History UnexpectedCharacter / MarvelCinematicUniverse

Since Creator/MarvelStudios did not have access to their trinity of big franchises -- ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' (owned by Sony), ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' (owned by Fox), and ''ComicBook/XMen'' (also owned by Fox) -- but had a library of thousands of characters to adapt, they had to get creative when starting up a project as ambitious as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which practically necessitated their need to get creative with building the setting. As such, they started with setting up a slate to adapt ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' and went in wild directions from there.

!!TV Series not on Creator/DisneyPlus

Since Marvel Studios did not have access to their trinity of big franchises -- ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' (owned by Sony), ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' (owned by Fox), and ''ComicBook/XMen'' (also owned by Fox) -- but had a library of thousands of characters to adapt, they had to get creative when starting up a project as ambitious as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which practically necessitated their need to get creative with building the setting. As such, they started with setting up a slate to adapt ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' and went in wild directions from there.

!!Other TV series
* UnexpectedCharacter/MCUOtherTVSeries

[[folder:TV series not on Disney+]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', continuing the tradition of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. These include minor comic characters like [[spoiler:Deathlok, Graviton, Lorelei, Blizzard, Blackout, and some of ComicBook/TheInhumans, most notably Mister Hyde and Quake, who was main character Skye all along.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Most had Rosario Dawson pegged as Echo, White Tiger, or even Elektra. Nobody considered the possibility of her playing an a more obscure character such as Claire Temple.
** The introduction of the Punisher in season 2 was initially a surprise considering the poor reception to every previous attempt to bring him to the screen.
** Season 2 featured the reappearances of Wilson Fisk, Madame Gao, and Nobu, plus the appearance of Jeri Hogarth from ''Series/JessicaJones2015''. In these cases, Fisk and Gao had been sent away the previous season (in fact, Fisk's return was quite a major twist due to the fact that it was a complete surprise despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under these days; it helped that a lot of the marketing for season 2 revolved around the addition of the Punisher and Elektra), Nobu was seemingly killed, and Jeri Hogarth was from a different show, making them all a bit of a surprise to many viewers.
[[/folder]]

!!Phase 4
[[folder:WandaVision]]
* A few people that played smaller roles in various MCU films are set to appear ''Series/WandaVision'', a series revolving around two heroes that said characters have little to no connection to normally:
** Practically ''nobody'' was expecting Darcy Lewis to reappear in the MCU, given that she only appearred in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', where she was a CanonForeigner, and was thought to have been completely forgotten after the events of the latter movie.[[note]]Unlike Jane, whose absence was at least handwaved, Darcy didn't even warrant a single mention in ''Thor: Ragnarok''.[[/note]] Her appearance here is quite the shock, as Darcy has absolutely no relation to anything MCU-related outside of the Thor movies, much less Wanda and Vision.
** Given that he only appeared relatively recently as a side character in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', and has no connection whatsoever to Vision or Scarlet Witch in the comics, it's unlikely anyone ever expected Jimmy Woo to appear in this series as well.
** Comicbook/MonicaRambeau of all people plays a big role in this series. Like Woo, she was only introduced as early as ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' as a young, but as a bright kid during the events of that film. As such, this series shows her having grown up significantly since her debut, now played by [[TimeShiftedActor Time Shifted Actress]] Teyonah Parris.
** [[spoiler:Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver appearing was a shock since he died in ''Age of Ultron'' but hadn't been seen since...but that's not the unexpected part. What's most unexpected is that he's ''not'' played by Creator/AaronTaylorJohnson; he's played by ''Creator/EvanPeters'' aka ''Peter Maximoff'' from the FOX ''X-Men'' Film Series.]]

[[folder:The Falcon And The Winter Soldier]]
* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' has been revealed to include the Captain America foe Flag-Smasher, or at least a group who bears the same name as him. This is a minor surprise if only because of Flag-Smasher's relative obscurity and the fact that the series will already have Zemo take up the main villain role.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Black Widow]]
* Yelena Belova, the ''other'' Black Widow appears, even when she seemed to be AdaptedOut apart from a MythologyGag with Natasha looking like her as a blonde in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
* The main villain of the movie? ''ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}''. He's always been an EnsembleDarkhorse, 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 OutOfFocus after the real world fall of the Soviet Union.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings]]
* Comicbook/ShangChi 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 Literature/FuManchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel [[ExiledFromContinuity losing the rights to Fu Manchu]]. To remedy this, Creator/MarvelStudios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the BigBad for his movie.
* The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the BigBad for ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. Not only does he [[RoguesGalleryTransplant not have any connections to Shang-Chi]] in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's ArchEnemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was PutOnABus after ''Film/IronMan3'' and ''Film/AllHailTheKing''[[note]]Which establishes that neither Aldrich Killian or Trevor Slattery are the MCU's "definitive" Mandarin, and that there is a real, more comic-accurate Mandarin in the setting[[/note]], especially since Iron Man died in ''Avengers: Endgame''. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's YellowPeril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Creator/MarvelStudios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? This Mandarin will '''not''' be the Trevor Slattery version, but the ''real'' Mandarin.
* On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected ''Actor''. In this film, the Mandarin will be played by Creator/TonyLeung. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Creator/MarvelStudios' intentions of [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff appealing to the Chinese market]] are understandable, casting Leung [[DarkhorseCasting of all actors]] was quite a surprise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: What If...?]]
* While the character is associated heavily with the ''What If...?'' comics, and his species was introduced in ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'', Uatu the Watcher being confirmed as the narrator of the Disney+ series ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' is something that came as a surprise to a number of fans due to his association with the ''Fantastic Four'' IP, and by extension, those film rights. Most fans expected the characters to start being integrated at a much later point than 2021, in cameo capacities, but Uatu is lead character. Provided that there aren't any surprise cameos in the works preceding ''What If...?'', Uatu will become the first character from the Fox-Marvel library to be integrated into the MCU.[[note]]Although Ego the Living Planet was the first overall due to an agreement between Disney and Fox, Uatu is specifically tied to the Disney-Fox merger.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Eternals]]
* No one was expecting a movie about Comicbook/TheEternals, given their obscurity. It makes sense, as their status as being a race of superpowered beings in a hidden city fills the void of Comicbook/TheInhumans after their movie was cancelled.
** 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 [[FishOutOfWater out of place]] in a movie featuring cosmic-level superhumans. This became doubly true when it was leaked just prior to D23 that Creator/KitHarington 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 ''Series/GameOfThrones'', he would be playing a big name Marvel character like Reed Richards, or even ''Comicbook/{{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 Creator/GemmaChan 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 versa[[note]]Most notably Creator/AlfreWoodard, who played Mariah Dillard in ''Series/LukeCage2016'' and Miriam Sharpe in ''Captain America Civil War''.[[/note]], this was probably the most prominent example of an actor playing two wholly unrelated characters in the films.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Hawkeye]]
* ComicBook/KateBishop is set to debut in the ''Hawkeye'' series where she takes up Clint's mantle. Because she's rather recent, the rest of the Young Avengers haven't debuted yet, and many assumed that Clint's daughter Lila Barton would be the MCU's equivalent to Kate Bishop, it was a surprise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Spider-Man 3]]
* Creator/JamieFoxx will portray [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 Electro]] [[https://screenrant.com/spiderman-3-mcu-movie-villain-jamie-foxx-electro/ once again]] in the third ''Spider-Man'' movie, although it's not clear if this is a new iteration of the character (like with J. K. Simmons returning as J. Jonah Jameson) or if it's the same character from ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries''. (Foxx noted "I won't be blue in this one" in a now-deleted Instagram post, implying a new take on the character.) Aside from the casting, however, the character is unexpected given that the MCU has thus far strayed from reusing ''Spider-Man'' supervillains from TASM or [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Sam Raimi's trilogy]].[[note]]And though [[Film/SpiderMan3 Sandman]] was '''technically''' used in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', it was as an illusion from Mysterio that was technically named "Magnum", and the illusion never interacted with Spider-Man.[[/note]] Even fans who were rooting for them to use previous villains were expecting more iconic characters with deep-seated connections to Spider-Man -- like Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus -- to come first, making it surprising that a less influential villain would be confirmed to appear before them.
** Which is not to say that people weren't surprised [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-3-alfred-molina-returning-as-doctor-octopus when it was confirmed that]] Creator/AlfredMolina ''would'' be returning to play [[Film/SpiderMan2 Doctor Octopus]]. Nothing is confirmed, but between him and Jamie Foxx returning, speculation of a Multiverse story has run rampant.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Thor: Love and Thunder]]
* The return of Natalie Portman as Comicbook/JaneFoster 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 CreatorBacklash 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''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Moon Knight]]
* ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' getting his own series on Creator/DisneyPlus might just take the prize for least expected announcement in 2019. Not only is he a pretty damn small-time character in the comics with only a few short runs to his name, but the width of difference between those takes has left many people wondering what exactly they plan to do with him and what niche he's meant to fill going forward. Even those who ''were'' expecting him probably raised an eyebrow at him being added to Disney's proprietary streaming service given the Moon Knight mythos is packed to capacity with family-unfriendly content, to the point many expected that if he ''did'' show up it would be on Netflix with other shows based on similarly adult franchises.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: She-Hulk]]
* ''Comicbook/SheHulk'' getting her own Disney+ show wasn't on anyone's radar, due to the rights issues with Creator/{{Universal}} that have kept Bruce from having his own movie since Phase 1. To clarify, Universal holds the distribution rights to stand-alone Hulk movies while Disney [=/=] Marvel Studios can use the Hulk and his characters in ensemble projects such as the ''Avengers'' movies and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. How was this show able to get greenlit then? Simple: Marvel realized that [[LoopholeAbuse there was no rule]] against the Hulk and his characters appearing in a ''TV series''.
** Many fans were caught off guard when it was confirmed by Disney in late 2020 that the series would feature the return of Creator/TimRoth as the Abomination, who hasn't been seen since ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' all the way back in ''2008''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania]]
* [[https://deadline.com/2020/09/jonathan-majors-ant-man-3-marvel-universe-1203028234/ Kang the Conqueror will be the]] BigBad of the third Ant-Man movie, of all projects. While Kang the Conqueror has fought Ant-Man, normally it is done in the context of the Avengers comics, rather than in Ant-Man's solo comics. Likewise, most people thought that Kang's time-traveling nature would have made him a better fit for a future Avengers film than a street-level hero such as Ant-Man.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Blade]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Blade}}''. Outside of small whispers that were made sporadically, few expected he would headline a movie. It was thought that his DarkerAndEdgier nature and his deal with the supernatural, specifically the element that is the vampires, would keep him ''away'' from the MCU. This only made it all the more surprising when their SDCC 2019 presentation closed on the ''Blade'' announcement, indicating they were ''very'' aware of this.
** On an actor level, the reveal that Blade would be played by none other than Creator/MahershalaAli also shocked many fans, given he'd [[YouLookFamiliar already played an MCU character]] (Cottonmouth) in ''Series/LukeCage2016''.
[[/folder]]
!!Other TV series
[[folder:TV series not on Disney+]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', continuing the tradition of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. These include minor comic characters like [[spoiler:Deathlok, Graviton, Lorelei, Blizzard, Blackout, and some of ComicBook/TheInhumans, most notably Mister Hyde and Quake, who was main character Skye all along.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Most had Rosario Dawson pegged as Echo, White Tiger, or even Elektra. Nobody considered the possibility of her playing an a more obscure character such as Claire Temple.
** The introduction of the Punisher in season 2 was initially a surprise considering the poor reception to every previous attempt to bring him to the screen.
** Season 2 featured the reappearances of Wilson Fisk, Madame Gao, and Nobu, plus the appearance of Jeri Hogarth from ''Series/JessicaJones2015''. In these cases, Fisk and Gao had been sent away the previous season (in fact, Fisk's return was quite a major twist due to the fact that it was a complete surprise despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under these days; it helped that a lot of the marketing for season 2 revolved around the addition of the Punisher and Elektra), Nobu was seemingly killed, and Jeri Hogarth was from a different show, making them all a bit of a surprise to many viewers.
[[/folder]]

!!Phase 3

[[folder:Captain America: Civil War]]
* Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross appearing in the movie, as it had been eight years from his last appearance (and ''The Incredible Hulk'' is the OddballInTheSeries that rarely even gets referenced), reprised by Creator/WilliamHurt.
* Comicbook/SpiderMan makes his debut here, after a landmark deal between Marvel and Sony allowed him to appear in the MCU, which many didn't expect to ever happen.

[[folder:Doctor Strange]]
* Few were expecting that Creator/MadsMikkelsen would be playing Kaecilius, a servant of Baron Mordo, independently of him (as Mordo has been ''heavily'' reworked here).
* Christine Palmer is an obscure love-interest to Doctor Strange and many thought Rachel [=McAdams=] would be playing Clea instead.

[[folder:Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2]]
* It was known that a new member would join the team. It wasn't thought that the character would be ''Mantis'', who is very obscure even by franchise standards.
* Few were expecting Star-Lord's father to be Ego the Living Planet, especially since they didn't even initially have the film rights to him at the time and had to work a deal with Fox.
* Sylvester Stallone's character was a shock. He's ''Starhawk'', and he and his fellow Ravager captains are the ''original'' Silver Age Guardians of the Galaxy.

[[folder:Spider-Man: Homecoming]]
* The Tinkerer is a minor ''Spider-Man'' character at best, so his role as Vulture's sidekick in the film comes across as rather surprising.
* Likewise, the Shocker's involvement in the movie came across as surprising to nearly everyone, as only one questionable rumor actually mentioned the character by name. Not to mention the fact that he's a B-list villain who was primarily known for having an AtrociousAlias.
* The return of "Happy" Hogan, especially in a ''Spider-Man'' movie of all places, came across as a bit of a surprise.
* While Ned Leeds is a classic ''Spider-Man'' character, this version of him appears to have [[InNameOnly nothing in common with any prior version of him outside of his name]] and instead seems to be based almost entirely on Spider-Man's friend Ganke from ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''. What makes this so unexpected is that Ganke was the best friend of ComicBook/MilesMorales and never even met the Ultimate universe version of Peter Parker before [[SacrificialLion he died]].
* Steve Rogers/Captain America pops up sometime in the film during a Captain America's Fitness Challenge video for Peter's gym class, which appears to have been recorded some time after the events of ''The Avengers''. [[ZigZaggedTrope On the other hand]], [[IKnewIt some people were guessing he'd make a cameo for this]], as Cap has made an appearance in an MCU film every year since ''The First Avenger'' was released.
* Given that ''ComicBook/DamageControl'' was intended to be a Marvel television series on ABC, it came to the surprise of many fans that it would be appearing in this movie instead.
* The official cast list revealed a couple of surprise characters, including a pre-Scorpion Mac Gargan and a pre-Prowler Aaron Davis.
* Due to being such a new (and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap initially unpopular]]) character, many fans weren't expecting [[ComicBook/{{Silk}} Cindy Moon]] to show up even in such a small role.
* Pepper Potts' cameo near the end of the movie came out of left field. Even the credits on the ''Homecoming'' posters covered her appearance up!

[[folder:Thor: Ragnarok]]
* Nobody expected that Hulk's first full appearance after ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' would be in a ''Thor'' movie.
* Doctor Strange is surprising in the sense that, while having magical abilities puts him more in line with what one would expect from a ''Thor'' movie, he wasn't announced to be a part of the cast from the beginning. This surprise was reduced significantly by TheStinger in [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 his movie]] though.
* The Grandmaster was another major surprise due to his tenuous connection to the ''Thor'' comics.
* Korg and Miek as well, which made their EnsembleDarkhorse status even ''more'' surprising.
* Topaz is another example, considering that she originates in ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' line of comics which are set '''outside''' of the mainstream Marvel Universe. However, given that Malibu Comics is owned by Marvel, the company is theoretically free to use her or any other character from that setting.
* No one expected '''Thanos's ship''' to appear in the mid-credits scene.

[[folder:Avengers: Infinity War]]
* Given that they're relatively new, were used almost exclusively by a single writer in the comics and were (at the time the film was being made), well, dead, nobody was really expecting the Black Order to appear in anything else ever again. Despite the name change to "the Children of Thanos", they appear in ''Infinity War'', and their role in the film actually got them resurrected in the comics.
* A meta example with casting. While Creator/CarrieCoon was a surprising choice for Proxima Midnight, nobody was expecting Creator/MichaelJamesShaw to be revealed to be Corvus Glaive, especially when you consider he's best known for the ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' TV series and that fans were pegging Creator/PeterDinklage to voice Corvus.
* Nobody expected ComicBook/RedSkull to show up as the guardian of the Soul Stone, especially since the character hasn't appeared since Phase 1, specifically ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', and had been gone for so long that many fans began to presume that he was dead.[[note]]For context, ''The First Avenger'' took place in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, seven ''decades'' before the events of most of the Infinity Saga[[/note]]. There was also the fact that the Red Skull's original actor, Creator/HugoWeaving, had previously expressed apprehension about returning to the MCU, so Marvel resolved this simply by [[TheOtherDarrin recasting]] the character with Ross Marquand.
* More like an unexpected ''spell'', but those well-versed in the comics may be surprised to see Doctor Strange bind Thanos with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, given the namesake of the spell is the deity that empowers the [[ComicBook/XMen Juggernaut]], a character Marvel Studios did not have the rights to as of filming. That this version of Strange doesn't engage in CallingYourAttacks like the comics one probably helped.

[[folder:Ant-Man and the Wasp]]
* Ghost is an obscure ''Iron Man'' villain appearing well after his movies were done, and never antagonized any version of Ant-Man. Here, Ghost appears, albeit [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] and heavily-reworked.
* Sonny Burch, another ''Iron Man'' villain, and ridiculously obscure to the point of not having a Wikipedia page, fills out the BigBadEnsemble with Ghost.
* Jimmy Woo was a surprise, as he has little involvement with Ant-Man.
* Try Unexpected Actor, but the actor playing Bill Foster [=/=] Goliath is Creator/LaurenceFishburne. Nobody would have imagined Fishburne being part in the MCU due to the fact that he was, at the time of the announcement of him being in ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'', still playing Perry White - Franchise/{{Superman}}'s boss at the Daily Planet - in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse.

[[folder:Captain Marvel]]
* Though they always had the rights to the Skrulls, the fact that almost all of the individual members had their rights tied to Fox made it seem impossible to use. They appear and are important to the movie.
** Even fewer people were expecting, of all Skrulls, Talos the Untamed to be in the film. Not only does Talos in the comics not have any ties to Carol Danvers or the Captain Marvel lineage, but he actually ''lacks'' the classic Skrull shapeshifting abilities, instead having SuperStrength. Of course, Creator/MarvelStudios' solution to the latter part was simply [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange to give him the shapeshifting abilities]], [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not that there's anything wrong with that]], but his presence in the film caught even the most astute of comics fans by surprise.
** One of the Skrulls featured in the film has been identified as a character, Dorrek, who, in the comic books, is an ancestor to Hulkling from Young Avengers, who, despite the name, is of Skrull descent and whose Skrull name is Dorrek VIII. While it's an incredibly obscure reference, it only serves to fuel increasingly rampant speculation that The Young Avengers are on the way.

[[folder:Avengers: Endgame]]
* The return of Harley Keener, the TagalongKid from ''Film/IronMan3'', was a surprise to most people. Even many fans who'd seen the film didn't recognize him during the funeral sequence since his actor was now a tall, lanky youth in his late teens.
* Few were expecting Cassie Lang to appear in the movie, or moreover, an older version of her in line with her [[ComicBook/CassieLang comic counterpart]].
* While Clint returning in this movie was expected, what ''wasn't'' expected was him donning the mantle of Ronin rather than Hawkeye. It was the identity he had in the comics after coming back to life when ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' was over and his original identity was taken by ComicBook/KateBishop. Here, it's to show that he's become a violent vigilante and DeathSeeker during the TimeSkip after he lost his family in the DownerBeginning.
* It's safe to say that nobody was expecting Crossbones to return like Frank Grillo revealed. He appears in the past alongside Jasper Sitwell, who is equally unexpected, to retrieve the Chitauri Scepter during the aftermath of [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the Battle of New York]].
* Given that her role in Doctor Strange's solo movie was relatively self-contained and was killed off midway through, very few people expected The Ancient One to make a reappearance in this film, especially during the events of 2012's Battle of New York.
* Jane Foster's return took a number of people by surprise, especially since her actress, Creator/NataliePortman, had reportedly been on bad terms with Marvel over disagreements about ''Thor: The Dark World'', which is why the character was previously [[PutOnABus MIA]] during ''Thor: Ragnarok''.
** The Russo Brothers confirmed they used unused footage from ''The Dark World''. However they did have Portman record new dialogue to be heard off-screen. She also attended the movie's premiere and has stated that she is now open to returning in future Marvel projects.[[note]]In fact, the original script had her take the role of giving Thor a pep talk that lets him complete the mission, before they decided Frigga would work better.[[/note]] Marvel allowing more creative freedom for directors and actors in Phase 3 probably has a lot to do with this.
* Similarly, many people were surprised that Rene Russo not only returned as Frigga, but shared a very important and plot-significant scene with Thor instead of a brief cameo like Jane Foster.
* James D'Arcy reprises his role as Edwin Jarvis from the ''Series/AgentCarter'' series, marking the first time '''ever''' that a character from an MCU TV series appears in an MCU film.
* Creator/RobertRedford's return as Alexander Pierce was completely unexpected given his retirement from acting (the reason why he's in the movie is because the scene was filmed on the very same day that he retired).
* The most surprising participant in the Battle of Earth: Howard the Duck, who has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo with the Ravagers.
* While Thanos appearing in the movie was of course a given, few could have expected that the main antagonist would end up being a younger, alternate timeline Thanos who takes the place of the version seen in the previous movies.

[[folder:Spider-Man: Far From Home]]
* Mysterio wasn't the first choice for the BigBad when it came to speculations, as he's something of a [[JokeCharacter joke]] in the comics, he was thought to have had a movie in development by Sony already for [[Film/SonysUniverseOfMarvelCharacters their universe]], and it looked like Scorpion was being set up with Mac Gargan's cameo in ''Homecoming'' instead.
* Nick Fury and Maria Hill having roles in the movie, after having been OutOfFocus since ''Age of Ultron'' (the former only finally showing up in a major role in ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}''), was definitely out of the blue. Making this even more unexpected, is that the "Nick Fury" and "Maria Hill" we see throughout the movie aren't even the real versions. Rather, they're [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Talos and Soren]] impersonating them in compliance with the two while they're on vacation.
* No one expected Remy Hii to play Brad Davis, who only dated MJ in one issue all the way back in ''1979'', and is so obscure that even the most hardcore of Spider-Man fans were likely unaware of him. Marvel and Sony took so long to reveal who exactly Hii plays, that most expected someone more important to Spidey's life, such as Harry Osborn, a new villain, or the forthcoming ComicBook/ShangChi.
* Mr. Dell is another example. He only appeared in three issues and debuted in the late-'90s (long after Peter graduated college, much less high school) in the lesser-known ''Webspinners'' anthology comic, and was a very minor character in all three of those appearances.
* William Ginter Riva, a minor character from ''Film/{{Iron Man|1}}'', makes a return after the most extensive LongBusTrip done in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until that point. There's even a short clip of Obadiah Stane yelling at him!
* On an organization-level, few expected that S.W.O.R.D. would be appearing in the MCU as TheStinger suggests. For one, it's a lesser-known branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. (itself OutOfFocus since it was dissolved in ''The Winter Soldier''), dealing with extraterrestrial threats rather than Earth ones. Second, though they technically always had the rights to the organization themselves, S.W.O.R.D. was initially scrapped because almost all of the members (starting with characters such as Abigail Brand, Beast and Lockheed) are considered part of the ''X-Men'' side of Marvel (debuting in the ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'') and thus they only ''just'' got the film rights before ''Far From Home'''s release. The fact that it's being set up carries ''massive'' implications for what will happen post-''Infinity Saga'', but what exactly it is, we don't know.
* The biggest one of all, said to be on a ''mind-blowing'' level: J. Jonah Jameson, reprised by his ''Spider-Man Trilogy'' actor Creator/JKSimmons[[note]]Who, much like the aforementioned Laurence Fishburne in ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'', was seen as being contractually obliged to perform in the DCEU (in Simmons' case, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Jim Gordon]])[[/note]], in the mid-credits. Not only were many expecting J.J. to be AdaptedOut, but the fact that this is only the second time a non-MCU Marvel Studios movie role was reprised in over a decade of MCU movies (after Lou Ferrigno's cameo/voice-over in ''The Incredible Hulk'') only added to the shock.

!!Phase 4
[[folder:WandaVision]]
* A few people that played smaller roles in various MCU films are set to appear ''Series/WandaVision'', a series revolving around two heroes that said characters have little to no connection to normally:
** Practically ''nobody'' was expecting Darcy Lewis to reappear in the MCU, given that she only appearred in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', where she was a CanonForeigner, and was thought to have been completely forgotten after the events of the latter movie.[[note]]Unlike Jane, whose absence was at least handwaved, Darcy didn't even warrant a single mention in ''Thor: Ragnarok''.[[/note]] Her appearance here is quite the shock, as Darcy has absolutely no relation to anything MCU-related outside of the Thor movies, much less Wanda and Vision.
** Given that he only appeared relatively recently as a side character in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', and has no connection whatsoever to Vision or Scarlet Witch in the comics, it's unlikely anyone ever expected Jimmy Woo to appear in this series as well.
** Comicbook/MonicaRambeau of all people plays a big role in this series. Like Woo, she was only introduced as early as ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' as a young, but as a bright kid during the events of that film. As such, this series shows her having grown up significantly since her debut, now played by [[TimeShiftedActor Time Shifted Actress]] Teyonah Parris.
** [[spoiler:Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver appearing was a shock since he died in ''Age of Ultron'' but hadn't been seen since...but that's not the unexpected part. What's most unexpected is that he's ''not'' played by Creator/AaronTaylorJohnson; he's played by ''Creator/EvanPeters'' aka ''Peter Maximoff'' from the FOX ''X-Men'' Film Series.]]

[[folder:The Falcon And The Winter Soldier]]
* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' has been revealed to include the Captain America foe Flag-Smasher, or at least a group who bears the same name as him. This is a minor surprise if only because of Flag-Smasher's relative obscurity and the fact that the series will already have Zemo take up the main villain role.

[[folder:Black Widow]]
* Yelena Belova, the ''other'' Black Widow appears, even when she seemed to be AdaptedOut apart from a MythologyGag with Natasha looking like her as a blonde in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
* The main villain of the movie? ''ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}''. He's always been an EnsembleDarkhorse, 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 OutOfFocus after the real world fall of the Soviet Union.

[[folder: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings]]
* Comicbook/ShangChi 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 Literature/FuManchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel [[ExiledFromContinuity losing the rights to Fu Manchu]]. To remedy this, Creator/MarvelStudios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the BigBad for his movie.
* The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the BigBad for ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. Not only does he [[RoguesGalleryTransplant not have any connections to Shang-Chi]] in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's ArchEnemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was PutOnABus after ''Film/IronMan3'' and ''Film/AllHailTheKing''[[note]]Which establishes that neither Aldrich Killian or Trevor Slattery are the MCU's "definitive" Mandarin, and that there is a real, more comic-accurate Mandarin in the setting[[/note]], especially since Iron Man died in ''Avengers: Endgame''. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's YellowPeril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Creator/MarvelStudios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? This Mandarin will '''not''' be the Trevor Slattery version, but the ''real'' Mandarin.
* On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected ''Actor''. In this film, the Mandarin will be played by Creator/TonyLeung. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Creator/MarvelStudios' intentions of [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff appealing to the Chinese market]] are understandable, casting Leung [[DarkhorseCasting of all actors]] was quite a surprise.

[[folder: What If...?]]
* While the character is associated heavily with the ''What If...?'' comics, and his species was introduced in ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'', Uatu the Watcher being confirmed as the narrator of the Disney+ series ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' is something that came as a surprise to a number of fans due to his association with the ''Fantastic Four'' IP, and by extension, those film rights. Most fans expected the characters to start being integrated at a much later point than 2021, in cameo capacities, but Uatu is lead character. Provided that there aren't any surprise cameos in the works preceding ''What If...?'', Uatu will become the first character from the Fox-Marvel library to be integrated into the MCU.[[note]]Although Ego the Living Planet was the first overall due to an agreement between Disney and Fox, Uatu is specifically tied to the Disney-Fox merger.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Eternals]]
* No one was expecting a movie about Comicbook/TheEternals, given their obscurity. It makes sense, as their status as being a race of superpowered beings in a hidden city fills the void of Comicbook/TheInhumans after their movie was cancelled.
** 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 [[FishOutOfWater out of place]] in a movie featuring cosmic-level superhumans. This became doubly true when it was leaked just prior to D23 that Creator/KitHarington 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 ''Series/GameOfThrones'', he would be playing a big name Marvel character like Reed Richards, or even ''Comicbook/{{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 Creator/GemmaChan 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 versa[[note]]Most notably Creator/AlfreWoodard, who played Mariah Dillard in ''Series/LukeCage2016'' and Miriam Sharpe in ''Captain America Civil War''.[[/note]], this was probably the most prominent example of an actor playing two wholly unrelated characters in the films.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Hawkeye]]
* ComicBook/KateBishop is set to debut in the ''Hawkeye'' series where she takes up Clint's mantle. Because she's rather recent, the rest of the Young Avengers haven't debuted yet, and many assumed that Clint's daughter Lila Barton would be the MCU's equivalent to Kate Bishop, it was a surprise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Spider-Man 3]]
* Creator/JamieFoxx will portray [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 Electro]] [[https://screenrant.com/spiderman-3-mcu-movie-villain-jamie-foxx-electro/ once again]] in the third ''Spider-Man'' movie, although it's not clear if this is a new iteration of the character (like with J. K. Simmons returning as J. Jonah Jameson) or if it's the same character from ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries''. (Foxx noted "I won't be blue in this one" in a now-deleted Instagram post, implying a new take on the character.) Aside from the casting, however, the character is unexpected given that the MCU has thus far strayed from reusing ''Spider-Man'' supervillains from TASM or [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Sam Raimi's trilogy]].[[note]]And though [[Film/SpiderMan3 Sandman]] was '''technically''' used in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', it was as an illusion from Mysterio that was technically named "Magnum", and the illusion never interacted with Spider-Man.[[/note]] Even fans who were rooting for them to use previous villains were expecting more iconic characters with deep-seated connections to Spider-Man -- like Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus -- to come first, making it surprising that a less influential villain would be confirmed to appear before them.
** Which is not to say that people weren't surprised [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-3-alfred-molina-returning-as-doctor-octopus when it was confirmed that]] Creator/AlfredMolina ''would'' be returning to play [[Film/SpiderMan2 Doctor Octopus]]. Nothing is confirmed, but between him and Jamie Foxx returning, speculation of a Multiverse story has run rampant.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Thor: Love and Thunder]]
* The return of Natalie Portman as Comicbook/JaneFoster 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 CreatorBacklash 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''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Moon Knight]]
* ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' getting his own series on Creator/DisneyPlus might just take the prize for least expected announcement in 2019. Not only is he a pretty damn small-time character in the comics with only a few short runs to his name, but the width of difference between those takes has left many people wondering what exactly they plan to do with him and what niche he's meant to fill going forward. Even those who ''were'' expecting him probably raised an eyebrow at him being added to Disney's proprietary streaming service given the Moon Knight mythos is packed to capacity with family-unfriendly content, to the point many expected that if he ''did'' show up it would be on Netflix with other shows based on similarly adult franchises.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: She-Hulk]]
* ''Comicbook/SheHulk'' getting her own Disney+ show wasn't on anyone's radar, due to the rights issues with Creator/{{Universal}} that have kept Bruce from having his own movie since Phase 1. To clarify, Universal holds the distribution rights to stand-alone Hulk movies while Disney [=/=] Marvel Studios can use the Hulk and his characters in ensemble projects such as the ''Avengers'' movies and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. How was this show able to get greenlit then? Simple: Marvel realized that [[LoopholeAbuse there was no rule]] against the Hulk and his characters appearing in a ''TV series''.
** Many fans were caught off guard when it was confirmed by Disney in late 2020 that the series would feature the return of Creator/TimRoth as the Abomination, who hasn't been seen since ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' all the way back in ''2008''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania]]
* [[https://deadline.com/2020/09/jonathan-majors-ant-man-3-marvel-universe-1203028234/ Kang the Conqueror will be the]] BigBad of the third Ant-Man movie, of all projects. While Kang the Conqueror has fought Ant-Man, normally it is done in the context of the Avengers comics, rather than in Ant-Man's solo comics. Likewise, most people thought that Kang's time-traveling nature would have made him a better fit for a future Avengers film than a street-level hero such as Ant-Man.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Blade]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Blade}}''. Outside of small whispers that were made sporadically, few expected he would headline a movie. It was thought that his DarkerAndEdgier nature and his deal with the supernatural, specifically the element that is the vampires, would keep him ''away'' from the MCU. This only made it all the more surprising when their SDCC 2019 presentation closed on the ''Blade'' announcement, indicating they were ''very'' aware of this.
** On an actor level, the reveal that Blade would be played by none other than Creator/MahershalaAli also shocked many fans, given he'd [[YouLookFamiliar already played an MCU character]] (Cottonmouth) in ''Series/LukeCage2016''.
[[/folder]]
!!Other TV series
[[folder:TV series not on Disney+]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', continuing the tradition of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. These include minor comic characters like [[spoiler:Deathlok, Graviton, Lorelei, Blizzard, Blackout, and some of ComicBook/TheInhumans, most notably Mister Hyde and Quake, who was main character Skye all along.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Most had Rosario Dawson pegged as Echo, White Tiger, or even Elektra. Nobody considered the possibility of her playing an a more obscure character such as Claire Temple.
** The introduction of the Punisher in season 2 was initially a surprise considering the poor reception to every previous attempt to bring him to the screen.
** Season 2 featured the reappearances of Wilson Fisk, Madame Gao, and Nobu, plus the appearance of Jeri Hogarth from ''Series/JessicaJones2015''. In these cases, Fisk and Gao had been sent away the previous season (in fact, Fisk's return was quite a major twist due to the fact that it was a complete surprise despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under these days; it helped that a lot of the marketing for season 2 revolved around the addition of the Punisher and Elektra), Nobu was seemingly killed, and Jeri Hogarth was from a different show, making them all a bit of a surprise to many viewers.
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]
!!Phase 1
[[folder:Iron Man]]
* Nick Fury in ''Film/IronMan1''. Though at the time it was little more than a SequelHook, it ended up being instrumental to the universe itself.

[[folder:The Incredible Hulk]]
* Tony Stark appearing in TheStinger of ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', thus connecting this movie with ''Film/IronMan1'' and setting the stage for the entire SharedUniverse.

[[folder:The Avengers]]
* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', TheStinger reveals that Loki's [[TheManBehindTheMan supplier]] is...ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. At the time, Thanos was, at best, a B-list Marvel villain who, while a recurring villain of the Avengers in the comics, did not have any connections to Loki.

!!Phase 2

[[folder:Guardians of the Galaxy]]
* The entire Guardians of the Galaxy themselves are this. All of them were D-listers with Rocket Raccoon being the best-known if only for his appearance in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. It was thought the movie would fail for that reason. [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail It didn't]]. Naturally, [[ColbertBump they jumped to A-listers in short time]].
* ComicBook/HowardTheDuck appearing in TheStinger? Only ''that'' can top the above example.

[[folder:Avengers: Age of Ultron]]
* Due to their origin as X-Men characters (and Comicbook/{{Magneto}}'s children, at that!), very few expected to see Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}} and Comicbook/ScarletWitch in the MCU. Quicksilver, in particular, had already appeared in X-Men films by that point. It is thanks to a reworking of their story to be products of HYDRA's experiments that they came into the film, with Scarlet Witch becoming a central character in the Avengers following this film.
* Ulysses Klaue was a surprise addition, as Black Panther hadn't yet been introduced at that point.
* Helen Cho (best known as the mother of Amadeus Cho), being a fairly prominent character in the movie.

[[folder:Ant-Man]]
* ''Ant-Man'' could be considered only second to the ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' in terms of obscurity, as he was a JokeCharacter and/or a MemeticLoser for his [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway lame power set]] and it seemed he had been AdaptedOut from the Avengers mythology.
* Going even further, the ''choice'' of Ant-Man would likely raise eyebrows. Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, founding Avenger, and important lynchpin of the Marvel Universe lore, instead appears as a supporting character and mentor to Scott Lang, the [[LegacyCharacter second Ant-Man]]. Though less controversial, Scott Lang was always a minor character who was never intended to headline, and was always much more obscure. For perspective, this isn't unlike opening a ''Spider-Man'' movie franchise starring [[Comicbook/ScarletSpider Ben Reilly]].
* Hope van Dyne as the daughter of Hank. Her comic counterpart is as a villain in the ComicBook/MarvelComics2 continuity.
* Darren Cross, who was a StarterVillain that appeared in a single issue before dying, is the BigBad.
* Falcon appears late into the film and has a [[LetsYouAndHimFight tussle]] with Ant-Man over a misunderstanding.
* HYDRA's involvement with Darren Cross, suddenly raising the stakes of the movie dramatically.
* Arguably even moreso than the members of HYDRA, one of the buyers is connected to the Ten Rings. Who would have expected to see a member of the terrorist organization from the ''Film/IronMan'' films to show up in ''Film/AntMan1''? This is especially true considering how the Ten Rings had largely been PutOnABus since ''Film/IronMan1''.

!!Phase 3

[[folder:Captain America: Civil War]]
* Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross appearing in the movie, as it had been eight years from his last appearance (and ''The Incredible Hulk'' is the OddballInTheSeries that rarely even gets referenced), reprised by Creator/WilliamHurt.
* Comicbook/SpiderMan makes his debut here, after a landmark deal between Marvel and Sony allowed him to appear in the MCU, which many didn't expect to ever happen.

[[folder:Doctor Strange]]
* Few were expecting that Creator/MadsMikkelsen would be playing Kaecilius, a servant of Baron Mordo, independently of him (as Mordo has been ''heavily'' reworked here).
* Christine Palmer is an obscure love-interest to Doctor Strange and many thought Rachel [=McAdams=] would be playing Clea instead.

[[folder:Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2]]
* It was known that a new member would join the team. It wasn't thought that the character would be ''Mantis'', who is very obscure even by franchise standards.
* Few were expecting Star-Lord's father to be Ego the Living Planet, especially since they didn't even initially have the film rights to him at the time and had to work a deal with Fox.
* Sylvester Stallone's character was a shock. He's ''Starhawk'', and he and his fellow Ravager captains are the ''original'' Silver Age Guardians of the Galaxy.

[[folder:Spider-Man: Homecoming]]
* The Tinkerer is a minor ''Spider-Man'' character at best, so his role as Vulture's sidekick in the film comes across as rather surprising.
* Likewise, the Shocker's involvement in the movie came across as surprising to nearly everyone, as only one questionable rumor actually mentioned the character by name. Not to mention the fact that he's a B-list villain who was primarily known for having an AtrociousAlias.
* The return of "Happy" Hogan, especially in a ''Spider-Man'' movie of all places, came across as a bit of a surprise.
* While Ned Leeds is a classic ''Spider-Man'' character, this version of him appears to have [[InNameOnly nothing in common with any prior version of him outside of his name]] and instead seems to be based almost entirely on Spider-Man's friend Ganke from ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''. What makes this so unexpected is that Ganke was the best friend of ComicBook/MilesMorales and never even met the Ultimate universe version of Peter Parker before [[SacrificialLion he died]].
* Steve Rogers/Captain America pops up sometime in the film during a Captain America's Fitness Challenge video for Peter's gym class, which appears to have been recorded some time after the events of ''The Avengers''. [[ZigZaggedTrope On the other hand]], [[IKnewIt some people were guessing he'd make a cameo for this]], as Cap has made an appearance in an MCU film every year since ''The First Avenger'' was released.
* Given that ''ComicBook/DamageControl'' was intended to be a Marvel television series on ABC, it came to the surprise of many fans that it would be appearing in this movie instead.
* The official cast list revealed a couple of surprise characters, including a pre-Scorpion Mac Gargan and a pre-Prowler Aaron Davis.
* Due to being such a new (and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap initially unpopular]]) character, many fans weren't expecting [[ComicBook/{{Silk}} Cindy Moon]] to show up even in such a small role.
* Pepper Potts' cameo near the end of the movie came out of left field. Even the credits on the ''Homecoming'' posters covered her appearance up!

[[folder:Thor: Ragnarok]]
* Nobody expected that Hulk's first full appearance after ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' would be in a ''Thor'' movie.
* Doctor Strange is surprising in the sense that, while having magical abilities puts him more in line with what one would expect from a ''Thor'' movie, he wasn't announced to be a part of the cast from the beginning. This surprise was reduced significantly by TheStinger in [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 his movie]] though.
* The Grandmaster was another major surprise due to his tenuous connection to the ''Thor'' comics.
* Korg and Miek as well, which made their EnsembleDarkhorse status even ''more'' surprising.
* Topaz is another example, considering that she originates in ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' line of comics which are set '''outside''' of the mainstream Marvel Universe. However, given that Malibu Comics is owned by Marvel, the company is theoretically free to use her or any other character from that setting.
* No one expected '''Thanos's ship''' to appear in the mid-credits scene.

[[folder:Avengers: Infinity War]]
* Given that they're relatively new, were used almost exclusively by a single writer in the comics and were (at the time the film was being made), well, dead, nobody was really expecting the Black Order to appear in anything else ever again. Despite the name change to "the Children of Thanos", they appear in ''Infinity War'', and their role in the film actually got them resurrected in the comics.
* A meta example with casting. While Creator/CarrieCoon was a surprising choice for Proxima Midnight, nobody was expecting Creator/MichaelJamesShaw to be revealed to be Corvus Glaive, especially when you consider he's best known for the ''Series/{{Constantine}}'' TV series and that fans were pegging Creator/PeterDinklage to voice Corvus.
* Nobody expected ComicBook/RedSkull to show up as the guardian of the Soul Stone, especially since the character hasn't appeared since Phase 1, specifically ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', and had been gone for so long that many fans began to presume that he was dead.[[note]]For context, ''The First Avenger'' took place in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, seven ''decades'' before the events of most of the Infinity Saga[[/note]]. There was also the fact that the Red Skull's original actor, Creator/HugoWeaving, had previously expressed apprehension about returning to the MCU, so Marvel resolved this simply by [[TheOtherDarrin recasting]] the character with Ross Marquand.
* More like an unexpected ''spell'', but those well-versed in the comics may be surprised to see Doctor Strange bind Thanos with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, given the namesake of the spell is the deity that empowers the [[ComicBook/XMen Juggernaut]], a character Marvel Studios did not have the rights to as of filming. That this version of Strange doesn't engage in CallingYourAttacks like the comics one probably helped.

[[folder:Ant-Man and the Wasp]]
* Ghost is an obscure ''Iron Man'' villain appearing well after his movies were done, and never antagonized any version of Ant-Man. Here, Ghost appears, albeit [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] and heavily-reworked.
* Sonny Burch, another ''Iron Man'' villain, and ridiculously obscure to the point of not having a Wikipedia page, fills out the BigBadEnsemble with Ghost.
* Jimmy Woo was a surprise, as he has little involvement with Ant-Man.
* Try Unexpected Actor, but the actor playing Bill Foster [=/=] Goliath is Creator/LaurenceFishburne. Nobody would have imagined Fishburne being part in the MCU due to the fact that he was, at the time of the announcement of him being in ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'', still playing Perry White - Franchise/{{Superman}}'s boss at the Daily Planet - in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse.

[[folder:Captain Marvel]]
* Though they always had the rights to the Skrulls, the fact that almost all of the individual members had their rights tied to Fox made it seem impossible to use. They appear and are important to the movie.
** Even fewer people were expecting, of all Skrulls, Talos the Untamed to be in the film. Not only does Talos in the comics not have any ties to Carol Danvers or the Captain Marvel lineage, but he actually ''lacks'' the classic Skrull shapeshifting abilities, instead having SuperStrength. Of course, Creator/MarvelStudios' solution to the latter part was simply [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange to give him the shapeshifting abilities]], [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not that there's anything wrong with that]], but his presence in the film caught even the most astute of comics fans by surprise.
** One of the Skrulls featured in the film has been identified as a character, Dorrek, who, in the comic books, is an ancestor to Hulkling from Young Avengers, who, despite the name, is of Skrull descent and whose Skrull name is Dorrek VIII. While it's an incredibly obscure reference, it only serves to fuel increasingly rampant speculation that The Young Avengers are on the way.

[[folder:Avengers: Endgame]]
* The return of Harley Keener, the TagalongKid from ''Film/IronMan3'', was a surprise to most people. Even many fans who'd seen the film didn't recognize him during the funeral sequence since his actor was now a tall, lanky youth in his late teens.
* Few were expecting Cassie Lang to appear in the movie, or moreover, an older version of her in line with her [[ComicBook/CassieLang comic counterpart]].
* While Clint returning in this movie was expected, what ''wasn't'' expected was him donning the mantle of Ronin rather than Hawkeye. It was the identity he had in the comics after coming back to life when ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' was over and his original identity was taken by ComicBook/KateBishop. Here, it's to show that he's become a violent vigilante and DeathSeeker during the TimeSkip after he lost his family in the DownerBeginning.
* It's safe to say that nobody was expecting Crossbones to return like Frank Grillo revealed. He appears in the past alongside Jasper Sitwell, who is equally unexpected, to retrieve the Chitauri Scepter during the aftermath of [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the Battle of New York]].
* Given that her role in Doctor Strange's solo movie was relatively self-contained and was killed off midway through, very few people expected The Ancient One to make a reappearance in this film, especially during the events of 2012's Battle of New York.
* Jane Foster's return took a number of people by surprise, especially since her actress, Creator/NataliePortman, had reportedly been on bad terms with Marvel over disagreements about ''Thor: The Dark World'', which is why the character was previously [[PutOnABus MIA]] during ''Thor: Ragnarok''.
** The Russo Brothers confirmed they used unused footage from ''The Dark World''. However they did have Portman record new dialogue to be heard off-screen. She also attended the movie's premiere and has stated that she is now open to returning in future Marvel projects.[[note]]In fact, the original script had her take the role of giving Thor a pep talk that lets him complete the mission, before they decided Frigga would work better.[[/note]] Marvel allowing more creative freedom for directors and actors in Phase 3 probably has a lot to do with this.
* Similarly, many people were surprised that Rene Russo not only returned as Frigga, but shared a very important and plot-significant scene with Thor instead of a brief cameo like Jane Foster.
* James D'Arcy reprises his role as Edwin Jarvis from the ''Series/AgentCarter'' series, marking the first time '''ever''' that a character from an MCU TV series appears in an MCU film.
* Creator/RobertRedford's return as Alexander Pierce was completely unexpected given his retirement from acting (the reason why he's in the movie is because the scene was filmed on the very same day that he retired).
* The most surprising participant in the Battle of Earth: Howard the Duck, who has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo with the Ravagers.
* While Thanos appearing in the movie was of course a given, few could have expected that the main antagonist would end up being a younger, alternate timeline Thanos who takes the place of the version seen in the previous movies.

[[folder:Spider-Man: Far From Home]]
* Mysterio wasn't the first choice for the BigBad when it came to speculations, as he's something of a [[JokeCharacter joke]] in the comics, he was thought to have had a movie in development by Sony already for [[Film/SonysUniverseOfMarvelCharacters their universe]], and it looked like Scorpion was being set up with Mac Gargan's cameo in ''Homecoming'' instead.
* Nick Fury and Maria Hill having roles in the movie, after having been OutOfFocus since ''Age of Ultron'' (the former only finally showing up in a major role in ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}''), was definitely out of the blue. Making this even more unexpected, is that the "Nick Fury" and "Maria Hill" we see throughout the movie aren't even the real versions. Rather, they're [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Talos and Soren]] impersonating them in compliance with the two while they're on vacation.
* No one expected Remy Hii to play Brad Davis, who only dated MJ in one issue all the way back in ''1979'', and is so obscure that even the most hardcore of Spider-Man fans were likely unaware of him. Marvel and Sony took so long to reveal who exactly Hii plays, that most expected someone more important to Spidey's life, such as Harry Osborn, a new villain, or the forthcoming ComicBook/ShangChi.
* Mr. Dell is another example. He only appeared in three issues and debuted in the late-'90s (long after Peter graduated college, much less high school) in the lesser-known ''Webspinners'' anthology comic, and was a very minor character in all three of those appearances.
* William Ginter Riva, a minor character from ''Film/{{Iron Man|1}}'', makes a return after the most extensive LongBusTrip done in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until that point. There's even a short clip of Obadiah Stane yelling at him!
* On an organization-level, few expected that S.W.O.R.D. would be appearing in the MCU as TheStinger suggests. For one, it's a lesser-known branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. (itself OutOfFocus since it was dissolved in ''The Winter Soldier''), dealing with extraterrestrial threats rather than Earth ones. Second, though they technically always had the rights to the organization themselves, S.W.O.R.D. was initially scrapped because almost all of the members (starting with characters such as Abigail Brand, Beast and Lockheed) are considered part of the ''X-Men'' side of Marvel (debuting in the ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'') and thus they only ''just'' got the film rights before ''Far From Home'''s release. The fact that it's being set up carries ''massive'' implications for what will happen post-''Infinity Saga'', but what exactly it is, we don't know.
* The biggest one of all, said to be on a ''mind-blowing'' level: J. Jonah Jameson, reprised by his ''Spider-Man Trilogy'' actor Creator/JKSimmons[[note]]Who, much like the aforementioned Laurence Fishburne in ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'', was seen as being contractually obliged to perform in the DCEU (in Simmons' case, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Jim Gordon]])[[/note]], in the mid-credits. Not only were many expecting J.J. to be AdaptedOut, but the fact that this is only the second time a non-MCU Marvel Studios movie role was reprised in over a decade of MCU movies (after Lou Ferrigno's cameo/voice-over in ''The Incredible Hulk'') only added to the shock.

!!Phase 4
[[folder:WandaVision]]
* A few people that played smaller roles in various MCU films are set to appear ''Series/WandaVision'', a series revolving around two heroes that said characters have little to no connection to normally:
** Practically ''nobody'' was expecting Darcy Lewis to reappear in the MCU, given that she only appearred in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', where she was a CanonForeigner, and was thought to have been completely forgotten after the events of the latter movie.[[note]]Unlike Jane, whose absence was at least handwaved, Darcy didn't even warrant a single mention in ''Thor: Ragnarok''.[[/note]] Her appearance here is quite the shock, as Darcy has absolutely no relation to anything MCU-related outside of the Thor movies, much less Wanda and Vision.
** Given that he only appeared relatively recently as a side character in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', and has no connection whatsoever to Vision or Scarlet Witch in the comics, it's unlikely anyone ever expected Jimmy Woo to appear in this series as well.
** Comicbook/MonicaRambeau of all people plays a big role in this series. Like Woo, she was only introduced as early as ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' as a young, but as a bright kid during the events of that film. As such, this series shows her having grown up significantly since her debut, now played by [[TimeShiftedActor Time Shifted Actress]] Teyonah Parris.
** [[spoiler:Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver appearing was a shock since he died in ''Age of Ultron'' but hadn't been seen since...but that's not the unexpected part. What's most unexpected is that he's ''not'' played by Creator/AaronTaylorJohnson; he's played by ''Creator/EvanPeters'' aka ''Peter Maximoff'' from the FOX ''X-Men'' Film Series.]]

[[folder:The Falcon And The Winter Soldier]]
* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' has been revealed to include the Captain America foe Flag-Smasher, or at least a group who bears the same name as him. This is a minor surprise if only because of Flag-Smasher's relative obscurity and the fact that the series will already have Zemo take up the main villain role.

[[folder:Black Widow]]
* Yelena Belova, the ''other'' Black Widow appears, even when she seemed to be AdaptedOut apart from a MythologyGag with Natasha looking like her as a blonde in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
* The main villain of the movie? ''ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}''. He's always been an EnsembleDarkhorse, 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 OutOfFocus after the real world fall of the Soviet Union.

[[folder: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings]]
* Comicbook/ShangChi 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 Literature/FuManchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel [[ExiledFromContinuity losing the rights to Fu Manchu]]. To remedy this, Creator/MarvelStudios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the BigBad for his movie.
* The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the BigBad for ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. Not only does he [[RoguesGalleryTransplant not have any connections to Shang-Chi]] in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's ArchEnemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was PutOnABus after ''Film/IronMan3'' and ''Film/AllHailTheKing''[[note]]Which establishes that neither Aldrich Killian or Trevor Slattery are the MCU's "definitive" Mandarin, and that there is a real, more comic-accurate Mandarin in the setting[[/note]], especially since Iron Man died in ''Avengers: Endgame''. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's YellowPeril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Creator/MarvelStudios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? This Mandarin will '''not''' be the Trevor Slattery version, but the ''real'' Mandarin.
* On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected ''Actor''. In this film, the Mandarin will be played by Creator/TonyLeung. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Creator/MarvelStudios' intentions of [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff appealing to the Chinese market]] are understandable, casting Leung [[DarkhorseCasting of all actors]] was quite a surprise.

[[folder: What If...?]]
* While the character is associated heavily with the ''What If...?'' comics, and his species was introduced in ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'', Uatu the Watcher being confirmed as the narrator of the Disney+ series ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' is something that came as a surprise to a number of fans due to his association with the ''Fantastic Four'' IP, and by extension, those film rights. Most fans expected the characters to start being integrated at a much later point than 2021, in cameo capacities, but Uatu is lead character. Provided that there aren't any surprise cameos in the works preceding ''What If...?'', Uatu will become the first character from the Fox-Marvel library to be integrated into the MCU.[[note]]Although Ego the Living Planet was the first overall due to an agreement between Disney and Fox, Uatu is specifically tied to the Disney-Fox merger.[[/note]]

[[folder: Eternals]]
* No one was expecting a movie about Comicbook/TheEternals, given their obscurity. It makes sense, as their status as being a race of superpowered beings in a hidden city fills the void of Comicbook/TheInhumans after their movie was cancelled.
** 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 [[FishOutOfWater out of place]] in a movie featuring cosmic-level superhumans. This became doubly true when it was leaked just prior to D23 that Creator/KitHarington 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 ''Series/GameOfThrones'', he would be playing a big name Marvel character like Reed Richards, or even ''Comicbook/{{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 Creator/GemmaChan 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 versa[[note]]Most notably Creator/AlfreWoodard, who played Mariah Dillard in ''Series/LukeCage2016'' and Miriam Sharpe in ''Captain America Civil War''.[[/note]], this was probably the most prominent example of an actor playing two wholly unrelated characters in the films.

[[folder: Hawkeye]]
* ComicBook/KateBishop is set to debut in the ''Hawkeye'' series where she takes up Clint's mantle. Because she's rather recent, the rest of the Young Avengers haven't debuted yet, and many assumed that Clint's daughter Lila Barton would be the MCU's equivalent to Kate Bishop, it was a surprise.

[[folder: Spider-Man 3]]
* Creator/JamieFoxx will portray [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 Electro]] [[https://screenrant.com/spiderman-3-mcu-movie-villain-jamie-foxx-electro/ once again]] in the third ''Spider-Man'' movie, although it's not clear if this is a new iteration of the character (like with J. K. Simmons returning as J. Jonah Jameson) or if it's the same character from ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries''. (Foxx noted "I won't be blue in this one" in a now-deleted Instagram post, implying a new take on the character.) Aside from the casting, however, the character is unexpected given that the MCU has thus far strayed from reusing ''Spider-Man'' supervillains from TASM or [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Sam Raimi's trilogy]].[[note]]And though [[Film/SpiderMan3 Sandman]] was '''technically''' used in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', it was as an illusion from Mysterio that was technically named "Magnum", and the illusion never interacted with Spider-Man.[[/note]] Even fans who were rooting for them to use previous villains were expecting more iconic characters with deep-seated connections to Spider-Man -- like Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus -- to come first, making it surprising that a less influential villain would be confirmed to appear before them.
** Which is not to say that people weren't surprised [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-3-alfred-molina-returning-as-doctor-octopus when it was confirmed that]] Creator/AlfredMolina ''would'' be returning to play [[Film/SpiderMan2 Doctor Octopus]]. Nothing is confirmed, but between him and Jamie Foxx returning, speculation of a Multiverse story has run rampant.

[[folder: Thor: Love and Thunder]]
* The return of Natalie Portman as Comicbook/JaneFoster 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 CreatorBacklash 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''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Moon Knight]]
* ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' getting his own series on Creator/DisneyPlus might just take the prize for least expected announcement in 2019. Not only is he a pretty damn small-time character in the comics with only a few short runs to his name, but the width of difference between those takes has left many people wondering what exactly they plan to do with him and what niche he's meant to fill going forward. Even those who ''were'' expecting him probably raised an eyebrow at him being added to Disney's proprietary streaming service given the Moon Knight mythos is packed to capacity with family-unfriendly content, to the point many expected that if he ''did'' show up it would be on Netflix with other shows based on similarly adult franchises.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: She-Hulk]]
* ''Comicbook/SheHulk'' getting her own Disney+ show wasn't on anyone's radar, due to the rights issues with Creator/{{Universal}} that have kept Bruce from having his own movie since Phase 1. To clarify, Universal holds the distribution rights to stand-alone Hulk movies while Disney [=/=] Marvel Studios can use the Hulk and his characters in ensemble projects such as the ''Avengers'' movies and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. How was this show able to get greenlit then? Simple: Marvel realized that [[LoopholeAbuse there was no rule]] against the Hulk and his characters appearing in a ''TV series''.
** Many fans were caught off guard when it was confirmed by Disney in late 2020 that the series would feature the return of Creator/TimRoth as the Abomination, who hasn't been seen since ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' all the way back in ''2008''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania]]
* [[https://deadline.com/2020/09/jonathan-majors-ant-man-3-marvel-universe-1203028234/ Kang the Conqueror will be the]] BigBad of the third Ant-Man movie, of all projects. While Kang the Conqueror has fought Ant-Man, normally it is done in the context of the Avengers comics, rather than in Ant-Man's solo comics. Likewise, most people thought that Kang's time-traveling nature would have made him a better fit for a future Avengers film than a street-level hero such as Ant-Man.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Blade]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Blade}}''. Outside of small whispers that were made sporadically, few expected he would headline a movie. It was thought that his DarkerAndEdgier nature and his deal with the supernatural, specifically the element that is the vampires, would keep him ''away'' from the MCU. This only made it all the more surprising when their SDCC 2019 presentation closed on the ''Blade'' announcement, indicating they were ''very'' aware of this.
** On an actor level, the reveal that Blade would be played by none other than Creator/MahershalaAli also shocked many fans, given he'd [[YouLookFamiliar already played an MCU character]] (Cottonmouth) in ''Series/LukeCage2016''.
[[/folder]]
!!Other TV series
[[folder:TV series not on Disney+]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', continuing the tradition of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. These include minor comic characters like [[spoiler:Deathlok, Graviton, Lorelei, Blizzard, Blackout, and some of ComicBook/TheInhumans, most notably Mister Hyde and Quake, who was main character Skye all along.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Most had Rosario Dawson pegged as Echo, White Tiger, or even Elektra. Nobody considered the possibility of her playing an a more obscure character such as Claire Temple.
** The introduction of the Punisher in season 2 was initially a surprise considering the poor reception to every previous attempt to bring him to the screen.
** Season 2 featured the reappearances of Wilson Fisk, Madame Gao, and Nobu, plus the appearance of Jeri Hogarth from ''Series/JessicaJones2015''. In these cases, Fisk and Gao had been sent away the previous season (in fact, Fisk's return was quite a major twist due to the fact that it was a complete surprise despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under these days; it helped that a lot of the marketing for season 2 revolved around the addition of the Punisher and Elektra), Nobu was seemingly killed, and Jeri Hogarth was from a different show, making them all a bit of a surprise to many viewers.
[[/folder]]

** Comicbook/ShangChi 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 Literature/FuManchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel [[ExiledFromContinuity losing the rights to Fu Manchu]]. To remedy this, Creator/MarvelStudios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the BigBad for his movie.
** The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the BigBad for ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. Not only does he [[RoguesGalleryTransplant not have any connections to Shang-Chi]] in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's ArchEnemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was PutOnABus after ''Film/IronMan3'' and ''Film/AllHailTheKing''[[note]]Which establishes that neither Aldrich Killian or Trevor Slattery are the MCU's "definitive" Mandarin, and that there is a real, more comic-accurate Mandarin in the setting[[/note]], especially since Iron Man died in ''Avengers: Endgame''. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's YellowPeril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Creator/MarvelStudios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? This Mandarin will '''not''' be the Trevor Slattery version, but the ''real'' Mandarin.
** On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected ''Actor''. In this film, the Mandarin will be played by Creator/TonyLeung. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Creator/MarvelStudios' intentions of [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff appealing to the Chinese market]] are understandable, casting Leung [[DarkhorseCasting of all actors]] was quite a surprise.

* While the character is associated heavily with the ''What If...?'' comics, and his species was introduced in ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'', Uatu the Watcher being confirmed as the narrator of the Disney+ series is something that came as a surprise to a number of fans due to his association with the ''Fantastic Four'' IP, and by extension, those film rights. Most fans expected the characters to start being integrated at a much later point than 2021, in cameo capacities, but Uatu is lead character. Provided that there aren't any surprise cameos in the works preceding ''What If...?'', Uatu will become the first character from the Fox-Marvel library to be integrated into the MCU.[[note]]Although Ego the Living Planet was the first overall due to an agreement between Disney and Fox, Uatu is specifically tied to the Disney-Fox merger.[[/note]]

[[folder:Black Widow]]
* Yelena Belova, the ''other'' Black Widow appears, even when she seemed to be AdaptedOut apart from a MythologyGag with Natasha looking like her as a blonde in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
* The main villain of the movie? ''ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}''. He's always been an EnsembleDarkhorse, 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 OutOfFocus after the real world fall of the Soviet Union.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Future]]

* ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''

!!Movies

[[folder:Phase 1]]

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', TheStinger reveals that Loki's [[TheManBehindTheMan supplier]] is...ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. At the time, Thanos was, at best, a B-list Marvel villain who, while a recurring villain of the Avengers in the comics, did not have any connections to Loki.

[[folder:Phase 4]]
* The most macro example: ''X-Men'', ''Deadpool'' and ''Fantastic Four'' joining the MCU. Beforehand, it was thought impossible as their film rights were in the hands of Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, a massive conglomerate that had no intention of ''ever'' giving up the rights. So Disney's solution [[GordianKnot was to simply]] [[BribingYourWayToVictory buy Fox]] for ''$71.3 billion'', even though [[OvershadowedByAwesome the Fox-Marvel rights were nowhere near the main reason that Disney bought the company, and were just a small bonus]].

[[folder:TV series not on Disney+]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Most had Rosario Dawson pegged as Echo, White Tiger, or even Elektra. Nobody considered the possibility of her playing an a more obscure character such as Claire Temple.
** The introduction of the Punisher in season 2 was initially a surprise considering the poor reception to every previous attempt to bring him to the screen.
** Season 2 featured the reappearances of Wilson Fisk, Madame Gao, and Nobu, plus the appearance of Jeri Hogarth from ''Series/JessicaJones2015''. In these cases, Fisk and Gao had been sent away the previous season (in fact, Fisk's return was quite a major twist due to the fact that it was a complete surprise despite the intense scrutiny every MCU property has been put under these days; it helped that a lot of the marketing for season 2 revolved around the addition of the Punisher and Elektra), Nobu was seemingly killed, and Jeri Hogarth was from a different show, making them all a bit of a surprise to many viewers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Future]]

[[folder:Misc.]]
* Nick Fury in ''Film/IronMan1''. Though at the time it was little more than a SequelHook, it ended up being instrumental to the universe itself.
* Tony Stark appearing in TheStinger of ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', thus connecting this movie with ''Film/IronMan1'' and setting the stage for the entire SharedUniverse.
* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', TheStinger reveals that Loki's [[TheManBehindTheMan supplier]] is...ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. At the time, Thanos was, at best, a B-list Marvel villain who, while a recurring villain of the Avengers in the comics, did not have any connections to Loki.
[[/folder]]

* A few people that played smaller roles in various MCU films are set to appear ''Series/WandaVision'', a series revolving around two heroes that said characters have little to no connection to normally:
** Practically ''nobody'' was expecting Darcy Lewis to reappear in the MCU, given that she only appearred in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', where she was a CanonForeigner, and was thought to have been completely forgotten after the events of the latter movie.[[note]]Unlike Jane, whose absence was at least handwaved, Darcy didn't even warrant a single mention in ''Thor: Ragnarok''.[[/note]] Her appearance here is quite the shock, as Darcy has absolutely no relation to anything MCU-related outside of the Thor movies, much less Wanda and Vision.
** Given that he only appeared relatively recently as a side character in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', and has no connection whatsoever to Vision or Scarlet Witch in the comics, it's unlikely anyone ever expected Jimmy Woo to appear in this series as well.
** Comicbook/MonicaRambeau of all people plays a big role in this series. Like Woo, she was only introduced as early as ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' as a young, but as a bright kid during the events of that film. As such, this series shows her having grown up significantly since her debut, now played by [[TimeShiftedActor Time Shifted Actress]] Teyonah Parris.
* ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''
** Comicbook/ShangChi 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 Literature/FuManchu himself, although since his debut, this aspect of his character has largely been abandoned in the comics due to Marvel [[ExiledFromContinuity losing the rights to Fu Manchu]]. To remedy this, Creator/MarvelStudios simply decided to use the Mandarin as the BigBad for his movie.
** The Mandarin himself is a rather unexpected choice as the BigBad for ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. Not only does he [[RoguesGalleryTransplant not have any connections to Shang-Chi]] in the comics (due to him being Iron Man's ArchEnemy and all), but many fans thought that the Mandarin was PutOnABus after ''Film/IronMan3'' and ''Film/AllHailTheKing''[[note]]Which establishes that neither Aldrich Killian or Trevor Slattery are the MCU's "definitive" Mandarin, and that there is a real, more comic-accurate Mandarin in the setting[[/note]], especially since Iron Man died in ''Avengers: Endgame''. Lastly, there was the concern about the Mandarin's YellowPeril nature not being feasible in an increasingly diverse MCU, so Creator/MarvelStudios resolved this simply by having him fight their first Asian lead. The best part? This Mandarin will '''not''' be the Trevor Slattery version, but the ''real'' Mandarin.
** On a meta-level, yet another case of Unexpected ''Actor''. In this film, the Mandarin will be played by Creator/TonyLeung. While Leung is known in his native China for acting in exclusively Asian cinema, this is his first Hollywood role. While Creator/MarvelStudios' intentions of [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff appealing to the Chinese market]] are understandable, casting Leung [[DarkhorseCasting of all actors]] was quite a surprise.
* While the character is associated heavily with the ''What If...?'' comics, and his species was introduced in ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'', Uatu the Watcher being confirmed as the narrator of the Disney+ series is something that came as a surprise to a number of fans due to his association with the ''Fantastic Four'' IP, and by extension, those film rights. Most fans expected the characters to start being integrated at a much later point than 2021, in cameo capacities, but Uatu is lead character. Provided that there aren't any surprise cameos in the works preceding ''What If...?'', Uatu will become the first character from the Fox-Marvel library to be integrated into the MCU.[[note]]Although Ego the Living Planet was the first overall due to an agreement between Disney and Fox, Uatu is specifically tied to the Disney-Fox merger.[[/note]]

* ComicBook/KateBishop is set to debut in the ''Hawkeye'' series where she takes up Clint's mantle. Because she's rather recent, the rest of the Young Avengers haven't debuted yet, and many assumed that Clint's daughter Lila Barton would be the MCU's equivalent to Kate Bishop, it was a surprise.

* ComicBook/KateBishop is set to debut in the ''Hawkeye'' series where she takes up Clint's mantle. Because she's rather recent, the rest of the Young Avengers haven't debuted yet, and many assumed that Clint's daughter Lila Barton would be the MCU's equivalent to Kate Bishop, it was a surprise.

* The return of Natalie Portman as Comicbook/JaneFoster 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 CreatorBacklash 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''.
* ''Comicbook/{{Blade}}''. Outside of small whispers that were made sporadically, few expected he would headline a movie. It was thought that his DarkerAndEdgier nature and his deal with the supernatural, specifically the element that is the vampires, would keep him ''away'' from the MCU. This only made it all the more surprising when their SDCC 2019 presentation closed on the ''Blade'' announcement, indicating they were ''very'' aware of this.
** On an actor level, the reveal that Blade would be played by none other than Creator/MahershalaAli also shocked many fans, given he'd [[YouLookFamiliar already played an MCU character]] (Cottonmouth) in ''Series/LukeCage2016''.
* A few people that played smaller roles in various MCU films are set to appear ''Series/WandaVision'', a series revolving around two heroes that said characters have little to no connection to normally:
** Practically ''nobody'' was expecting Darcy Lewis to reappear in the MCU, given that she only appearred in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', where she was a CanonForeigner, and was thought to have been completely forgotten after the events of the latter movie.[[note]]Unlike Jane, whose absence was at least handwaved, Darcy didn't even warrant a single mention in ''Thor: Ragnarok''.[[/note]] Her appearance here is quite the shock, as Darcy has absolutely no relation to anything MCU-related outside of the Thor movies, much less Wanda and Vision.
** Given that he only appeared relatively recently as a side character in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', and has no connection whatsoever to Vision or Scarlet Witch in the comics, it's unlikely anyone ever expected Jimmy Woo to appear in this series as well.
** Comicbook/MonicaRambeau of all people plays a big role in this series. Like Woo, she was only introduced as early as ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' as a young, but as a bright kid during the events of that film. As such, this series shows her having grown up significantly since her debut, now played by [[TimeShiftedActor Time Shifted Actress]] Teyonah Parris.

* ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' getting his own series on Creator/DisneyPlus might just take the prize for least expected announcement in 2019. Not only is he a pretty damn small-time character in the comics with only a few short runs to his name, but the width of difference between those takes has left many people wondering what exactly they plan to do with him and what niche he's meant to fill going forward. Even those who ''were'' expecting him probably raised an eyebrow at him being added to Disney's proprietary streaming service given the Moon Knight mythos is packed to capacity with family-unfriendly content, to the point many expected that if he ''did'' show up it would be on Netflix with other shows based on similarly adult franchises.
* ''Comicbook/SheHulk'' getting her own Disney+ show wasn't on anyone's radar, due to the rights issues with Creator/{{Universal}} that have kept Bruce from having his own movie since Phase 1. To clarify, Universal holds the distribution rights to stand-alone Hulk movies while Disney [=/=] Marvel Studios can use the Hulk and his characters in ensemble projects such as the ''Avengers'' movies and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. How was this show able to get greenlit then? Simple: Marvel realized that [[LoopholeAbuse there was no rule]] against the Hulk and his characters appearing in a ''TV series''.
* [[https://deadline.com/2020/09/jonathan-majors-ant-man-3-marvel-universe-1203028234/ Kang the Conqueror will be the]] BigBad of the third Ant-Man movie, of all projects. While Kang the Conqueror has fought Ant-Man, normally it is done in the context of the Avengers comics, rather than in Ant-Man's solo comics. Likewise, most people thought that Kang's time-traveling nature would have made him a better fit for a future Avengers film than a street-level hero such as Ant-Man.

* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' has been revealed to include the Captain America foe Flag-Smasher, or at least a group who bears the same name as him. This is a minor surprise if only because of Flag-Smasher's relative obscurity and the fact that the series will already have Zemo take up the main villain role.

* ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' has been revealed to include the Captain America foe Flag-Smasher, or at least a group who bears the same name as him. This is a minor surprise if only because of Flag-Smasher's relative obscurity and the fact that the series will already have Zemo take up the main villain role.

** Which is not to say that people weren't surprised [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-3-alfred-molina-returning-as-doctor-octopus when it was confirmed that]] Creator/AlfredMolina ''would'' be returning to play [[Film/SpiderMan2 Doctor Octopus]].