It’s getting to the point where there are no actors left in Hollywood who don’t have a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Between all of the movies and the multiple seasons worth of various TV shows, you’d be forgiven for believing that they already cast every available actor in the city. Now, we have that much more evidence that this may be true. Marvel apparently now needs to reuse actors. Alfre Woodard will be making her MCU debut next month in Captain America: Civil War, and she also has a role in the upcoming Luke Cage series, but this won’t be a crossover, as they’re two separate roles.
Yesterday, we got curious when we learned that Alfre Woodard was in Captain America: Civil War. Her name hadn’t come up previously, but as part of the documentation sent out by Disney in preparation for the film’s world premiere, she was listed as being in the film. The name stood out because we also know that Woodard has been cast in the role of Mariah Dillard, for the Netflix series Luke Cage. It appeared we may be getting setup for one of the all too rare crossovers of characters between the movie and television worlds. It would make some sense as Dillard is a politician and Civil War deals with government oversight of heroes. However, Screen Crush now reports that Woodard’s character in Civil War will not the same as her role in Luke Cage. The two apparently have no connection.
Minor Spoilers for Captain America: Civil War beyond this point
According to the report, Alfre Woodard’s character in Captain America: Civil War will be a small role as the mother of an American citizen who died in Sokovia during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Early in the film, she will confront Tony Stark and blame him for what happened to her son. It is apparently this exchange that convinces Tony that oversight, and the Sokovia Accords, are necessary.
When at first it appeared that this casting might give us a strong connection between the movie and television sides of the MCU, it now appears that the casting may actually show the separation between the two sides. It’s become an oft-repeated refrain that the movie and television divisions of Marvel don’t communicate much, the casting of the same actress for the two roles, in fairly close proximity to each other, shows that what one side is doing doesn’t have much of an impact on the decisions of the other. While Alfre Woodard isn’t the first actor to play two roles within the MCU, she is probably the most well known. In addition, her two roles will hit the screen less than six months apart from each. The Luke Cage series is the next big thing Marvel has planned after Captain America: Civil War, making the likelihood that viewers will recognize the actress all the more probable.
At the end of the day, however, the most important things are finding talented actors, who are available to do the work, right? How much do you think previous casting should be considered when Marvel is looking for people to fill new roles within the MCU?
