Every once in a while, I will think of a well-known actor, take a look at the versatility of their long and successful career, and then be forced to ask the question, “Why have we not seen this person in any new Marvel movies yet?” Take, for example, the lead of Netflix’s dark 2022 thriller Luckiest Girl Alive, Mila Kunis, who has done everything from sitcoms — she was Jackie Burkhart in the That ‘70s Show cast and is still the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy — to intense action thrillers like the Mark Wahlberg-led adaptation of the hit video game series, Max Payne. So, is there a chance that any upcoming superhero movies might become included in her diverse repertoire?
Well, the actor did once say, when speaking to MTV UK, that she would be interested in doing a comic book movie on the condition that her The Spy Who Dumped Me co-star, Kate McKinnon, would also be a part of the cast. Perhaps we will imagine what Marvel characters the former Saturday Night Live star would be perfect to play at another time, but for now, I would like to focus on the characters ripped from the pages of Marvel comics that Kunis seems like a great fit for on the big (or even small) screen. Let’s start with one that could give her the opportunity to reunite with a co-star from another recent comedy.
Spider-Woman
Actually, while we are still on the subject of The Spy Who Dumped Me, if fans of the 2018 action-comedy will recall, Mila Kunis’ character, Audrey, and Kate McKinnon’s role, Morgan Freeman, do end up assuming careers in espionage. If Kunis were ever interested in doing a more earnest portrayal of the profession, one of the most beloved characters in Marvel Comics who also happens to be a spy is Jessica Drew, who is better known as Spider-Woman for her wall-crawling, venom blasts, and other arachnid-like abilities.
Drew also happens to be a member of an all-female superhero team known as the Daughters of Liberty, along with none other than Agatha Harkness. The powerful witch made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as played by WandaVision cast member Kathryn Hahn, who previously worked with Kunis in 2016’s Bad Moms and its sequel, A Bad Mom’s Christmas, from the following year. If the MCU were to create their own iteration of the Daughters of Liberty that included Hahn’s Agatha alongside Kunis as Spider-Woman, that would be one hell of a reunion.
Morgan Le Fay
Actually, while we are still on the subject of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness (who will return in her own upcoming Marvel TV show for Disney+ called Agatha: Coven of Chaos), I wonder if Kunis watched her Bad Moms co-star on WandaVision, noticed how fun her Emmy-nominated portrayal of one of Marvel’s most powerful witches must have been, and thought it might be to fun to play a witch herself again. The last time she did was in director Sam Raimi’s The Wizard of Oz prequel from 2013, Oz the Great and Powerful, as a younger version of Theodora — better known as the Wicked Witch of the West.
If playing yet another magic wielder was to be on Kunis’ bucket list, why not also check off another box at the same time and make it her Marvel movie debut? Better yet, why not embody one of Marvel’s most immensely powerful and ruthlessly evil sorcerers, Morgan Le Fay. We already have received clues from one of the the post-credit scenes from Eternals that the villain (who is based on Arthurian legend) might be coming the MCU soon and having an actor as talented and experienced as Kunis in the role would make the debut an extra-special treat.
Majestrix Lilandra
Another one of Mila Kunis’ most famous (or, perhaps more accurately, infamous) roles is the title character of Jupiter Ascending — a young house cleaner for hire who discovers she is the heir to an intergalactic dynasty. If the actor were ever interested in a second chance at playing someone of royal, extra-terrestrial descent following Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s critically reviled box office bomb from 2015, there is such a character that exists in Marvel Comics.
Also known as Majestrix Lilandra, Lilandra Neramani is a princess from the royal family of the Shi’ar Empire who has been known to take matters of justice into her own hands with her superhuman abilities, such as your typical strength and stamina, as well as telepathy. To see Kunis play this royal, intergalactic warrior would be a true ascent, indeed.
Deathbird
On the other hand, what if, instead of playing an heroic extra-terrestrial royal figure from the Marvel Comics universe, the actor decided she would be more interested in playing the darker side of that world (such as when she played Theodora in Oz the Great and Powerful)? The perfect answer to this would be to cast her not as Lilandra Neramani, but as her older sister, Cal'syee Neramani.
Also known as Deathbird, this clawed and winged woman was the natural heir to the Shi’ar throne, but after fits of rage drove her to murder her mother, she was stripped of her royal merits and forced into exile. She has since made several nefarious attempts to reclaim the throne, which often puts her in opposition of the X-Men. To see the rivalry between Deathbird and her younger sister — no matter which role Kunis is playing — sounds like a great idea for the next X-Men movie, as far as I am concerned.
Dead Girl
Actually, on that note, what if, instead of an X-Men villain, she would rather make her MCU debut as a member of the X-Men… or, perhaps even, a member of a team that is adjacent to the X-Men? For that, I had in mind the role of Moonbeam — an aspiring actor whose mutant abilities of communicating with lingering spirits, manifesting severed limbs, or eternal life kicked in when she was murdered.
She would go on to join the X-Force team as Dead Girl, who I think would be a fun addition to the team on the big screen if we ever do see an official X-Force movie in the future. The main reason I thought of Kunis as a good fit for the role, more than anything, is that I think she bears a slight resemblance to the character.
As far as I am concerned, we do not need a reason to want to cast someone as talented and versatile as Mila Kunis as any of these Marvel characters. In fact, I would also love to see her appear in any upcoming DC movies — an idea that also has endless possibilities. All Hollywood has to do is convince Kate McKinnon to do a comic book movie, and we are golden.
