Several major announcements are expected to flow out of the Marvel panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday evening. We know that Ant-Man is bringing a presence, and we know that the full cast of The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be on the stage. Could one member of that celebrated ensemble be an unexpected actress with a larger-than-anticipated role to play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Time to do a little tea-leaf reading. Earlier, we ran a story about Joss Whedon commenting on the red carpet of Guardians of the Galaxy that he has "four prominent female roles in the center of the movie" The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and… hold the phone. I’m no math expert, but I know we have Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and S.H.I.E.L.D. staple Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). Who is this mysterious fourth?
Well, it could be a number of different ladies. Hayley Atwell recently mentioned that she and Joss Whedon had conversations about him writing a decent part for Peggy Carter. Could this be the role to which she was alluding? That seems unlikely. As we saw in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agent Carter is an older woman now, and fighting armies of Ultron robots doesn’t seem like it is in her future. Also, Marvel is reserving Agent Carter for a possible TV series. That seems more realistic.
Kristy suggests in her piece that The Avengers: Age of Ultron could find room for Ms. Marvel – though to be honest, I think we would have picked up on casting rumors for a role that big. Carol Danvers could be part of Marvel’s multi-tier plan (with at least eight future movies to fill, this is likely), but I don’t think we are going to hear of an unannounced female cast member playing this mysterious fourth woman in Joss Whedon’s summer blockbuster.
Instead, we have been hearing rumblings about an already cast actress who, when we reported on her casting, was deemed to play "a substantial supporting role." South Korean actress Kim Soo-Hyun hasn’t yet revealed who she is playing. And we’d like to offer a guess. What if Kim Soo-Hyun is playing the character who’ll eventually play The Wasp in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe?
The Wasp, traditionally, is Janet van Dyne, a founding member of The Avengers (in the comics) who has been noticeably absent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She’s an iconic figure, part of the Marvel landscape since the 1960s. Much like Ant-Man, The Wasp has the ability to shrink and to grow – though like her namesake, she also can fly. Hey, there’s an Ant-Man movie coming out soon, isn’t there? Shouldn’t The Wasp be introduced to this universe so that their paths may cross in time?
Here’s the tipping point. The Wasp introduced in the Ultimates universe back in 2002 is Asian-American (pictured above). She is a mutant who studied science at NYU, dated (and later married) Hank Pym, and took on the familiar powers of the traditional Wasp. What if Kim Soo-Hyun works alongside Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in their Science Bros. lab? What if she is referenced to be Janet van Dyne? And what if she goes on to be a larger factor in Ant-Man, which begins filming shortly?
We have not heard anything concrete. Just references to the character Kim Soo-Hyun is playing, and how she might fit into the larger Marvel universe. It makes sense that, with Ant-Man coming, Marvel will want to introduce The Wasp at some point in the near future. I wonder if Kim Soo-Hyun will be playing her?
