Not Geraldine Viswanathan, but this actress was initially cast to play Mel in Thunderbolts*

Other than Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Jake Schreier did justice with all the characters in his Marvel debut Thunderbolts*, now The New Avengers. From Wendell Pierce's Congressman Gary to Lewis Pullman's Sentry, they were all fun to watch. Geraldine Viswanathan's Mel, assistant to Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, was especially one character you don't want to miss in there.

While the actress nailed her character, who eventually becomes a rat (for good reasons, obviously) and then again comes to her senses (at least Val has that impression), she wasn't the first choice to play Mel. Ayo Edebiri, who plays chef Sydney Adamu in the critically acclaimed psychological comedy-drama series The Bear, was supposed to assist power-hungry Valentina.

She had to step aside due to some scheduling conflicts, something that Steven Yeun, too, had to go through, which took away his role as Sentry, or she would have made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with this stunner, currently sitting with an A- on CinemaScore. Although she has voiced Glory Grant in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the film isn't connected to the MCU.

Mel had a pivotal part to play in Thunderbolts*

Mel switches sides in the middle of the film. (Image via Marvel Entertainment)

Mel still appears to be learning the political ropes in Thunderbolts*, and she does know a good deal about it. It's clear in her first conversation with congressman Bucky (Sebastian Stan), aka the Winter Soldier, during a party and she instantly recognizes the fact that he is trying to convince her to switch sides.

While this scene is happening, she's unaware of Val's dark side, but eventually discovers the truth. So she takes matters into her own hands and chooses to tell Bucky what she has found. And that leads our now-congressman to attach that metal hand again to jump into the battlefield.

However, Valentina knows about this and still believes she'll come to her "senses." Which sort of happens, according to Val, as Mel uses a failsafe killswitch for Sentry (which she has previously hidden and Val discovers) when the newly created superbeing tries to kill Valentina.

But this is when she has tickled Sentry's dark alter ego, Void. Last we knew, the people of Manhattan were seen running away from this abomination while he kept consuming them, pulling them to his shadow realm.

Thunderbolts* might just be the beginning of the character she is in comics

Mel's full name is Melissa Gold. (Image via Marvel Entertainment)

Geraldine Viswanathan's character might still be looking at a bigger and brighter future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The fact that Thunderbolts* became The New Avengers is one indication that they might meet their rivals, the Masters of Evil.

Of course, that would be after dealing with the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and that is when she may really enter the scene as Melissa Gold, aka Songbird.

Mel actually has some superhuman abilities, mostly associated with sound, and she did join the Thunderbolts in the comics. She's mostly loyal to Bucky, and we have already gotten a glimpse of that in Thunderbolts*.

That's not even a hint for her introduction as Songbird. If fans who've seen the film had noticed, she wears a bird necklace in the film, something that really opens up the gates for her superhero journey.