I figured this would happen.
Marvel will recast its most popular heroes. This means Iron Man and Captain America — two of the biggest names in the MCU — will return in new forms, played by new actors. On-paper, it’s a ridiculous proposition, and one that will inevitably be met with some backlash, but the reality is, this was always going to happen.
According to Variety, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has finally acknowledged what’s long been speculated: the future of the MCU includes recasting. Feige specifically confirmed that the upcoming X-Men reboot will introduce brand-new actors in those roles — and, more significantly, that characters like Iron Man and Steve Rogers will eventually follow suit.
I think it’s hard for anybody to do that when an actor has done such a great role. How are they going to ever replace Sean Connery [as James Bond], right?
It’s a telling quote. Bond, Superman, Batman — all iconic, all recast multiple times. The characters endure, even if the actors move on. So why should Marvel be any different?
It certainly doesn’t help that, with Iron Man and Cap essentially dead, or retired, Feige doesn’t have many big name superheroes in his sandbox, having had to rely on Thunderbolts, Falcon, Shang-Chi and The Eternals.
However, Feige refuses to uses the word “reboot” for his plan to recast key characters. According to him, maybe we should call it a “reset”:
Reboot is a scary word. Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines.
When will it happen? Apparently, right after “Avengers: Secret Wars” gets released in 2027, with the start of Marvel’s X-Men era.
Regardless, comic books have been rebooting and retooling themselves for decades. New iterations, alternate timelines, legacy characters — it’s part of the DNA. And in cinema, we’ve seen it happen countless times. Batman has been reimagined so many times it’s almost a rite of passage for any actor in his 30s with a square jaw.
The MCU, however, has largely avoided this. Since 2008’s “Iron Man,” Marvel has been remarkably loyal to its original casting, resisting the urge to recast even as actors aged out or moved on. But now, with “Avengers: Secret Wars” on the horizon, that will change.
Back in January, at the Sundance Film Festival, a bidding war emerged over Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite.” A24, Netflix, Searchlight, Focus Features, and NEON among the studios in the mix.