugh Jackman in The Front Runner, and Tye Sheridan in All Summers End. She has also acted alongside Academy Award winner Brie Larson (who made her debut as Carol Danvers in 2019’s Captain Marvel) in The Spectacular Now and in Short Term 12 - both of which were released in 2013. I have an idea for how the actresses could collaborate a third time, in a Marvel movie.
Carol Danvers is a founding member and one-time commander of the space program called Alpha Flight, which is a branch of the Canadian superhero team of the same name. A founding member of both of these organizations is Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, who is also known as Aurora - the name of her more boisterous, but heroic, split personality. I would love to see how Kaitlyn Dever would approach playing both of these personas in a future Captain Marvel movie.
Now, if the role was still up for grabs, I actually think that Kaitlyn Dever would have also been a great fit for the DC movies as Barbara Gordon, before Leslie Grace was cast as the lead in the Batgirl movie. However, if you believe the MCU is the rightful place for the actress to make her comic book movie debut, which character do you think is the best fit?
