A Key Pluribus Actor Has Played Two Very Different Marvel Characters

As the aloof, jaded author of romantasy novels, Carol Sturka, Rhea Seehorn delivered a superb performance in Vince Gilligan's peculiar sci-fi series "Pluribus." But it's a shame we didn't get to see more of Carol and Miriam Shor's Helen L. Umstead together. Helen was Carol's wife, but didn't make it out of the first episode alive after she was killed during the initial spread of the mysterious virus that otherwise turned the human race into docile hive-mind drones. Of course, there's always Shor's other performances, which include two roles as very different Marvel characters: Jessica Jones' mom and a recorder loyal to the evil High Evolutionary in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

In "Pluribus," Helen was seemingly the only person with whom Carol formed a genuine connection. Dismissive of her own success as an author and of the romantasy books she'd been churning out, Carol was isolated except for her relationship with Helen. As such, although Carol's wife and manager dies in the first episode, she was a significant character who had a major impact on Seehorn's own character and her trajectory post-joining.

The fact that Carol wasn't able to process her grief at the loss of Helen hangs over season 1 of "Pluribus," keeping the character present even while she wasn't physically there. We did see Helen appear in several flashbacks from episode 3, in which the pair traveled to a Norwegian ice hotel. But otherwise, the character didn't show up beyond her untimely death. Those wanting more Miriam Shor in a sci-fi context, however, might be intrigued by the actor's two roles in separate Marvel projects.

Back in 2015, Netflix followed up the success of its "Daredevil" streaming series with "Jessica Jones." The show starred Krysten Ritter as the titular hero in a street-level story that, alongside "Daredevil," represented the best of the Netflix Marvel series (which also included "Luke Cage," "Iron Fist," and the team-up show "The Defenders"). It was in this show that Miriam Shor played her first Marvel role.

In the season 1 episode "A.K.A. WWJD?," Shor portrayed Jessica's mother, Alisa Jones, in a flashback that depicted the car crash that killed Jones' father and brother. Shor's Jones is seen briefly in the front seat of the car that eventually careens into a truck. Beyond that, in post-accident scenes, Alisa Jones was played by Janet McTeer, making Shor's first appearance in a Marvel project about as brief as they come.

Interestingly enough, back in 2021, star Krysten Ritter revealed that she really wanted to play the Marvel hero again, and now, season 2 of "Daredevil: Born Again" is finally bringing back the former member of the Defenders. Whether that means Jessica Jones will get her own show remains to be confirmed, though there are rumors to that effect. What seems almost certain, however, is that Miriam Shor won't be involved, given that she had a very small role as a pre-accident Alisa Jones. That said, given the success of "Pluribus," perhaps if the new writers need a flashback, they might be calling Shor to reprise the role — though they'd have to get around the fact she's since played an alien in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now that James Gunn is overseeing DC Studios and its burgeoning DC Universe (which kicked off with Gunn's charming crowd-pleaser "Superman" in 2025), his Marvel Studios days are truly behind him. But he leaves an honorable legacy over at DC's rival, where he delivered three of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his "Guardians" trilogy. He was also responsible for giving Miriam Shor her second role in a Marvel project when he cast her as Vim in the uneven, sporadically emotional end to the trilogy, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

In this third installment, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) tries to take out the alien scientist responsible for his creation, Chukwudi Iwuji's High Evolutionary. The crazed geneticist founded his own research company, OrgoCorp, to help complete his mission to create a new, perfect species, and one of the employees of this company is Shor's Vim. A "recorder," Vim worked in the science division of OrgoCorp, collecting data for the High Evolutionary. But she didn't stay loyal for long, launching a mutiny against the leader before he unleashed a wave of energy that killed her.

Vim was a much more significant Marvel role for Shor, and the actor appears in the film much more than her version of Alisa Jones ever did in "Jessica Jones." The fact that her role as Alisa was so small, coupled with the fact that Vim was an alien scientist who was almost unrecognizable as Shor, ensured nobody was ever going to make the connection without looking it up. But it is sort of neat to know that Shor has technically been a part of the MCU since the year 2000, when the Jones family car crash occurred.