Before Robert Downey Jr's Comeback, These Were The 8 Weirdest Marvel Character Returns In The MCU

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Though Robert Downey Jr"s announced return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was unexpected, the franchise had actually seen characters return in weird ways several times before. Throughout the MCU’s movie timeline, the franchise has established itself as one of the biggest and most ambitious shared universes ever created. Not only has the MCU been truly groundbreaking in its approach to adapting Marvel Comics to the big screen, but it has introduced a wealth of characters along the way, with many actors brought in to bring them to life.
Even though the movies of the MCU continue to bring in new characters, the return of familiar faces is often on the cards. However, on occasion, the franchise’s manner of reintroducing characters or actors is unexpected. Sometimes, character or actor returns in the MCU have even been downright strange, serving as significant and even comical departures from their previous appearances. With that in mind, here are the 8 weirdest Marvel character returns in the MCU.
8 Moon Knight Became A Mech-Avenger What If...?, season 3, episode 1, "What If... the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?" Close After making his debut in the Disney+ series of the same name, Moon Knight was markedly absent from subsequent MCU releases. In fact, after Moon Knight’s ending, the character was not so much as mentioned in the franchise, despite being one of the MCU’s most powerful heroes to be introduced after the events of Avengers: Endgame. However, Moon Knight made an unexpected return in season 3 of What If...?, serving as a member of the Mech Avengers alongside various other heroes.
Moon Knight’s return in the animated MCU TV show was nothing at all like anyone expected his next appearance would be. Given that the hero was established as a powerful figure possessing varied abilities and with a future storyline teased in Moon Knight’s final moments, a more robust follow-up was generally expected. As such, seeing Moon Knight unceremoniously return in Multiverse form was a strange revelation, albeit a welcome sign that the franchise had not forgotten one of its newest heroes.
7 Peggy Carter Returned As A Super Soldier Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) Close Despite being a hugely important supporting character to one of the MCU’s founding Avengers, Peggy Carter was not afforded a huge amount of screen time in the MCU’s major releases. After appearing in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, she was only briefly glimpsed in flashback scenes and other cameo appearances due to Steve Rogers being unfrozen decades after the pair met. After Steve’s ending saw him retire into the past to share a life with Peggy, it seemed that her MCU story had come to an end.
However, Peggy Carter then reappeared as part of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, with her variants serving a consistently important heroes in other realities. Both What If...? and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness brought Carter back with the additional abilities afforded to her by the super soldier serum. Captain Carter’s return to the MCU was a perfect way to keep the character alive within the franchise, although it certainly wasn’t the way many expected to see her again.
6 Trevor Slattery Returned After Years Of Imprisonment Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) Close Though the character was seemingly first introduced in Iron Man 3 in 2013, the Mandarin did not make a true appearance in the MCU until much later. This is because Iron Man 3’s Mandarin was actually one of the franchise’s most notorious plot twists, with the villain being revealed as an actor named Trevor Slattery posing as a fictional warlord. The real Mandarin was confirmed in the one-shot All Hail the King, which seemed to bring Trevor Slattery’s story to an organic end.
When the Mandarin was fully introduced in the cast of Shang-Chi, it came with the unanticipated addition of Trevor Slattery’s return. After using the character to execute one of the franchise’s most reviled twists, Slattery’s appearance was not how many expected Shang-Chi to handle Iron Man 3’s mishandling of the Mandarin. It was a bizarre return for a character that many hated, though using Trevor as comic relief actually turned out to work well in Shang-Chi"s favor.
5 Thanos Returned As A Cosmic Bartender What If...?, season 1, episode 2, "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" Close As the MCU’s most substantial major villain to date, Thanos remains a hugely important figure within the franchise’s timeline. His role in the Infinity Saga effectively necessitated the formation of the Avengers, and also saw popular heroes die in order to stop him. Avengers: Endgame’s epic conclusion saw Thanos die after being beaten by the MCU’s heroes, marking the end to his story within the franchise. However, Thanos was another character to return in a strange way thanks to the Multiversal narrative of What If...?.
After serving as a cosmic-level threat throughout the Infinity Saga, the Mad Titan’s return was bizarrely understated. Instead of reappearing as a major character or even an important figure, Thanos returned as a cosmic bartender who had been reformed by his early interactions with a Multiverse variant of T’Challa. Seeing the Infinity Saga’s unforgettable villain having been so simply pacified by a single hero was odd, and it was an incredibly strange way to have brought the Mad Titan back from the dead.
4 Abomination Returned As A Hippy She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (2022) Close As one of the first villains introduced into the MCU, Abomination was, unsurprisingly, not the franchise’s most exciting antagonist. With The Incredible Hulk debuting at a time when the MCU was still working out the identity of its shared universe, Tim Roth’s villain was far from perfect, though still offered up a reasonably entertaining approximation of the character from the comics. As the majority of The Incredible Hulk’s characters were summarily forgotten by the MCU in the years that followed, Abomination’s return was not hugely anticipated.
After a cage-fighting cameo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Abomination returned as part of the cast of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Having been reformed, the villain returned as a far friendlier character, who later goes on to establish his own anger management support group. Bringing back a rage-fueled mercenary as a free-spirited guidance counselor was undeniably a surprising development, although it was one that used both the character and the actor to their full comedic potential.
3 Chris Evans Came Back As A Sh*t-Talking Johnny Storm Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Close When he was first cast as Captain America in the MCU, Chris Evans was no stranger to comic book movies. He had already appeared in numerous comic book adaptations and superhero stories, most notably as the Human Torch in 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. His turn as Captain America went on to make him one of the most important and popular characters in the MCU’s Infinity Saga, which ended with his peaceful retirement at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
Many suspected Evans might return to the MCU via the Multiverse, with most believing that Steve Rogers would reappear in Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars. However, Evans then appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine, faking out the audience by actually playing a foul-mouthed Johnny Storm. Reprising his most unpopular Marvel movie role was a strangely perfect way to utilize Evans’ comedic talents, and set up one of Deadpool & Wolverine’s funniest moments.
2 Liv Tyler Returned For... Very Little Reason Captain America: Brave New World (2025) Close After making her MCU debut in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross was one of the franchise’s most notably absent supporting characters. Her romantic connection with Bruce Banner was more than just forgotten; it was not mentioned at all. In many ways, the MCU’s Hulk moved on from Betty, and she seemed to have been completely dropped from the franchise. That is, until rumors surrounding Captain America: Brave New World involved the apparent return of Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, prompting anticipation over how the MCU would handle her reappearance.
As it turned out, the franchise did not handle Betty Ross’s return particularly well at all. Liv Tyler’s surprising return did indeed happen in the cast of Captain America: Brave New World, although the Hulk was not present in the movie and Banner was not directly involved in any of its narrative. Betty herself only appeared in a brief cameo, and played no real part in the film, making her return seem altogether pointless on multiple levels.
1 Corey Stoll's MODOK Still Defies Belief Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) Close Corey Stoll first appeared in the MCU in 2015’s Ant-Man, where he played the movie’s main antagonist, Darren Cross. The movie saw him recreate Hank Pym’s formula for Pym Particles, using it to power his own Yellowjacket suit and setting him up as the first nemesis for Scott Lang as the hero Ant-Man. The movie ended with Cross’s apparent death, when his damaged suit malfunctioned and trapped him in the Quantum Realm.
As a result, the reveal of Stoll’s return in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was not entirely unexpected, but the manner of his appearance certainly was. Instead of playing Yellowjacket once more, Stoll’s villain had instead been transformed into the villain MODOK by the Quantum Realm, considerably rewriting both characters’ stories for the MCU. The bizarre handling of two characters in one single decision remains one of the strangest character returns in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as one of the franchise’s most baffling choices.
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