Ralph Ineson as Galactus Is the Latest Actor to Appear in a Marvel Project Twice

The big picture

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

Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four reboot is assembling an eclectic cast, with a number of high-profile actors including John Malkovich i Natasha Lyonne having joined the long-awaited Matt Shakman film, which already has an impressive line-up Peter Pascal, Julia Garneri Vanessa Kirby. Besides, Ralph Ineson has been chosen to play Galactus, the planet-eating supervillain who is one of the most iconic enemies of the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics. This actually marks Ineson's second trip to the MCU, with the English actor having previously made a brief appearance as a member of Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) The devastating faction enters Guardians of the Galaxy. This makes Ineson the last in an ever-growing list of actors who have played more than one role in a Marvel film. Who else has folded?

Where have actors been duplicated in the MCU?

One of the less notable ways actors have taken on various MCU characters is by doing voice or motion capture work in addition to playing a live action role. Sean Gunnfor example, he's known for playing the flesh-and-blood role of Kraglin in the Guardians movies, but he also does the on-set work needed to bring Rocket Raccoon, the main CGI character voiced by bradley cooperin physical life, and voiced a younger version of the character shown in flashbacks a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the same way, Linda Cardellini did the motion capture and voice for Lylla the Otter in the same film after previously appearing in the live-action role of Laura Barton in past 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 different live-action roles in different films in the main MCU universe. Michelle Yeoh cameos in the film as a Ravager captain who attends Yondu's funeral. Although she has yet to reprise this role, Yeoh would go on to play Ying Nan, the titular character's aunt Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Apart from Yeoh, the other most prominent example of an actor who has two such roles is Gemma Chanwho played Sersi a eternal after playing the supporting role of Kree soldier Minn-Erva a Captain Marvel. However, the latter role required such extensive make-up that many viewers who have seen both films probably did not notice the repeat casting.

Many actors have moved between Marvel TV and movies

Dubbing live-action roles becomes much more common when you consider Marvel TV, especially shows produced before the introduction of Disney+. Alfred Woodardwho had a starring role in the Marvel Netflix series Luke Cageit also plays a small but fundamental role Captain America: Civil Waras Miriam Sharpe, a woman who takes on Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to tell him that he blames the Avengers for the death of his son, which happened to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Woodard's Luke Cage co-star, Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali has also been cast as the titular character in the upcoming Marvel installment leaf restart the movie and has appeared briefly in the new role in a voice-over cameo eternal.

And when you consider that all of Marvel's media is tangentially linked through the multiverse, as the ongoing Multiverse saga suggests, it is even more common for actors to play two or more roles. Ali also voices two of the variants of Aaron Davis/The Prowler that appear in Sony's animated films. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse i Through the Spider-Verse. Many of the actors in the Spider-Verse movies, such as hawk eye's Hailee Steinfeldthey have additional roles from Marvel and Ali's co-star Oscar Isaac has matched it with three so far, the others being the titular characters of the Disney+ series Knight of the Moon and the movie X-Men: Apocalypse. But the title of most different parts of the multiverse is likely to be Tony Curranthat has appeared in the movies Plate II, X-Men: First Class, Thor: The Dark World and the series reckless i secret invasion. While his characters are pretty dark and none get that much screen time, all but the CIA security guard he plays. first class they contribute to the plots of their respective properties significantly.

Deadpool hilariously called out the recasting of Josh Brolin

Most cases of repeat casting seem to be caused by little more than actors matching all of their respective roles and usually unrecognized by the subsequent projects in which they appear. However, there are some examples that are harder for viewers to ignore. Kevin Baconfor example, appeared in first class as the supervillain Sebastian Shaw before playing a fictional version of himself Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

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

Ineson isn't even the first cast member of a Fantastic Four movie to play two Marvel characters. Both of us Chris Evans i Michael B. Jordan he portrayed a member of the team, Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in previous adaptations, before moving on to his most successful and famous roles as Steve Rogers/Captain America and N'Jadaka/Erik Killmonger, respectively, in the main MCU. Jordan's co-star Kate Marawho played Johnny's sister Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman in 2015 fantastic by Josh Trank, had also previously appeared in Iron Man 2 as a US Marshall serving Tony with a subpoena. Ineson's own cast mate, Ebon Moss-Bachrachwho will play Ben Grimm/The Thing in the Shakman movie, also appeared as David Lieberman/Micro a reckless spin-off the punisher.

While the multiverse potentially allows some of these actors to meet their different characters in future projects, (as DC's Arrowverse TV franchise did with some of its multi-role performers), some creators may see this kind of twist narrative as too autonomous. referential and potentially breaking immersion for the public. If this is the case, it is likely that future acknowledgments, if any, will be similar in nature to the written one. 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 shenanigans Deadpool has in store Deadpool and Wolverine.

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