The release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever showed that the MCU is still rolling, even with the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman. What the movie also proved was how well cast the first Black Panther film was, as the supporting players in that movie, especially Letitia Wright as Shuri, stepped up in the sequel, proving how important casting is for the MCU’s success. Here’s why casting has been such an important factor in the MCU:
A Mix of Unknowns and Veterans
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The MCU has always done two great things with its casting. They’ve cast actors who are already known in new and unexpected roles, and also find actors who are not well-recognized, and make them stars. Robert Downey Jr. was a damaged property when he got cast as Tony Stark, while Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, and Chris Pratt were already known commodities in Hollywood, but not yet stars. About the casting of Chris Evans, Sarah Finn told The Washington Post: “Chris Evans’s reluctance to play Captain America proved why he was the perfect person for the role: “He has a humility, a moral compass that is tangible, and that the audience can really feel with him.”
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The biggest casting trick of the MCU is how they keep casting unknown actors and making them stars. Not many knew who Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), or Tom Hiddleston (Loki) were before they got cast in the Marvel Universe, and all three bets paid off perfectly. The fact that the MCU plays with many genres also makes them cast wider nets and get performers who have never done action scenes, but they know are great. People were surprised when Karen Gillan got cast in The Guardians of the Galaxy, and surprisingly, her character has had one of the best arcs in the MCU. That’s because Gillan knows how to do both comedy and drama, and show both love and heartbreak, all the characteristics that made her portrayal of Nebula work.
There are going to be more casting announcements soon, as the MCU keeps going, and here are some actors we would like to appear in Marvel movies in the future, but we’re probably going to get it wrong, as they always surprise us with choices that, through time, make perfect sense.
The Characters Are the Real Stars
Many actors have used their MCU characters as a starting point to build their Hollywood careers. The surprising thing they discover is the fact that their other movies, rarely get the same box office success as their superhero ones, and that’s because the characters, and not the actors, are the real stars.
Obviously, the characters are made whole by those actors who interpret them, but having a healthy movie career outside of this universe is getting tougher for everyone. Not even Robert Downey Jr., the saint patron of the MCU, has had success with movies like The Judge, or Dolittle, to the point that he’s back to franchises with Sherlock Holmes 3. Let’s hope Oppenheimer is a good one, as we would love to see Downey Jr. playing other characters and succeeding at it.
The same thing has happened to Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. Their careers outside the MCU have the smallest of box office earnings, proving people love them as Captain America and Thor, but are less inclined to go to the movies to see them in any other project where they want to spread their actor wings. Both have been doing more streaming projects lately, maybe because in the streaming world, box office success is not the only determining factor, and their names can still bring people to the platform, as they’re being watched from home. Maybe they’ll end up appearing as their MCU characters on Disney+, where there are already great superhero TV shows.
The MCU has been changing their movie contracts in the last few years, so they can keep getting great talent, as they know that although the character is the real star, they still need great performers. As long as the MCU universe keeps getting bigger and bigger, they’re going to keep casting actors who will probably be remembered as those characters. That might scare some up-and-coming talents, who take delight in being a different personality with each character, and are afraid of being typecast. That’s why all the rumors about Daniel Radcliffe becoming Wolverine feel crazy, as he has finally stopped being seen as just another franchise character. Now he works much more as a supporting player, and doing unique movies like Swiss Army Man or Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
Sarah Finn - The Casting Genius
Sarah Finn is as important to the MCU as Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man (one of Finn’s first casting choices in the MCU), and Kevin Feige. Why? She’s been casting the MCU movies from the start (the only movie she didn’t cast was Edward Norton’s The Incredible Hulk). About Finn, Kevin Feige told Indiwire: “She understands the characters, she understands we want the very best actors out there, whether they have done an ‘action movie’ before or not, and that our tastes are pretty eclectic when it comes to casting.”
Finn’s job is to find actors who can play in many genres and have instant chemistry with anyone they’re in a scene with, as in the future, they might appear in ensemble films. Her job is not an easy one, but she has the skill to envision what an actor can do and how that mixes with the comic book character they could be playing for years or even decades. Her batting average is incredible, as most actors are perfectly cast for their roles, and in the lonely chances something hasn’t worked (Edward Norton, Terrance Howard), their second choices have made us instantly forget about that first fumble.
As in every job, luck has also played a small part in casting decisions: Emily Blunt was initially cast as Black Widow, but she had to leave because of scheduling conflicts with Gulliver’s Travels. From movies like Edge of Tomorrow, we know she would’ve done a great job, but we can’t imagine anyone other than Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanov. Similar things happened when casting other characters, as we could’ve had John Krasinski as Captain America, Saoirse Ronan as Scarlet Witch, or Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Ant-Man. We will leave those combinations for any of the other worlds in the multiverse, as we love every one of the casting choices made by Finn, Feige, and the rest of the Marvel team.
