After its 2023 was subsumed by the shadow of Jonathan Majors and his legal drama, Marvel Studios likely hoped to keep any casting woes away from the spotlight heading into 2024. Unfortunately, just days into the year, the MCU has been hit once again by a shock exit from a major A-list actor.
Thanks to the actors and writers’ strikes, Marvel’s 2024 release slate is a lot sparser than planned, with July’s Deadpool 3 the only movie from the studio coming out over the next 12 months. One of several films delayed into 2025 is Thunderbolts, previously due for this December. The anti-hero team-up flick is set to feature the returns of many familiar faces, such as Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, and Wyatt Russell, but it was also supposed to include the much-anticipated Marvel debut of Oscar-nominated star Steven Yeun.
Not anymore, though.
The MCU’s summer 2025 tentpole just lost its biggest new star and may deprive Marvel of its most powerful hero yet
As first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Yeun (Minari, NOPE) is believed to have parted ways with Marvel and will no longer be starring in Thunderbolts. Details on exactly why this has happened are thin on the ground at present, but it’s assumed to be simply a case of scheduling conflicts arising due to the delay in filming caused by the strikes. Thunderbolts was originally set to shoot last summer but is now scheduled to go before cameras in either March or April.
Like Majors’ firing flung the fate of Kang into question, Yeun’s exit similarly leaves the introduction of the MCU’s new most powerful superhero up in the air. Although this was never officially confirmed, Yeun was widely reported to be playing the Sentry — Robert Reynolds is a complex figure from Marvel lore but basically he’s a hero with a power-set on a par with DC’s Superman. Fans have been eagerly awaiting seeing him in live-action for the first time ever since Yeun was cast back in February 2023.
So, just as we don’t know whether Kang will be written out of the Multiverse Saga or else a new actor will be found to play him, we’re now left to wonder if the part of Sentry will simply be recast or if the character could be removed from Thunderbolts to allow Yeun to play him in another project when he’s got the time. On the one hand, if Yeun is replaced we’d lose out on a great bit of casting. On the other, Thunderbolts may get a lot less interesting without the Sentry’s inclusion.
Whatever happens, Marvel suffering from an eerie mirror of the Kang recasting conundrum a mere two weeks later is definitely not the best way to start the MCU’s 2024. Deadpool 3 can’t get here soon enough.
