Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Red One!

After seeing Kiernan Shipka as Gryla RedThe actor is expected to take on a similar role in a billion-dollar franchise. Although she started out as a child actress, Shipka has successfully transitioned her career into adulthood, becoming a top-notch actress who can take control of a film. 2024 marks an epic year for Kiernan Shipka as she takes on roles in five notable films, including Dwayne Johnson’s Christmas film Red One.

Red One features several mythical characters, including Santa Claus and Krampus; The main villain, however, is Kiernan Shipka’s Gryla. In Icelandic mythology, Gryla was a man-eater who cooked naughty children into stew. However, the 2024 Christmas movie features her as a shapeshifter who wants to save the world from evil by punishing people on the naughty list. Shipka’s chilling and unforgettable performance proves that the actress could play a significant role in the MCU as a fan-favorite comic book character.

Kiernan Shipka’s Gryla has similarities to Marvel’s Magik

The two sorceresses have good intentions using dubious methods

Kiernan Shipka’s performance as Gryla in Red One shows that she is capable of playing a character as nuanced and morally gray as Marvel’s Magik. In her human form, Gryla is a young woman with long blonde hair, partially glowing eyes, and a black costume stylized as armor – defining the visual characteristics of Magik. However, similarities in appearance are far from the only way these two characters are similar. Both possess an immense amount of magic that could be dangerous in the wrong handsalthough Magik has stronger abilities than Gryla as well as the Soul Sword and Stepping Discs.

Gryla essentially seems like a less powerful version of Magik who has given in to her darker side.

The pair also have similar personalities and moral approaches. Although Gryla is portrayed as a villain, she actually has very good intentions. She wants to fix the world and save Christmas by ending Christmas. She believes that imprisoning the naughty Listers will teach them to be better people. By this definition, Gryla could act as an antagonist from the beginning to the end of Red One, but she falls more into the anti-hero and anti-villain realm rather than one end of the spectrum or the other.

Magik is similar in that she falls into the category of antihero rather than heroine, particularly in the comics of New X-Men (2007) to Avengers vs. X-Men (2012). The mutant sorceress has a distorted sense of morality due to her traumatic upbringing and has no problem with murder and violence when necessary. She makes questionable decisions in the name of doing the right thing. The sorceress also has a dark, demonic side within her that she tries to suppress. Gryla essentially seems like a less powerful version of Magik who has given in to her darker side.

Deadpool and Wolverine provided the key to Kiernan Shipka playing Magik in the MCU

Deadpool & Wolverine introduce The Void

After Disney reacquired the rights to X-Men in 2019, doors opened for the possibility of characters from that franchise appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The most obvious crossover options were those with strong connections to existing characters – Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, etc. Magik is a character with a strong connection to Doctor Strange, and she appeared in the largely forgotten 2020 X Men film New mutants; However, the MCU was missing an important part of the Marvel world that is inextricably linked to Magik’s character story – Limbo.

The character was kidnapped and raised in Limbo, where he eventually became the ruler of this domain. Almost every version of their origin story involves Limbo in some form, but the MCU didn’t have Limbo to work with. However, Deadpool and Wolverine shows the pair visiting a world called The Void, which functions in the same way as Limbo.

Anya Taylor Joy by
Furiosa
Fame plays magic in
New mutants
(2020).

If Kevin Feige wants to introduce Magik to the MCU with a new actress – ideally Kiernan Shipka – then The Void is the perfect way to do it. The Void and Limbo could be one and the same in the MCU, making Magik’s origin story similar to the comics. She could also be the sister of Colossus, who already appears in the Deadpool films.

Kiernan Shipka as Magik would continue her trend of playing morally gray characters

Shipka is known for playing characters who cross moral boundaries

If Kiernan Shipka were to play Magik in the MCU, it would continue the actor’s trend of playing characters who fall into the moral gray area. Her fondness for this type of role dates back to her big break with Sally Draper mad Men from 2007 to 2015. She may be a nice young woman overall, but she is going through a rebellious time where she behaves in questionable ways.

She also plays a much darker and morally cruel version of Sabrina Spellman in the Netflix series Chilling adventures of Sabrina. Even her recent role in a romantic comedy in the cast of darlings makes exceptionally questionable decisions despite being a saint compared to Gryla Red. Ultimately, Shipka excels in this type of role, and her performance as Magik would be no different.