Dream Casting: Monica Rambeau and Nextwave

Dream Casting is an imaginative look at the casting process of potential Hollywood projects based on comics and other media. This isn't just about what is being made; this is about what should be made, and who we think should be the stars.

The prominence of 11-year-old Monica Rambeau in Captain Marvel, which is set in 1995, definitely implies that she'll return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a 30-something woman in the modern day. In the comics, she's also been called Captain Marvel, and has used other codenames like Photon (her mom's callsign in the movie) and Spectrum. She also spent time under her real name leading one of Marvel's strangest teams, and that's the basis for the movie I'm envisioning this week.

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is about five super-people who've been recruited to an espionage organization, only to realize their boss is in bed with the enemy, and they have to take him down from the inside. Written by Warren Ellis with art by Stuart Immonen, the book is primarily a comedy, which is what the movie should be too, so I've chosen a cast with that in mind.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) is a fantastic actress with plenty of presence and charisma, plus she'd be believable as a mid-30s version of the little girl from Captain Marvel.

Not only is Andy Daly (Review) a fantastic comedic actor who'd play a great robot, he also has a kind of generic look that seems like somebody designed a white guy without thinking about it too long, which seems appropriate for the alienated android.

Elsa Bloodstone is a posh British lady who hunts monsters and knows her way around every weapon imaginable. That's the sort of role Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) was born for.

The Captain is such a deadbeat scumbag that you need someone with a lot of charisma for the part, just so the audience won't hate him. Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) has that charisma, plus the right look for the character.

This take on the X-Men character also known as Boom Boom is particularly shallow and flighty, but she gets the job done. Gracie Dzienny (Bumblebee) is an up and coming young actress who's great at just that sort of thing.

Dirk Anger, the shadiest of superspies and a parody of the original Nick Fury, used to be Nextwave's boss but becomes the villain. Whoever plays him should be part of the joke. Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible) would start getting laughs the moment he shows his face on screen.

There's nobody better than Ben Whishaw (Paddington) to voice a highly cultured Tyrannosaurus in a smoking jacket.