While promoting her Netflix original movie The Unforgivable in November 2021, Sandra Bullock told Jimmy Kimmel that she has never been approached with the opportunity to star in any upcoming Marvel movies. She did, however, clarify that she once received an offer for a superhero movie that she was later relieved to have turned down, but without specifying the title.
As one of the many actors whom I am surprised has never been in a comic book movie at this point in their career, I would like to see the Academy Award winner receive her due and with a role that she can be proud to say that she accepted. I have a few Marvel characters in mind for if and when that finally happens, starting with one whom audiences were already convinced Sandra Bullock was playing at one time.
Madame Web
In that same aforementioned Jimmy Kimmel Live interview, the host brought up to Sandra Bullock that Marvel fans had speculated that she had a secret role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, to which she denied. When she asked what character she was assumed to play, Kimmel said it was Madame Web and, after explaining that she was a blind paraplegic with powerful clairvoyant abilities, she then asked, “Why was I not hired for this?”
Quite frankly, I agree that the actress would make a fantastic Cassandra Webb, and not just because she has experience playing a character who is defined by what she cannot see in the Netflix hit Bird Box from 2018. Sandra Bullock imbues the same sort of wisdom and trustworthiness (especially in her Oscar-winning performance in The Blind Side) that makes Madame Web such an admirable mentor to Spider-Man? Just the mere idea of this casting choice makes me hope that Olivia Wilde’s upcoming Spider-Woman movie might actually be her origin story.
Moondragon
Another great Sandra Bullock performance which earned the actress her second Academy Award nomination in 2015 was co-writer and director Alfonso Cuarón’s visually stunning masterpiece Gravity. Now, as far as I am concerned, playing a human being who manages to cheat death in the most dangerous outer reaches of space is the perfect way to prepare an actor to play someone who calls space home, like Moondragon.
In the comics, this telepathic, badass cosmic warrior was introduced as the daughter of Drax the Destroyer until his original human form was murdered by Thanos, who then took the young girl under his wing and made her into what you see today. Obviously, given how Dave Bautista’s Guardians of the Galaxy character was heavily reinvented by James Gunn, bringing Moondragon into the MCU would take a lot of creative liberties, which would also give Sandra Bullock a chance to make the role more her own. Regardless, I just love the idea of seeing her kick ass in space - especially after the emotional ass-kicking she suffered in Gravity.
Shocket Raccoon
I actually have another fun idea for a Marvel character role that would allow Sandra Bullock to play a galactic warrior. It would also give her the opportunity to reunite with an actor she once shared the screen with in one of the most infamous movies of their respective careers. The actor was Rocket Raccoon voice actor Bradley Cooper and the movie was 2009’s All About Steve, which earned Bullock a Razzie for her performance as a delusional woman who travels the country trying to convince Cooper’s news videographer character that they are destined for each other.
In the comics, Rocket has a female clone created by The Collector (Benicio del Toro’s Guardians role) named Shocket Raccoon. How about, instead of making her a clone, make her another cosmic raccoon whom Rocket ends up falling for and constantly tries to convince that they are destined for each other? Outside of this fun role reversal idea, Bullock could easily nail the charismatically brash attitude this character would require and would make a post-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Rocket-focused spin-off worth greenlighting alone, if you ask me.
Quickfire
I actually have another fun idea for a Marvel character role that would allow Sandra Bullock to reference one of her previous films, but in reverse. The film in question is the 2006 romantic drama The Lake House, which also saw her reunite with her Speed co-star Keanu Reeves as two star-crossed lovers separated by a strange ripple in the space time continuum. Well, what if instead of being controlled by time, she could take control of it?
One such person who can manipulate time is Barbara McDevitt, an Inhuman and former corporate secret agent at one time who possesses chronokinetic abilities - which means that she can slow down the flow time, speed things up, or bring everything to a complete stop at will. What earned her the nickname Quickfire, however, was when the Beyond Corporation transformed her into a bizarre, monstrous being who has the power to infect humans and turn them into creatures like her. It is an intriguing role to take on, even if it does not immediately guarantee the opportunity for Sandra Bullock to reunite with Keanu Reeves again and - on that note, how the hell has he not joined the MCU yet?
H.E.L.E.N.
I actually have one more fun idea for a Marvel character role that would allow Sandra Bullock to reference one of her previous films, but in reverse. The film in question is the 1995 thriller The Net, in which she plays a skilled computer programmer who, in an attempt to debug a file for friend, ends up stumbling upon a conspiracy that causes her identity to become erased and replaced with a new one burdened by a criminal record. Well, what if instead of a computer program controlling her, she could be the computer?
One such Marvel character that is, essentially, a living computer program is H.E.L.E.N. - whom Tony Stark created as a replacement A.I. assistant after J.A.R.V.I.S. went rogue, and one that he modeled in personality and appearance after Pepper Potts. Once again, this character would obviously need to undergo a heavy amount of creative reinvention and I have a few suggestions as to how to do it, including making her a creation of Riri Williams in the upcoming Marvel TV show Ironheart on Disney+ and then create a storyline in which she goes rogue. In other words, this would also be a great way to see Sandra Bullock flex her muscles as a villain.
On that note, in case Marvel continues pass her by, I think that there a few upcoming DC movies that could benefit from having an actor of Sandra Bullock’s talent play its villain.
