Ralph Ineson as Galactus is the latest actor to appear twice in a Marvel project

The big picture

• Ralph Ineson joins
  Fantastic Four
  as Galactus, his second role in the MCU after playing a Ravager in
  guardians of the galaxy
  .
• Actors like Chris Evans and Jon Favreau have played multiple roles in Marvel, seamlessly blending TV and movies.
• Some actors, like Evans and Michael B. Jordan, have switched roles to iconic MCU characters after playing members of the Fantastic Four.

Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four reboot brings together an eclectic cast, with a string of high-profile actors including John Malkovich And Natasha Lyonne having joined the highly anticipated Matt Shakman film, which already has an impressive program with Pierre Pascal, Julia GarnerAnd Vanessa Kirby. In addition, Ralph Inéson was cast as Galactus, the planet-devouring supervillain who is one of the most iconic enemies of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four. This is actually Ineson's second trip to the MCU, with the English actor having previously made a cameo appearance as a member of Yondu Udonta's group (Michael Rooker) Ravager faction in guardians of the galaxy. This makes Ineson the latest an ever-growing list of actors who have played more than one role in a Marvel film. Who else did a double dip?

Where did the actors double in the MCU?

One of the less visible ways that actors have played multiple characters in the MCU is by performing voice or motion capture work in addition to playing a live action role. Sean Gunnfor example, is known for playing the flesh-and-blood role of Kraglin in the Guardians films, but he also does the on-set work necessary to bring in Rocket Raccoon, the main CGI character voiced by Bradley Cooperto physical life, and voiced a younger version of the character shown in the flashbacks of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the same way, Linda Cardellini performed the motion capture and voice work for Lylla the Otter in the same film after previously playing the live-action role of Laura Barton in previous MCU projects.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also contains one of the most notable examples of an actor (other than Stan Lee) who plays two separate live-action roles in different films in the main MCU universe. Michelle Yeoh cameos in the film as Captain Ravager who attends Yondu's funeral. Although she has yet to reprise the role, Yeoh will reportedly play Ying Nan, the aunt of the main character in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Besides Yeoh, the other most notable example of an actor having two of these roles is Gemma Chan.who played the role of Sersi in Eternals after playing the supporting role of Kree soldier Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel. However, the latter role required such extensive makeup that many viewers who saw both films probably did not notice the repeat casting.

Many actors have moved from Marvel TV to movies

Doubling down on live-action roles becomes much more common when considering Marvel television, especially shows produced before the introduction of Disney+. Alfred Woodardwho played a main role in the Marvel Netflix series Luc Cagealso plays a small but essential role in Captain America: Civil Waras Miriam Sharpe, a woman who takes on Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to tell him that she blames the Avengers for the death of her son, which occurred in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Woodards Luc Cage co-star, Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali has also been cast as the title character in the upcoming Marvel film. Blade restart the movie and briefly appeared in the new role in a voiceover appearance in Eternals.

And considering all of the tangentially related Marvel media across the multiverse, as the ongoing Multiverse saga suggests, it is becoming even more common for actors to play two or more roles. Ali also voices two of the Aaron Davis/the Prowler variations featured in Sony's animated films. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse And Through the Spider-Verse. Many actors from the Spider-Verse films, like Hawk EyeIt is Hailee Steinfeldhas additional Marvel roles and Ali's co-star Oscar Isaac has associated three with him so far, the others being the main characters of the Disney+ series Moon Knight and the movie X-Men: Apocalypse. But the title of most distinct parts of the multiverse probably goes to Tony Curranwho appeared in the movies Blade II, X-Men: First Class, Thor: The Dark World and the series Daredevil And Secret invasion. Although his characters are all quite obscure and none get that much screen time, all except the CIA security agent he plays. First class contribute significantly to the plots of their respective properties.

Deadpool Hilariously Denounced Josh Brolin's Repeat Casting

Most cases of repeat casting seem to be due to a simple fact that the actors fill all their respective roles by chance and are usually not recognized by subsequent projects in which they appear. However, there are a few examples that are harder for viewers to ignore. Kevin Baconfor example, appeared in First class as supervillain Sebastian Shaw before playing a fictionalized version of himself in Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

Jon Favreauwho directed the first two Iron Man films and continued to appear sporadically in the MCU as Happy Hogan, also played Matt Murdock/Daredevil's law partner Franklin “Foggy” Nelson (Ben Affleck) in 20th Century Fox from 2003 Daredevil movie adaptation. Charlie Coxwho has been playing the MCU's main version of Matt since the Daredevil Netflix series premiered in 2015, appearances in the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home. During his brief time on screen, one of the few other characters Matt interacts with is notably Happy, which some fans have interpreted as a subtle reference to Favreau's earlier role. Unsurprisingly, the most overt acknowledgment of repeat casting comes from the self-aware Deadpool series. In the 2018 Fox film Deadpool 2Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) refers to its rival Cable (Josh Brolin) as “Thanos”, directly reminiscent of the villain Brolin plays in the main MCU, including in Avengers: Infinity Warreleased the same year.

Ineson isn't even the first actor in a Fantastic Four movie to play two Marvel characters. Both Chris Evans And Michael B.Jordan portrayed team member Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in previous adaptations, before moving on to their more successful and famous roles as Steve Rogers/Captain America and N'Jadaka/Erik Killmonger, respectively, in the MCU main. Jordan's Cast Mate Kate Marawho played Johnny's sister Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman in the 2015s. Fantastic4stic by Josh Trank, had also previously appeared in Iron Man 2 as the U.S. Marshall who serves Tony with a subpoena. Ineson's own companion, Ebony moss-Bachrachwho will play Ben Grimm/the Thing in the Shakman film, also appeared as David Lieberman/Micro in Daredevil spin off The Punisher.

While the multiverse potentially allows some of these actors to meet their disparate characters in future projects (as DC's Arrowverse TV franchise has done with some of its multi-role actors), some creators may consider this kind of twist narrative as too personal. repository and potentially immersion breaker for the audience. If so, it is likely that future acknowledgments, if any, will be similar in nature to the dissertation Deadpool 2 scene, with only self-aware characters like Wade or Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) aware of intertextual connections. Who knows what kind of casting jokes Deadpool has in store for us Deadpool and Wolverine.

Fantastic Four will be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.