MCU fans floored by Marvel's apparent recast plans

It's an interesting time to be a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The franchise's current Multiverse Saga means that you could very well see different versions of your favorite MCU characters, your favorite actors return in different roles, or your favorite characters from pre-MCU Marvel movies make their presence felt on the franchise. When they say anything can happen in the MCU's Multiverse Saga, they may very well mean anything.

We've seen more than enough examples of this in recent years, with Hugh Jackman's return as Wolverine in Deadpool and Wolverine, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's returns as their respective Spider-Men in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Patrick Stewart's return as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all sending the internet into meltdown. It's truly remarkable what this franchise is capable of at all times, but especially when it comes to moments like that.

However, a new report has raised a few eyebrows, as it suggests we could be seeing the full scope of the multiverse in effect once again, but in a very different kind of way.

New Marvel report claims four Avengers will be recast

According to a new report from Marvel scooper HWScoops (via Film News), Marvel will be recasting four major Avengers in the franchise. Those four reportedly are Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and Black Panther.

It's pretty shocking to say the least because, well, those four characters are among the biggest the franchise has ever seen and it's hard to imagine anyone playing the roles. Fans have responded to the post with all kinds of emotions, with some pointing out that it would be hard to replace all of them and others outright refusing to believe it. And since Marvel have yet confirm it, it's probably best to take it with a pinch of salt until otherwise confirmed by the studio.

All that being said, there is one way that any major Avenger recast could work, which is what this report might be referring to. Yes, these "recasts" may simply be possible variants that we will likely meet in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars.

Iron Man was, of course portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. since the beginning of the franchise, debuting all the way back in 2008's Iron Man movie and sticking around until the character's death in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Chris Evans portrayed Captain America since the character's first self-titled movie in 2011 and also stuck with the franchise until the 2019 movie when Cap travelled through time to live a life with the love of his life. Scarlett Johansson also departed the franchise in 2019's Avengers: Endgame after a decade of playing Black Widow when the character was killed off (but she did return for a standalone prequel in 2021's Black Widow film).

Black Panther was portrayed by Chadwick Boseman from his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War through to his final appearance in Avengers: Endgame. The character was supposed to continue on through the film series but Boseman sadly passed away in 2020 and Marvel decided to refocus the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever as a tribute to him and the character.

With that in mind, it wouldn't make any sense to recast the original characters since they aren't actively in the franchise anymore. That has led fans to believe that the MCU is simply going to introduce alternate versions of each character at some point throughout the Multiverse Saga just to highlight the endless possibilities of the multiversal concept (much like how Wesley Snipes' Blade returned ahead of Mahershala Ali's Blade making his presence felt on the MCU).

What's also interesting is that there are already new versions of three of those characters in the franchise. Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson has taken over as Captain America from Steve Rogers, Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova has become the franchise's next Black Widow after the death of Natasha Romanoff, and Letitia Wright's Shuri carried on the legacy of the Black Panther. Granted, those aren't recasts as the actors are playing different characters, but it's easy to see why someone might assume as much.

That said, the only one of the aforementioned Avengers that hasn't had an alternate version of himself appear is Iron Man. But rumor has it that could change in the near-future. Granted, Robert Downey Jr. is returning to play a different character (the villainous Doctor Doom), but ever since the Multiverse Saga began, there have been rumors that Marvel has been interested in casting Tom Cruise in a cameo appearance as an alternate version of Tony Stark (a nod to the fact that he nearly played the role in the 2008 franchise-starter). Now there are rumors that it just might happen in Avengers 5 and Avengers 6. Could that be part of what this particular rumor was referring to?

Whatever the case, the idea of recasting any of those legendary Avengers sounds a bit eyebrow-raising, but if it's for cameo appearances as an alternate version of the superhero team, it just might work; especially if there are some major recognizable actors playing the roles.