Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have been discussing which recast in the Disney franchise was the worst, and it seems they came to a unanimous decision pretty quickly.
There have been a lot of great recasting decisions in the MCU, such as replacing Terrence Howard’s War Machine with Don Cheadle is probably the standout pick, but there have probably been more bad recasts overall.
Seems everyone has decided on which recast was the worst however, based on the comments in a thread over on the r/marvelstudios subreddit.
"Now, the worst recast was replacing Emma Fuhrmann," commented user Laniger.
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"It was just unfair, specially after her scene in Endgame, it was so emotional and had so much chemistry with Paul."
“It wouldn't have been so bad if Kathryn Newton was actually good in the role," replied user Regenitor.
"But sadly her performance was remarkably average and I do wish they'd just stuck to Fuhrmann for continuity. Her and Newton don't look anything alike, so that was distracting.”
In case you’re missing the context here, Cassie Lang’s second actor Emma Fuhrmann (who appeared in Avengers: Endgame) was replaced by Kathryn Newton for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Why exactly Fuhrmann was replaced is unknown, although Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s director Peyton Reed supposedly stated that he wanted an actor “who could really hang with Paul Rudd and sort of not be left in the dust” on the film’s DVD commentary.
If we’re being honest though, I think it was just because Kathryn Newton is just a bit more famous than Emma Fuhrmann. Disney likely wanted a face that would bring in more money to stick on the film’s posters.
I do think the commenters here are overlooking the actual worst recast in the MCU, though; Josh Dallas getting swapped out for Zachary Levi in the role of Fandral in Thor: The Dark World.
Ignoring the fact that Levi has now pivoted into being some kind of right-wing grifter, I just think Dallas was better. Dallas pulled off the goofier side of Fandral in a way that just sort of felt inauthentic when Levi did it.