Summary

Welcome to a new episode of Collider Ladies Night with Thunderbolts* star Geraldine Viswanathan.

During her second Ladies Night conversation with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Viswanathan revisits her road to one of the biggest film franchises of all time.

She reveals her take on her character’s backstory, discusses how Mel feels about Valentina at the end of Thunderbolts*, and shares what she hopes the future holds for Mel in the MCU.

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*.]One of the very best parts of having a returning guest on Collider Ladies Night? Realizing how much they’ve accomplished during such a short period of time. Geraldine Viswanathan made her first Ladies Night appearance in 2020 for The Broken Hearts Gallery and since has completed a four-season run on Miracle Workers, starred opposite Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook in The Beanie Bubble, headlined Drive-Away Dolls with Margaret Qualley, made Oh, Hi! with Molly Gordon which secured distribution out of Sundance 2025, and now she’s part of one of the biggest film franchises of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Viswanathan makes her first MCU appearance as Mel in Thunderbolts*. She’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) extremely attentive and diligent assistant. Initially, she seems quite loyal too, but when Bucky (Sebastian Stan) suggests Mel secretly slip him information on Val in hopes of having her impeached, eventually, Mel concedes. While that choice may suggest Mel’s willingness to double-cross her boss, ultimately, she changes course again, pushing the button that saves Val’s life from the Sentry (Lewis Pullman).
So where does Mel stand? Does she skew more villain than hero? Does she still admire Valentina? That’s exactly what I dug into with Viswanathan during her second Collider Ladies Night interview.
Why Commit to a Project When You Can’t Read the Script?

“It just felt like a very charmed way to enter the world.”

While many MCU newcomers go through a series of auditions to score their roles, that wasn’t the case for Viswanathan. She was offered the role of Mel. However, she did encounter one hurdle that many Marvel actors experience. She had to decide whether to commit to Thunderbolts* without reading the script. She explained:

“I think the biggest thing here was you don’t read the script before you sign on. Jake was trying to explain to me the script and the character. I was like, ‘Uh huh. I don’t know what you’re saying, but I think it sounds good.’ You’re jumping in blind, but you’re just like, obviously, I want to be in this company and be a part of the Marvel Universe, and Jake is such a brilliant filmmaker. It just felt like a very charmed way to enter the world. But I feel really lucky. I didn’t have to go through the gauntlet of auditions. They were just like, ‘You wanna do it?’”

Not only did Viswanathan have director Jake Schreier to lean on while making the decision, but she also had the opportunity to turn to the person who held the role prior to her, her good friend Aye Edebiri. In early 2024, news broke that Edebiri was forced to drop out of Thunderbolts* due to scheduling issues, but Viswanathan was very ready to swoop in after getting Edebiri’s blessing and encouragement. Viswanathan recalled:

“I was like, ‘Hey, girl. So, they gave me a call about this. What do you think?’ And she was like, ‘Absolutely, 100%, you need to do this. You’re going to be hanging out with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.’ She was also like, ‘She goes bad, and that’s cool.’ She was like, ‘It’s an awesome chance to play somebody a little villainous.’”

What’s Mel’s Backstory? Why Does She Want to Work for Valentina?

“She ends up driving a lot of the plot.”

Image via Disney

All the characters in Thunderbolts* come with their own unique set of challenges, but it does seem as though Viswanathan had her work cut out for her more than most. Not only is she introducing her character in a film with a rather large ensemble, but Mel is also one of the few main characters without special abilities. How does one manage to make themselves pop playing the grounded character in the middle of a cast of big personalities with superpowers? Here’s what Viswanathan said:

“It felt very clear what to track, and it was really just about that internal struggle, but also what makes her pop is you don’t really know where her head’s at because you’re not really following her, but she then ends up driving a lot of the plot. She is also kind of instigating big things. She brings them to the Avengers Tower — even just saying that now, it’s like, that’s so cool! [Laughs] We just had to really trust that it’s a very real thing when you work for somebody and you’re like, ‘Wait, are they bad? I want to do good, I think.’ We talked a lot about Jake and his assistant, and that dynamic felt like hopefully it would pop. But I think just trusting that maybe audiences weigh in a little bit, or that she’s a normal girl, and it’s a very relatable situation that she’s in.”

In addition to taking a cue from Schreier’s assistant, Viswanathan also hashed out what Mel might have been up to before taking the gig working for Valentina.

“Jake and I were having fun imagining her working for a nonprofit, being very in her activist bag, her college years and being very high-achieving, being involved in these organizations, and being a part of the debating groups. Just being this good student, and being leftist cool.”

Given Viswanathan imagines Mel as a “very high-achieving” student, she’s got to have big goals. Viswanathan confirmed Mel’s hopes to be in a position where she’s the one calling the shots, but should Mel get that opportunity, what would she do with that power?

“At the beginning, she’s like, ‘I want to keep everybody safe and make morally conscious decisions,’ as much as she can. And then that turns out to be more difficult than you think. But she has an innate moral compass that she is guided by.”

Does Mel Still Admire Val at the End of ‘Thunderbolts*’?

“She’s so charming. It’s hard to unravel yourself from that.”

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Related

“She’s an Open Wound in That Moment”: ‘Thunderbolts*’ Julia Louis-Dreyfus Reveals Valentina’s Greatest Fear

Geraldine Viswanathan also reveals which “brutal” line made Mel and Val’s dynamic really sink in.

That moral compass is tested quite a bit during Thunderbolts*.
At the start of the movie, Mel’s eager to please, but at a point, Val pushes her too far and Mel turns to Bucky for help. Val isn’t pleased when she finds out, but things change drastically when Mel opts to push the kill switch to save Val from the Sentry. Given that decision happens off-screen, I asked Viswanathan why Mel feels inspired to about-face and save her boss.

“Damn, I guess she simps. I think she wouldn’t have been the natural successor of that role anyway. I think she knows that she has to kind of play the game to an extent if she wants to get there. Damn, maybe it’s a bit of Stockholm syndrome. They’ve been working so closely. She is just kind of loyal to her girl, so maybe there’s some of that. She’s in it with her. I mean, she’s so charming. It’s hard to unravel yourself from that.”

Mel opts to save Val and continue working for her – with a raise, of course – but does that mean Mel still admires her as much as she did at the start of Thunderbolts*? Here’s Viswanathan’s take:

“She’s so impressive and she runs shit and asks for what she wants and needs, and I think that that’s always cool. She suffers no fools. She’s just such a boss, and I think that that is alluring for anybody, just being like, ‘How do you get there? That must feel so nice to just be making stuff happen.’ And then I guess by the end, she’s still got it. She still thinks that that’s pretty sick. So, she’s just a boss, even if that’s a little scary.”

Viswanathan Thinks Mel is in the Build During the Post-Credits Scene

Image via Marvel Studios

No, Viswanathan didn’t get a chair during the recent Avengers: Doomsday casting event, but given Mel not only survives Thunderbolts* but continues working for Val, who takes credit for rebranding the Thunderbolts as the New Avengers, one has to assume that she’ll return. In fact, one can also assume that she might have been in the building during that post-credits scene when Yelena (Florence Pugh) and co. receive that signal from space. When I suggested as much, Viswanathan agreed:

“She is. Yep. She’s got a little office. She’s got a little coffee machine in there. She’s stepping up. She has a little view. But she’s still striving.”

Again, we have no confirmation Viswanathan will reprise the role in a future Marvel movie, but if she does, Viswanathan knows exactly what she wants to do more of:

“She’s a bad girl. Her cunningness, or that decisiveness to cut him off. I would be interested to see her do that to more guys in more movies.”

Looking for even more on Viswanathan’s road to Thunderbolts* and her experience adding to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? You can catch our full chat in the video at the top of this article, or you can listen to our latest Ladies Night interview in podcast form below:

Thunderbolts*

Release Date

May 2, 2025

Runtime

126 Minutes

Director

Jake Schreier

Writers

Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo

Franchise(s)

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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