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One actor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe was brought into the franchise thanks to Vince Vaughn’s low-budget slasher film. Despite maintaining 1 continuity throughout the majority of its run, the MCU is not immunue to casting changes. Its earliest instance was when Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Rhodey in Iron Man 2, followed by Mark Ruffalo taking over the Hulk from Edward Norton in The Avengers.
Since then, there have been more instances of actor changes in the franchise. To Marvel Studios’ credit, however, they have been able to make the recasts work, although, as expected, some have been more divisive than others. When the Infinity Saga and Multiverse Saga kicked off, the MCU started experiencing more changes in their casting department, which included one in Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania.
ScreenRant‘s Jordan Williams was at CCXP when Kathryn Newton revealed that she was brought into play Cassie Lang in Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania thanks to Vince Vaughn’s film, Freaky. She played Millie Kessler in the film, which was released in 2020. Considering that Newton was nominated in the 1st Critics Choice Super Awards both for Best Actress in a Horror Movie and Best Villain in a Movie, it makes sense why Feige wanted to cast her.
For context, the character was originally played by Abby Ryder Fortson as a young girl in the first two Ant-Man films. When the five-year time-jump happened in Avengers: Endgame and Marvel Studios needed a significantly older actor to play the role during her emotional reunion with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, Emma Fuhrmann took over the role. Instead of bringing her back for the 2023 film, however, Marvel Studios tapped Newton for a recast.
When the highly-creative Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal happened back in the spring of 2025, Newton’s name wasn’t among the names confirmed for the film. The Joe and Anthony Russo-MCU comeback project is already expected to bring in faces from both the main Marvel Stdudios franchise and the Fox-produced entity that mostly pre-dated it. Because of that, it’s possible that Feige and Disney’s marketing team simply opted to focus on the more veteran superhero actors for the promo and save the reveal for the supporting cast later.
In any case, the unconventional Avengers: Doomsday trailer release might confirm Cassie’s involvement, especially since her father will be in the film. There are also rumors that she and the rest of the Young Avengers — at least those who have already been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will also be featured. After all, they are expected to be some of the next generation of characters in the series.
