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Black Widow
- Yelena Belova, the other Black Widow appears, even when she seemed to be Adapted Out apart from a Mythology Gag with Natasha looking like her as a blonde in Avengers: Infinity War.
- The main villain of the movie? Taskmaster. He's always been an Ensemble Dark Horse, but never was he hinted at to appear in the MCU, and he's never been a specific villain for Black Widow.
- The Red Guardian, which is the Soviet equivalent to Captain America, makes a surprise appearance since he's obscure and fell Out of Focus after the real world fall of the Soviet Union.
- While Melina Vostokoff a.k.a. Iron Maiden was a Black Widow-villain she only appeared in a handful of comic issues and isn't very well-known. The movie makes her a part of Natasha's surrogative family, making Melina an In Name Only version of the character.
- "Dreykov's daughter" was first mentioned by Loki in dialogue with Black Widow in The Avengers when they discuss the red in Natasha's ledger. No more context was given to that mysterious character. Few would have expected back than that Black Widow would get her own movie nearly a decade after that conversation in which both Dreykov and his daughter would be the main antagonists.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Shang-Chi is another one. He's obscure and was never even mentioned beforehand as a possibility, yet is set to headline his own standalone movie. There was also the fact that, in the comics, Shang-Chi is the son of the infamous Fu Manchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel losing the rights to Fu Manchu. To remedy this, Marvel Studios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the Big Bad and Shang-Chi's father for this movie.
- The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the Big Bad for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Not only does he not have any connections to Shang-Chi, let alone that of father and son, in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's Arch-Enemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was Put on a Bus after Iron Man 3 and All Hail the Kingnote , especially since Iron Man died in Avengers: Endgame. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's Yellow Peril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Marvel Studios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? Not only was this Mandarin the real Mandarin - not the Trevor Slattery version - but he has his trademark powered rings.
- Not only that Marvel revealed Xu Wenwu as the real Mandarin to make up the controversial Iron Man 3-twist that the "Mandarin" really was an actor named Trevor Slattery - that character was also brought back in that movie after being being kidnapped by the Ten Rings in the short All Hail the King . With Trevor's actor being no one less than high-profile actor Ben Kingsley it is surprising they had hidden his involvement from marketing and it only became known when Kingsley attended on the premiere.
- On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected Actor. In this film, the Mandarin is played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Marvel Studios' intentions of appealing to the Chinese market are understandable, casting Leung of all actors was quite a surprise.
- Nobody was expecting Emil Blonsky/The Abomination to make an appearance anywhere before his already surprising return in She-Hulk.
- Wong appearing in the film's second trailer (fighting the aforementioned Abomination) was also a big surprise, since he mostly appears as a side character in the Avengers and Doctor Strange films, and has little connection to Shang-Chi overall.
Eternals
- No one was expecting a movie about The Eternals, given their obscurity. It makes sense, as their status as being a race of superpowered beings in a hidden city fills the void of The Inhumans after their movie was cancelled and their TV show flopped.
- Even less expected: The Black Knight, of all characters, as a supporting character. While he did have a relationship with Sersi - one of the main Eternals - in the comics, his fantasy background would have been a little too much out of place in a movie featuring cosmic-level superhumans. This became doubly true when it was leaked just prior to D23 that Kit Harington had been cast in a secret role for an undisclosed MCU film. A large number of fans and websites assumed that given his high visibility thanks to the popularity of Game of Thrones, he would be playing a big name Marvel character like Reed Richards, or even Wolverine in an X-Men reboot. Very, very few people guessed that he'd be playing Black Knight, a C-list Avenger who hadn't even been prominent in the comics for a great many years.
- In another case of an unexpected actor, the news that Gemma Chan would be playing Sersi despite having already played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel just two years earlier also caught many off guard. While there had already been a few cases of actors from Marvel's TV shows portraying different characters in the movies and vice versanote , this was probably the most prominent example of an actor playing two wholly unrelated characters in the films.
- Eros/Starfox, who appears in the mid-credits scene, took several people by surprise, as the character is introduced well after the death of his brother Thanos. Likewise with Pip the Troll, who's more closely associated in the comics with Adam Warlock.
- Even fewer people were expecting an early-bird Voice-Only Cameo from Mahershala Ali as Blade in the post-credits scene, as the character has nothing to do with the Eternals and not much to do with the Black Knight.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Try Unexpected Universes. Though it was a poorly-kept secret that the film would involve the multiverse, what shocked fans the most, especially when it was proven true with the first trailer, that it would go back to the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series. We had our first inklings of this when news of Jamie Foxx being casted as Electro again and again with Alfred Molina being casted as Doctor Octopus once more. The trailer proved these not only to be true, but that they were their original film counterparts. Even more so, the trailer hints that Willem Dafoe will reprise his role as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. And the second trailer confirmed Sandman and the Lizard, still played by Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans!
- While the trailer revealed the arrival of villains, it did not reveal the presence of Tobey Maguire's or Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man iterations. Also making a surprise appearance was Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock.
- Despite the deal between Marvel and Sony regarding the rights of Spider-Man, Sony still produces movies with Spider-Man-related characters, set in a different universe. So people where surprised when The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage showed Tom Hardy's Venom being transported in the MCU. Likewise, MCU-fans that haven't seen that movie were probably taken by surprise when the stinger of No Way Home featured Eddie Brock and the symbiote, despite them not appearing in the actual plot of the movie.
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
- Gargantos makes a surprise appearance during the teaser, where they are shown fighting Strange and his allies, despite the fact that they are an obscure enemy of Namor who only had two appearances in the comics. What's more surprising is how similar they look to the popular Dr. Strange villain Shuma-Gorath, who they are presumably taking the role of here.
- The film marks the MCU debut of America Chavez, a character who has little, if any, connection to Strange in the comics — though the movie explicitly being about the multiverse does make her involvement logical, since her whole deal is inter-dimensional travel.
- The Illuminati making an appearance was exciting enough for comic book fans, but the fact it's set in an alternate universe allowed for a rooster that is even more surprising:
- The first trailer reveals Professor X from the X-Men Film Series, Still played by Patrick Stewart. it's safe to say that no one saw anyone from that series making a reappearance.
- Come the movie, there is Black Bolt as part of the Illuminati, which even if he was a founding member in the comics, was a shock as the movie side of the MCU ignored the Inhumans, and he is downright played by the same Anson Mount of the unsuccessful TV show.
- Reed Richards making an appearance before his team's debut was enough of a surprise for most but what makes it especially surprising is that he is portrayed by John Krasinski who was an extremely popular fan choice, so popular in fact that many initially dismissed it because Marvel Studios is usually known for casting actors who are either not well known or are initially seen as a curveball pick.
- While the involvement of Chiwetel Ejiofor wasn't a big surprise as Doctor Strange had a stinger showing his character Mordo on a dark path, the unexpected part was he was playing an alternate version of the character who is both Sorcerer Surpreme and a member of the Illuminati, while the Sequel Hook from the first movie was solved off-screen.
- After What If...? debuted Captain Carter, a variant of Agent Carter as super soldier, few expected to see Hayley Atwell to portray a live-action version of the character, save one that joined the Illuminati.
- A variant of Captain Marvel in the Illuminati is a surprise on and for itself, but while some sepculated it might be Monica Rambeau, it's actually her mother, played by Lashana Lynch, who never was a superhero in the comics and died off-screen before the events of WandaVision.
- The mid-credit scene has the appearance of Clea, who while an important character in the comics, is mostly involved in the Dark Dimension, which was already covered in the first movie.
Thor: Love and Thunder
- The return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder. While Portman's surprise cameo in Endgame had indicated that she and Marvel had possibly mended fences after her previous Creator Backlash over the way Thor: The Dark World turned out, her return to the Thor franchise still took many fans by surprise. Especially after the way Jane had been rather dismissively written out of the series via a single throwaway line in Ragnarok.
- And then it was announced that not only would Jane make her return in that movie, it was also announced at the same time that this movie would loosly adapt Jason Aaron's acclaimed Thor-run with Jane as new female Thor. To see Portman actually train to portray Jane as "The Mighty Thor" was also rather unexpected for many fans.
- When Russell Crowe joined the cast, no one was expecting him to announce that he’s playing Greek God Zeus. For one thing, most fans thought that it would have been too excessive having two iconic pantheons in European mythology (Norse for Thor, and Greek for Zeus) in the MCU.note
- The credits scenes have one character who is a lesser surprise, Hercules, given Zeus made many conclude his hero son was the natural extension... and then there's Heimdall, welcoming Jane into Valhalla.
Werewolf By Night
- The character of Werewolf by Night has always been minor if recurring presence in the comics so centering an entire Halloween special around it is a bit surprising to say the least.
- Man-Thing has had some small mentions in other MCU productions so it's not shocking that he would eventually appear, especially in a Halloween special. A Halloween special focusing on Werewolf By Night though? Now that's surprising.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- While a Disney+-series about Riri Williams a.k.a. Ironheart was announced in 2021, the fact the character would make her MCU-debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was quite surprising giving there's no connection between the two characters in the comic books.
- Countess Valentina makes an unexpected return before her announced one assembling the Thunderbolts, specially as it's revealed she's both the director of the CIA and Everett Ross's ex-wife!
- Killmonger's reapparance in the Ancestral Plane served as an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.
- The Stinger introduces Shuri and the audience to T'Challa's previously unknown son with Nakia. T'Challa has no known child in the main-continuity in the comics, so The Reveal comes as a surprise to many.
The Guardians Of the Galaxy Holiday Special
- While Peter Quill's love for Kevin Bacon was constantly brought up in previous movies, the latter actually starring As Himself in this holiday special still comes as a surprise.
- Yondu Udonta makes an appearance in this special, during an animated flashback explaining how he ruined christmas for Peter. Later, it is revealed he didn't and we got a heartwarming moment between young Quill and Yondu. More surprising than Michael Rooker returning for the special is that his appearance is completly animated, probably as a Homage to another famous holiday special about a bunch of beloved space characters.
