Actress Linda Cardellini has made multiple appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including boasting the rare distinction of playing two different characters within the franchise. Though there’s no guarantee of any plans to bring Cardellini back, it nevertheless appears pretty open-ended. Thus, we could easily see her return for various upcoming MCU movies and TV shows.
Part of what makes Cardellini an interesting actress is her versatility. You see, though most people would probably recognize her as Laura Barton — the wife of Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye — she also plays a main character in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. This proved to the world that Cardellini could not only play a devoted wife and ex-spy in Avengers: Age of Ultron and other films, but also a genetically enhanced creature known as Lylla the Otter, Rocket Raccoon’s love interest in James Gunn’s space adventure.
Sadly, Lylla did not survive the torturous conditions that she was subjected to as one of the experiments of Chukwudi Iwuji’s murderous High Evolutionary in Vol. 3. This means Cardellini isn’t likely to reprise that character unless it is in some sort of prequel capacity or perhaps if they brought the sweet-natured otter back to life somehow.
With that said, plenty of plot could still unfold for Cardellini’s Laura Barton. Her seemingly ordinary life as a mom was revealed to be a cover for her past as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Agent 19, when a stolen Rolex watch revealed secrets from her time as a spy. In the comics, Agent 19 has a rich history, including transforming into the Huntress and Mockingbird.
With this backdrop in mind, which seems like Marvel’s obvious tease for Laura’s further adventures even as her husband eyes retirement, let’s countdown eight upcoming MCU movies and TV shows that could easily see Cardellini’s return.
Echo
Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez, AKA Echo, was a deaf character introduced in Hawkeye, a show in which Cardellini also appeared. Not only that, but Echo adorned Laura’s stolen watch and even researched the Barton family at one point. Though Laura never actually crossed paths with the martial artist and ex-Tracksuit Mafia member in the show, maybe there is enough of a jumping-off point for the two actually to confront each other in the subsequent spinoff.
Echo seemed more interested in getting revenge on Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk for killing her father by the end of Hawkeye, but who knows, maybe she still has some unfinished business with the Barton clan, too. After all, she knows where they live. Heck, It may even be possible that Echo seeks out Laura for her help with the former Agent 19’s espionage skills.
Loki season 2
This may sound like a stretch, but we may see Laura show up in Loki season 2. What makes us say that is Mockingbird’s history in the comics with that show’s antagonist, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.
As a member of the West Coast Avengers, Mockingbird was flung into the past by Kang, bringing the entire team to the Old West at one point. The trailers for Loki season 2 seem to parallel this plotline somewhat, as it indicates both the God of Mischief and Owen Wilson’s Mobius similarly find themselves in the past, where they encounter Kang as a mystic in a circus setting.
The Marvels
Whatever Laura’s future in the MCU might hold as either the Huntress or Mockingbird, it is clear at this point that her past involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. as Agent 19 is canon. Given this fact, wouldn’t a conversation between Laura and her former boss, ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, make sense?
Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury is confirmed to appear in The Marvels, so perhaps we could finally see a candid conversation between the two as the eyepatch-wearing super spy maybe convinces Laura to help out in the latest mission to save Earth. At the same time, Clint enjoys retirement at home to watch the kids. This could also make up for the fact that Mockingbird is a prominent character in the Secret Invasion comic storyline, but she made no appearance in the recent Disney Plus show of the same name.
What If…? Season 2
If there is one show we could potentially see Cardellini’s Lylla character get revived, it is in the upcoming Season 2 of the animated What If…? As one of the all-time best Disney Plus MCU shows, What If…? grants the storytelling luxury of imagining alternative dimensions where a minor detail or two is slightly different.
For instance, they could do a storyline where the High Evolutionary murdered none of Rocket’s friends, and instead, they killed him and became the Guardians of the Galaxy themselves. We could easily see Cardellini reprise her Lylla role in such a scenario since other big-name actors have lent their voices for the show before, such as Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange Supreme and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final appearance in the MCU as T’Challa.
Captain America: Brave New World
Traditionally, the Captain America films in the MCU have heavily tied into the S.H.I.E.L.D. mythos, as seen in the paranoid spy plot of 2014’s The Winter Soldier. Since Laura has a connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. as its former Agent 19, perhaps she could return to the world of spycraft in some way for Captain America: Brave New World.
What’s more, part of Mockingbird’s arc in the comics involves getting injected with a variation of Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum at one point. The same thing could happen in this film if her return to espionage causes her to get injured throughout the plot, with the Serum being the only remedy to save her, just like in the comics.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars
Let’s not forget that Mockingbird was an Avenger herself in the comics. True, it was usually with a sub-group, like West Coast Avengers or New Avengers, but the moniker still counts for something. For that reason, we could easily see Laura join the Avengers in the MCU if they developed her as Mockingbird in the franchise sufficiently enough by the time Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars come out in 2026 and 2027, respectively. After all, Laura has already appeared in two Avengers films so far.
Armor Wars
Let’s say, in theory, that the MCU has developed Laura as Mockingbird in various projects and has even been injected with a version of the Super Soldier Serum at one point. The enhanced strength and agility could make her analogous to Captain America. Given Laura’s past involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D., we could totally see the super-powered Mockingbird teaming up with another government agent, Don Cheadle’s Rhodey, AKA War Machine, for the upcoming Armor Wars film.
Spider-Man 4
Why would Mockingbird team up with the likes of Spider-Man, you may ask? The pair actually had a few adventures together in the comics. In fact, the two even briefly dated at one point. Assuming Tom Holland would return in the role of Peter, we can’t necessarily see him hooking up with Laura in the MCU for Spider-Man 4.
However, perhaps she could fulfill some kind of mentor role — similar to Robert Downey Jr.’s presence as Iron Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming — if the webhead ever has to ask Laura’s help doing spy stuff. I’m calling it now: injecting some scenes of Holland’s Spider-Man doing sneaking missions similar to the Insomniac video game’s stealth levels, but with Mockingbird giving him tips in his earpiece, would absolutely rule.
Published: Aug 2, 2023 10:40 pm