Marvel Studios made history with a new actress playing a second role in the franchise's most recent superhero project. The MCU has utilized massive numbers of actors for roles, including dozens of the biggest stars in the entertainment industry. With well over 50 combined movies and TV shows making up the saga, multiple stars have taken double (and sometimes triple) duty in that span as well.
Natasha Lyonne was cast in Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps, playing an original character named Rachel Rozman. Rachel is a school teacher who works in Ben Grimm's childhood neighborhood and the Jewish synagogue Ben goes to in the film's third act. While she only has a few scenes, a romance is teased between the two.
Lyonne becomes the latest actor to play multiple roles in the MCU and the first to play two original characters. Previously, the Poker Face star had a voiceover role in What If...? Season 3 as the grown-up version of a superhero named Byrdie. Byrdie is the hybrid offspring of Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis and Seth Green's Howard the Duck, who was born in Season 3, Episode 4. She is also a new character created specially for the MCU rather than being based on the comics.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps features Lyonne alongside Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in the MCU's first Phase 6 movie. Set in the 1960s and in an alternate universe (Earth-828), the Four are tasked with stopping Ralph Ineson's Galactus from consuming their planet and ending life as they know it. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is playing in theaters worldwide.
Other MCU Stars Who Play Multiple Characters
Gemma Chan
Gemma Chan made her MCU debut in 2019's Captain Marvel, playing the Kree sniper Minn-Erva. Originally a member of Carol Danvers' team of Kree soldiers, she quickly turned on Carol by the end of the movie when the titular hero realized she had been manipulated. This led to Minn-Erva chasing down Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau in her spaceship, and she perished after Rambeau shot her down.
Two years later, Chan returned to the MCU to play a much bigger role as Sersi in 2021's Eternals. Taking top billing in this movie, Sersi has the power to manipulate and transform matter by touching it, and she is also the heart and soul of the team. By the end of the movie, she is taken for judgment by the Celestial Arishem alongside Phastos and Kingo.
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch is best known to MCU fans for playing Doctor Stephen Strange, a Master of the Mystic Arts and one of the most powerful sorcerers in the universe. Starting in 2016's Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch has played the role in seven MCU projects to date. He is also expected to continue bringing Strange to life in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, although he has not been officially confirmed for an appearance yet.
Additionally, Doctor Strange allowed Cumberbatch to play a second role, as he embodied the film's big bad, Dormammu. Performing the motion capture and voiceover to bring this villain to life, the MCU veteran embraced the darkness of the Dark Dimension for the climactic face-off at the end of the film.
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is currently the MCU's longest-tenured actor, as he first played Tony Stark's AI system, JARVIS, in 2008's Iron Man. He played this role on six occasions (mostly in the Multiverse Saga), acting as the voice in Tony's head and Iron Man suits and assisting Robert Downey Jr.'s hero on his missions.
Starting in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bettany added the role of Vision to his resume, with JARVIS being implanted into the android body originally meant for Ultron. He played this character in four total projects, last seen in 2021's WandaVision after Vision was killed off in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Bettany is confirmed to return to the role of Vision in 2026, leading a solo series on Disney+ (Vision Quest).
Seth Green
While Seth Green's roles in the MCU are minimal, he became an instant fan favorite for his work as Howard the Duck. First appearing in the post-credits scene from Guardians of the Galaxy, he made appearances in all three Guardians films, and Howard had a voiceless cameo in Avengers: Endgame. Green also played a much bigger role in multiple episodes of the animated What If...? series.
Green is also unique on this list, as he is the only actor to play himself in the MCU. 2010's Iron Man 2 showed a quick shot of Green attending the Stark Expo, seemingly indicating that he brought his real likeness and persona into the fictional Marvel Universe.
Taika Waititi
Along with multiple directing credits, Taika Waititi is known for bringing a handful of characters to life in his movies. Most notable amongst those roles is Korg, a Kronan warrior who first showed up as a gladiator on Sakaar. Korg has played roles in three MCU movies (Avengers: Endgame and the last two Thor films) and the animated What If...? series, fighting alongside the God of Thunder in battle.
Waititi also portrays another Kronan, Ninny of the Nonny (the Kronan god), in Thor: Love and Thunder's scene featuring the assembly of the gods. Additionally, the actor/director/writer's face is used for one of the heads seen on the three-headed Hajo in Thor: Ragnarok.
Kenneth Choi
Also known for his work on 911, Kenneth Choi joined the MCU in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, playing the role of Jim Morita. Seen in this movie and the Season 2 premiere of Agents of SHIELD, Morita was a soldier with the Howling Commandos who fought alongside Captain America in World War II.
Phase 3 brought Choi back for a new but familiar role in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. There, Choi played Midtown School of Science and Technology's Principal Morita, Jim Morita's grandson.
Michelle Yeoh
Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh has a long tenure in the MCU, which started in 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. At the end of that movie, and in one of it's post-credits scenes, she played Aleta Ogord, one of the leaders of the Ravagers alongside Sylvester Stallone's Stakar Ogord.
In 2021, Yeoh returned to Marvel for a role as Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Ying Nan is Shang-Chi's aunt from Ta Lo, who helped train him in her fighting style before the ultimate battle with his father, the Mandarin.
David Dastmalchian
David Dastmalchian first made a name for himself in the MCU with roles in the first two Ant-Man movies. Those films featured him as the Russian hacker Kurt, a member of Scott Lang's team of criminals who would eventually move into a more reputable part with X-Con Security Consultants.
In 2023's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Dastmalchian took on a new persona as Veb, a pink, blob-like being who served with the Freedom Fighters. His bodily fluids helped outsiders understand the language of those who lived in the Quantum Realm (see more about Veb in The Direct's exclusive interview with Dastmalchian here).
Damion Poitier
Damion Poitier made his MCU debut in 2012's The Avengers, appearing in the post-credits scene as the stand-in for the Mad Titan Thanos. Without any lines, Poitier delivered a menacing smile to the camera as The Other told him, "to challenge them is to court Death" when speaking about Earth.
Poitier played another small role in 2016's Captain America: Civil War as one of Crossbones' henchmen during his mission in Lagos, Nigeria. Fighting Black Widow, Falcon's Redwing drone took him out as he held a biological sample that Crossbones was after.
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.
