While Marvel Studios certainly plans to expand its reach with new characters coming to the MCU in the coming years, Phase 4 kicked off with two stories for heroes that have spent plenty of time in the spotlight already. Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan starred in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which followed the overwhelmingly successful WandaVision featuring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany.
Although each member of this quartet has seen action in more than a handful of MCU projects thus far, not all the details of these stars' contracts with Marvel Studios are known. Other than Sebastian Stan notably having a nine-project deal with Marvel and Samuel L. Jackson's ten-picture contract, not many other details have been updated on this front for any Marvel actor.
In that light, Olsen just spoke of her own deal, which isn't as long as many were likely expecting.
ELIZABETH OLSEN'S MCU DEAL
WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen appeared on the Awards Chatter Podcast from The Hollywood Reporter, where the discussion came to her contract with Marvel Studios.
When asked how long her initial deal was, Olsen revealed that she only "signed on for two (movies) and a cameo" nearly a decade ago. Going through "three rounds of contracts" to date, Olsen seems certain that Marvel always "had a plan for [her]," bringing her into play when "think there’s story that can be used:"
"I signed on for two (movies) and a cameo. I’ve gone through three rounds of contracts with Marvel already. I just do, like, appetizer or something, they never have me over for the big meal!
And it really has benefited me because they only continue to use me, not cause they have to, but because they think there’s story that can be used. And so I’ve always felt — even though I’ve had my own scheduling that has broken my heart in certain moments — I have always felt like they had a plan for me, and never really let me in on what that plan was, but I knew that they would only use me if it was useful."
Speaking about the upside to this, along with looking back on the "six-movie, nine-movie deals" that others had signed, Olsen revealed that she "never knew if [they] were even gonna touch half the stuff" that was included in her first Disney+ series:
"People sign, like, six-movie, nine-movie deals, I’ve heard. That’s a lot! And they didn’t really know how much further it was gonna know. We never knew if we were even gonna touch half the stuff we did in WandaVision."
OLSEN IS READY FOR WHATEVER MARVEL'S GOT NEXT
Outside the major stars like Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man) or Chris Evans (Captain America), many Marvel actors' deals don't slot them in for a huge number of movies or TV shows. This appears to be exactly the case with Olsen even seven years after she first debuted as Wanda Maximoff.
Based on her comments, it seems that her original deal set her up to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War after making a cameo debut in the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She followed this original contract up with two more Avengers movies before starring in WandaVision to kick off 2021.
Her seventh appearance in the MCU is set to come alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, although her status after this multiversal adventure is unknown. There's certainly a chance she could sign a longer deal for more movies in the coming months, but from her comments, she may stick with the shorter deals to keep herself free for anything else that comes her way.
Whatever becomes of her contract status, fans are certainly hoping the Scarlet Witch remains one of the most powerful Avengers for years to come.
All nine episodes of WandaVision are available to stream on Disney+. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will arrive in theaters on March 25, 2022.
