1. Eliza Dushku
The beautiful and talented Eliza Dushku has seemingly been around far longer than she should have at the tender age of 33. Rising to fame as a fourteen year old in True Lies, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis played her parents, four years later Dushku was cast as Faith in the third season of Buffy. Faith was easily one of the most interesting characters the Buffyverse ever had. She was a Rogue Slayer, a damaged girl from a broken home who found solace with a new father figure. Sadly, said father figure was the evil Mayor of Season 3, who wanted to turn himself into a giant worm monster and eat the Sunnydale High Graduates. Proving hugely popular, the character reappeared the following season, where she began a road to redemption that lead her through guest appearances in Angel, and an eventual return to Buffy for the final season. After the end of Buffy, fans were clamouring for more from the characters, and an idea was touted around for a Faith-centric spin-off, which would see Dushku travelling America Kung-Fu style, investigating the supernatural and ridding the world of demons (think Supernatural, but with a gorgeous woman on a motorbike instead of two dudes in an Impala). But, after playing the character on and off for five years, Eliza was ready for a change. Eager to keep what looked like a profitable TV starlet on their books, Dushku was signed up by Fox to appear in Tru Calling. After two unspectacular seasons, Tru Calling was cancelled. Sandwiched between the two were some movie appearances, mid-Buffy in cheerleader comedy Bring It On, Kevin Smiths Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and psychological horror-thriller Soul Survivor, and post in horror flick Wrong Turn. Unfortunately, movie stardom proved evasive, and in 2009 Eliza returned the small screen, again with Fox, but this time helmed by Joss Whedon, in Dollhouse. In Dollhouse, Eliza really got to stretch her acting abilities, playing everything from prostitute to super-soldier to dead heiress to back up singer. With the far out concept of programmable people, Dushku really got to have fun in the show, expressing more than she had ever been able to before. But alas, like so many Joss projects before, Dollhouse struggled with ratings and, despite a better second season than first, the show did not get picked up for a third. Post Dollhouse, Eliza has appeared consistently, but the big roles seem to be eluding her, something Mr Whedon could definitely do something about.
Who Could She Play: Its no secret that Joss loves strong female characters. Buffy, the vampire slaying cheerleader that made his name, was developed as a way of fighting back against the stereotype of the ditzy blonde who would run away from the monsters. Incidentally, the character was partially inspired by another female super heroine, Kitty Pryde, AKA X-Mens Shadowcat, a character that Whedon would go on to successfully write in his excellent run on Astonishing X-Men. He was linked with DCs Wonder Woman for quite some time, until it became apparent that he and the studio wanted different things. Joss has also been vocal about the lack of female heroes in Superhero movies of late, so its believable that he would want more in the next Avengers, and who better than Eliza, someone who has been consistently kicking ass under his tutelage since she was eighteen.
As far as the particular character she could play, I think she would be ideal for Mockingbird. Whilst not super powered, Mockingbird has been part of the Avengers since 1990. She is a highly trained SHIELD agent, and has a PhD in Biology. Also, Mockingbird has shared a long romantic history with Hawkeye, so introducing this could bring an interesting dynamic with Black Widow so prominently on the scene in The Avengers. So there you have it, five Whedonverse actors Id love to see Joss bring into the Marvel Universe with him, now its your say. Agree? Disagree? Have totally ambivalent view on the situation? Sound off!