Coming hot on the heels of a certain other jaw-dropping MCU casting shake-up, Steven Yeun is officially out of Thunderbolts, the anti-hero team-up movie that will serve as Marvel’s big summer tentpole in July 2025.
The Oscar-nominated actor confirmed the news himself, following widespread reports, while speaking to Variety. “I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun explained, regarding his reasons for walking away from the project. “But Jake [Schreier, director], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”
The good news is that Yeun stressed he is hopeful his time in the MCU could still come. “I wanna do a Marvel movie,” he maintained, before adding that he already has some things in mind, although he’s keeping those under his hat for now. “I have some ideas,” he said. “But I heard if you put it out there, you’ll never get it, so I’ll keep it close to my chest.”
Although this was never formally announced, Yeun was believed to be on board Thunderbolts as the Sentry. But as he’s no longer attached to the film, who else could he go on to play if Marvel is willing to take him back?
Sentry
Hold up, you might be thinking, how can Steven Yeun go on to play the Sentry when the Sentry is who he was probably going to play in Thunderbolts? Surely he’s lost out on the opportunity and the role will be recast? Well, yes, that is one possibility, but the superpowerful hero is in a similar position now to Kang, following Jonathan Majors’ firing. Will the character be recast or simply removed from the project?
It may be too late in the day to rewrite Thunderbolts‘ script to take out Sentry, but supposing that Marvel was very keen for Yeun to play the part then it’s possible execs would want to preserve his casting at all costs. Depending on how much faith the studio has in Thunderbolts, or at least how big a plan it has for the hero, then Sentry could always be taken out of the film and reinserted in the sequel or else the Avengers film formerly known as The Kang Dynasty.
Mr. Fantastic
As of writing, we are in January 2024, with Fantastic Four due to release in May 2025, and we somehow still don’t have any official casting announcements for Marvel’s First Family. If you believe the rumors, Kevin Feige’s been sitting on a confirmed cast for months, but — to do my best Watcher impression for a moment — what if Marvel’s actually dragging its feet on announcing the cast because it still isn’t set in stone yet?
If that’s the case, and Marvel and Yeun are equally as keen to work together as soon as possible, then it’s not out of the question that he actor could waltz into the next MCU project to come along and land a leading role in Fantastic Four. The internet got pretty excited when Pedro Pascal was reported to be in talks to play Reed Richards in November, but it’s worth pointing out this was never official. The door is still open for Yeun to come out of left-field and shock us all by snapping up the role.
Hyperion
Sentry’s a difficult character to summarize, but he’s typically described as Marvel’s answer to Superman. This isn’t all that fair, as he’s more interesting than that, but in terms of his power-levels it’s understandable. Likewise, something about playing superheroes who could go toe-to-toe with Kal-El appeals to Yeun, going by his role in the Invincible series. In that case, how about he joins the MCU as Marvel’s other answer to Superman, Hyperion.
Hyperion would be a gift to the Multiverse Saga as various different variants of the character have been introduced in the comics, with Hyperion either being a hero or villain depending on the universe he’s from. The original was a dark twist on the Superman archetype, serving as the leader of the Squadron Sinister (the Justice League in all but name), before a heroic counterpart was introduced who led the Squadron Supreme. It would be ironic if Marvel adapted its own Justice League before James Gunn’s DC got around to debuting the real thing.
Cyclops
We all know the biggest new Marvel Studios IP that’s coming around the corner. The X-Men are on their way to the MCU! For the moment, the studio seems content to simply bring back old Fox favorites, like Hugh Jackman and co. appearing in Deadpool 3, but before long a rebooted team of mutant heroes hailing from Earth-616 will have to enter the fray. Some even believe this will be the thrust of what’s to come after the Multiverse Saga, a theorized Mutant Saga.
There are various X-Men characters Yeun could be well-suited for, then, but he’d certainly be an intriguing choice for Cyclops. It all depends on how Marvel wishes to portray these characters, but after Fox focused on a younger line-up for its last few movies, it might be beneficial to go for a veteran X-Men team again. Yeun could be fascinating as a 40-year-old Scott Summers who’s seen it all, and perhaps has already lost his wife Jean Grey, drawing from the darker depictions of Cyclops in the comics.
The Beyonder
It’s interesting that Yeun is part of Invincible and was part of Thunderbolts, as both are more subversive, darker twists on superhero fiction, which suggests it wouldn’t take too much persuading for him to switch a heroic role for a villain. In which case, with Jonathan Majors no longer at Marvel, the all-important part of the Beyonder in Avengers: Secret Wars is sitting right there.
Although common wisdom has it that Doctor Doom will become the new big bad in Kang’s wake, it’s worth pointing out that it’s hard to do a Secret Wars adaptation without getting the Beyonder, one of the most cosmically powerful characters in Marvel’s pantheon, in there somewhere. Previously, many assumed the Beyonder would be retconned as a Kang variant, allowing for Majors to take up the role, but now who could play him is anyone’s guess.
An all-powerful god with a childlike understanding of morality, an actor of Yeun’s caliber would have lots to chew on with a character like the Beyonder, and the star’s desire to appear in a Marvel movie would no doubt be satisfied if he could land a gig in what will surely be the biggest MCU film since Avengers: Endgame. I’m just saying, watch this space.
