MCU surprise recast explained by director: 'I think this is it'

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to recasts, but an MCU director has now explained one recent casting decision.

Believe it or not, but certain legendary MCU roles originally had different actors portraying the characters.

For example, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes now seem irreplaceable, even though they were originally played by Edward Norton and Terrence Howard in their debut films respectively.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the next big Marvel movie coming to cinemas in July.

More recently, it was revealed that The Walking Dead actor Steven Yeun had originally been picked to play Bob, also known as “Sentry”, in Thunderbolts*.

Yeun had to drop out of the role due to the 2023 SAG strikes, which led to the character being recast with Lewis Pullman in the role.

If you’re familiar with both Yeun and Pullman’s lines of work, you’ll know that both actors have very different ranges. A role written for one actor may not necessarily work for the other, so rewrites are needed.

Indeed, if you’ve seen Thunderbolts*, it can be hard to see Yeun playing that film’s version of Bob.

Now, director Jake Schreier has explained the challenges in adapting the role Sentry plays in Thunderbolts* to Pullman.

Both creatives extensively worked together to rewrite the role to fit the actor.

“I met up with Lewis back in L.A. and we were scrambling because I think we were maybe a month out at that point,” Schreier told The New York Times.

"I basically gave him the oral history of Thunderbolts because I wasn’t allowed to give him the script, but it’s like, 'I will tell you the whole story, I will show you the concept art, I’ll show you the animatics.”

“I just really tried to show him how interesting the character could be and why it would be worth taking that leap."

"Lewis absolutely got to be part of the development, and he and Florence worked on the scenes," he continued. “We rewrote stuff, made it work better and fit the role to him."

Pullman will assemble with the rest of the Avengers as he returns to the Sentry role in Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled for release in cinemas on 1st May, 2026.