MCU Just Recast a Major Actor, and None of Us Noticed

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe spanning across countless movies, television shows, video games, and comics, it is perhaps unsurprising that the occasional actor will pop up more than once and that is most certainly the case for one new release.

Although it is impossible to know the number of actors who have starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the years, it is estimated to be well over 200 and so it would make sense that many of them would take on the role of multiple characters, seemingly without us noticing.

That is the case for Natasha Lyonne who recently took on the role of an original character known as Rachel Rozman in the recently released The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Rozman is a teacher at both the school and synagogue in Ben Grimm’s childhood neighbourhood and, as a result, the pair become close with the echoes of a romance in the pipeline.

Although Lyonne only has a few scenes, she still played a standout part and had some viewers wondering where they had seen her before.

Well, it turns out that the actress has previously appeared in the MCU, more specifically in What If…? season three where she plays a superhero named Byrdie.

For those who don’t know, Byrdie is the hybrid offspring of Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis and Seth Green's Howard the Duck and if you are unfamiliar with this particular superhero, it makes sense considering she was created for the show and is not in the Marvel Comics.

Of course, it is easy to not make the connection considering that What If…? is an animated television show and so we only hear Lyonne’s voice but it is interesting to learn that she is no stranger to the Marvel world.

Lyonne is not the first to take on multiple roles in the MCU with actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Gemma Chan, Seth Green, Kenneth Choi, Michelle Yeoh and Paul Bettany starring in more than one project.

For example, Bettany became the iconic voice of JARVIS in 2008’s Iron Man and beyond but later took on the role of Vision in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Being a Marvel fan really is a full time job.