From Thanos to War Machine, 5 Times MCU Recast Famous Actors and Why
MCU is closer to the ending of Phase Five of their Multiverse Saga which is just two films away, Deadpool 3 is set to be released in the coming year, and Captain America: Brave New World is scheduled for a 2025 release. Marvel’s recent film The Marvels, directed and written by Nia DaCosta, released last month, has collected over $204.6 million at the box office.
There were times when we noticed some prominent actors getting replaced for the portrayal of important characters in the MCU films since the beginning of Phase One in 2008.
Following is the list of actors who got replaced in the Marvel franchise:
Mark Ruffalo As Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner aka “Hulk” was first played by Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk in 2008. But he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo as the actor was not cooperative on the set. He negotiated to become an uncredited screenwriter and as the actor submitted his draft within the deadline mentioned in his contract with MCU. However, Norton continued to change the script during the film’s production.
Ruffalo joined MCU to play Bruce Banner and his first appearance as Hulk was in 2012’s The Avengers and continued to play the role. He recently appeared in Marvel’s Disney+Hotstar Series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law last year
Don Cheadle Played Rhodey
MCU was established with its first film Iron Man in 2008 directed by Jon Favreau. The film starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man. In the film, we saw Terrance Howard playing Colonel James Rhodes aka War Machine, who is an ex-militant and pilot who started working with Tony Stark.
In 2010, Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle for his role in Iron Man 2, which Don continued to play in future MCU films. Howard was an established actor in the industry and he was paid around $3.5 million, which was more in comparison to Downey’s $500,000 salary.
In the film’s sequel, Howard’s salary was decreased to $40,000 per film while Robert was getting a rumored salary of $10 million, including the back-end profits of the film. This dispute over pay scale and negotiations became the reason for Terrence’s replacement in the franchise.
Josh Brolin Replaced Damion Poitier As Thanos
Damion Poiter first appeared as Thanos in the end-credits scene of The Avengers. The Infinity Saga in the Marvel franchise concluded with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) where Thanos appeared as a complete character and played a major role in the film. It was then that Josh Brolin came on board to play the Mad Titan. Till then, the narrative in MCU’s timeline revolved around the infinity stones and the gauntlet which Thanos wanted to wipe out half the population of the universe. Until the 2018 and 2019 Avengers films, Thanos didn’t play a major role as an enemy in any of their previous films.
Poiter’s replacement was a creative decision by the production company as Brolin’s roaring voice added intensity to the character. However, the actor’s replacement was pretty much unnoticeable due to the high usage of CGI for the character.
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Cassie’s Character Was Recast Twice
We were introduced to Scott Lang aka Ant-Man’s eight-year-old daughter Cassie Lang in Ant-Man. The character was replaced twice throughout the MCU timeline. Emma Fuhrmann replaced Abby Ryder Fortson who played Cassie in the 2015 film Avengers: Endgame(2019) as Scott’s daughter was shown as a grown-up teenager in 2023, post Thanos’s Blip in Avengers: Infinity War(2018).
Fuhrmann appeared only twice for a few moments in the 2019 Avengers film, but the character had a prominent role to play in the following films in the franchise. Later, in Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania, released this year, Kathryn Newton replaced Emma as eighteen-year-old Cassie who joins her father to fight the odds.
In Marvel Comics, Cassie Lang joins Young Avengers, but according to MCU Fuhrmann was not suitable to play the character at an intense level as the actor was not whip-smart according to Peyton Reed, who directed the film.
Harrison Ford To Portray Thaddeus Ross
Thaddeus Ross aka Red Hulk who made his first appearance in The Incredible Hulk and also had a small appearance in Captain America: Civil War was played by the late William Hunt who died in 2022. Ross’ character has a major role to play in future MCU films which include Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts.
According to Variety, Harrison Ford stepped into the Marvel Universe to play the Thunderbolt Ross. Ford is known for playing Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise and portraying the adventurous archaeologist in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones movies. He made his last appearance as the Jones in Indian Jones and The Dail of Destiny this year which was directed by James Mangold.
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