I will continue with spoilers since you used them. Includes guesses.
Not named but you also see Namor in the 4th one. I have to assume a big part of the movie is dealing with the Fantastic Four getting to the universe. The stinger at the end of Thunderbolts showed their ship arriving but with no explanation. The stinger at the end of FF didn’t show anything about it. I can’t help but think many of those in the movie will be little more than cameos but the FF were entwined with Doom for decades so they are probably in most of it.
I suspect that it was, as much as anything else, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. wanting the freedom to pursue other roles, and step away from the MCU for a while, rather than being a choice made by Marvel/Disney.
By the time of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Downey had appeared as Iron Man in nine movies (plus a cameo) in 12 years, while Evans had appeared as Cap in seven movies (plus several cameos) in nine years. They both might have just been a bit burned out by it.
And some – Jean Grey comes to my mind, though there have undoubtedly been others – have died a lot, to the point where it’s become a trope for the character.
In the MCU? Two. Edward Norton wasn’t asked back and he ruined the chances of another stand alone Hulk movie. Of course they could replace the actors of any of the roles but that’s a gamble when you have bankable stars already in place. Eventually they will age out if they keep making movies.
Three if you count Eric Bana, which was a pre-MCU movie, though I think it’s considered canonical for the MCU character (I may be mistaken).
Plus, Norton only played the Hulk once; audiences clearly came to identify Mark Ruffalo as the actor behind the role through five films (plus a number of cameos, and the She-Hulk TV series).
Similarly, Terrence Howard played James Rhodes / War Machine once, before being replaced by Don Cheadle, who is now much more recognized for the role.
It’s one thing to replace an actor who played the role once; it’s another thing to replace an actor whose portrayal of that character, across multiple movies, has come to be tightly bound to that character.
Can you have a different Iron Man or Captain America? Sure. It’s happened in the comics repeatedly. Anthony Mackie is now playing Captain America in the MCU, but he’s playing Sam Wilson, not Steve Rogers. Dominique Thorne (Riri Williams / Ironheart) or Don Cheadle (Rhodes) could become “Iron Man,” but won’t become Tony Stark.
What I do see is that the Norton film (which is considered MCU canon) is generally (but maybe not officially) considered to be a sort-of sequel to the Bana film.
Good point. Bixby played Banner, Ferrigno- in makeup- did the actual Hulk.
Just because Marvel would like us all to forget those earlier godawful turkeys, doesnt mean we have to play along. They were official licensed Marvel character films.
The point was- other actors have played Captain America and the world didnt end. They dont need Chris Evans to play Cap. They can recast the role. How many actors have played Superman? Even after Reeves did so well.
The fact that Evans may be tired of playing Cap and Downey is tired of playing Iron man doesnt mean no one can ever play those roles again.
Bixby and Ferrigno’s series is at least noteworthy and still somewhat remembered, though it’s now over 40 years since the TV series ended, and 36 years since the last made-for-TV movie with those two.
None but the most serious hardcore Marvel fan knows a thing about Dick Purcell, Rob Brown, or Matt Salinger playing Captain America – they’re simply not relevant, and fans certainly didn’t see Chris Evans as “replacing” any of them in the role.
Recasting an extremely popular actor, who clearly had made a role their own, can be really tricky. A lot of the fans of the movies are also fans of those actors, and unless you (the producer and casting team) manage to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time, fans are likely to reject the new actor in the role.
Marvel has a metric crap-ton of superheroes, including numerous cases in which a particular superhero “title” has been held by several unique characters. Why take the risky move of trying to replace Evans as Steve Rogers, when you can keep making Captain America content with Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie in the role?
