On-screen, Marvel’s leading stars are tasked with embodying heroic pillars of society, but ironically while maintaining the House of Ideas’ deepest, darkest secrets, these same stars have to commit some minor sins. Countless times over the past 15 years of the MCU, the franchise’s cast members have had to lie over and over again in order to avoid getting an angry email from Kevin Feige.
Infamously, many totally fail to lie and spoil Marvel’s secrets left, right, and center, with some of the more loose-lipped MCU actors including Alfred Molina, Mark Ruffalo, and on occasion Tom Holland. Still, many have successfully compromised their ethics while towing the company line, usually to avoid confirming their casting in the first place or else to hide an upcoming return.
From master-fibber Andrew Garfield to recent perjurers like Harrison Ford, here are 10 Marvel actors who’ve proven their words can’t always be trusted.
Paul Rudd
What, America’s favorite immortal Paul Rudd, a liar? I’m afraid so. Way back in 2013, the future Avengers: Endgame star was asked during a public red-carpet appearance if he was in talks with Marvel to play the astonishing shrinking superhero. “It’s all rumor, man,” Rudd replied. When the interviewer pressed for more, Rudd added, “Not as far as I know, sorry.” Meanwhile, he’d probably just gotten off the phone with Kevin Feige.
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch has a long history of having to keep secrets about iconic roles, including lying about playing Khan in Star Trek into Darkness, so he was a dab hand at spreading disinformation around by the time he came to be in the running to play Doctor Strange. When asked which comic book hero he’d liked to portray at Comic-Con 2013, Cumberbatch’s jokey answer was “Nurse Normal.” See what he did there? The British star then attempted to backtrack by saying, “That was a joke. I’m not Doctor Strange.” Cumberbatch was officially announced as the MCU’s Stephen Strange just a few months later.
Brie Larson
Just a month prior to her big unveiling as our Carol Danvers at Comic-Con 2016, Brie Larson offered an absolute tour-de-force of interview acting when asked if she was playing Captain Marvel. “Who is Captain Marvel?” Larson hit back, apparently genuinely puzzled. “Isn’t that a man?” After mixing up Captains Marvel and America, Larson claimed “I have no idea what I’m talking about.” And this, people, is why she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Hailee Steinfeld
Remember how long Hailee Steinfeld was rumored to be playing Kate Bishop for before Hawkeye actually became a thing? Thanks to the pandemic, the Dickinson star had to endure exclusive-hungry interviewers for a more protracted period than most Marvel stars, leading her to outright lie on a bunch of occasions. In fact, Steinfeld was so determined to keep the secret that she carried on denying the truth even when it had already been reported. Although the news came out in September 2019, when asked about playing Kate that November, she responded: “That’s not something that’s necessarily happening.”
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart, genuine acting legend and knight of the realm, went and lied straight to our faces while trying to avoid giving away his cameo as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Employing the same tactic that Brie Larson had done before him, Stewart feigned total ignorance when asked about it, saying “Who’s Doctor Strange?” The only problem? Marvel had already released a trailer featuring Stewart’s actual voice. These days, of course, Stewart seems happy enough to spill the beans.
Tatiana Maslany
Although her on-screen alter ego Jennifer Walters would never encourage her clients to lie under oath, Tatiana Maslany did just that when attempting to wriggle out of the rumors she was starring in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. “That actually isn’t a real thing and it’s like a press release that’s gotten out of hand,” the actress stressed in October 2020. It’s totally not — I’ve been connected to these things in the past and the press has gotten onto it, but it’s not actually a thing, unfortunately.”
So why didn’t fans believe her? Because her casting had already been widely reported back in September.
Charlie Cox
For years there, it seemed like we might’ve seen the last of Charlie Cox as Daredevil, but nowadays we know he’s very much back in the swing of things, following his grand return in Spider-Man: No Way Home, followed by She-Hulk and the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again. So, yes, Cox definitely lied to us on multiple occasions about knowing nothing about an MCU comeback. But he actually didn’t lie quite as often as you might think. As he said in February 2022:
“For years, I have been asked questions about returning as Daredevil, and the genuine truth was I 100% assumed that was gone, that ship had just sailed. I didn’t hear from any of the folks at Marvel for a couple of years. It does now look like I was lying for a long time, I actually wasn’t, I was only lying for a little bit of time. You still don’t want to spoil it for people.”
Andrew Garfield
And now we come to the king of all mendacious Marvel actors. There was absolutely no convincing us that Andrew Garfield wasn’t returning as his Peter Parker in No Way Home and yet Garfield tried as hard as he could to do so. In fact, the actor pretty much elevated telling fibs in interviews to an art form. When that set photo of him literally wearing the Spidey suit again leaked, Garfield told Jimmy Fallon it was “a Photoshop.” The man even created his own meme by claiming that “he’s not the werewolf” in multiple press appearances.
On why he went so hard in pulling the wool over our eyes, Garfield later admitted, “I’m a very competitive person, so when I’m gonna play a game, I’m gonna play to win.”
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is set to make his MCU debut in summer 2024’s Captain America: Brave New World, so while we can’t 100 percent confirm he’s already lied about his role, it certainly looks that way. When asked if his recast Thaddeus Ross is going to transform into Red Hulk, Ford followed in Brie Larson and Patrick Stewart’s footsteps by asking “What is a Red Hulk?”
While we might be inclined to believe Ford, who is likely to be as equally uninterested in the minutiae of the Marvel universe as he is with Star Wars, a set pic shared by Anthony Mackie depicts Ford in a ripped pair of pants, suggesting some Hulk action is in his future.
Cobie Smulders
Secret Invasion surprised us all with its shocking premiere episode cliffhanger, which featured the apparent death of Maria Hill. Although everyone was convinced there was a twist coming, Cobie Smulders told Variety “it feels like the end” of her tenure as her Marvel character. Well, we’ve just learned that the HIMYM star is already reprising her role in the next season of Disney’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. So that rather suggests Smulders is stretching the truth here when it comes to the widespread rumors she’s returning for The Marvels, which the actress has likewise denied. I guess you can’t decry Smulders for trying to keep her potential imminent secret invasion of The Marvels a surprise.
