The past three and next two Marvel Studios releases all have one thing in common, and in many ways, it's a preview of the MCU's long-term future - and also a test the studio hasn't faced in years. In all five cases, they are all replacement heroes - and boy, do they have big shoes to fill. This year, Marvel Studios will be (and has already) introduced fans to a new Captain America and a new Fantastic Four, sneakily brought in a new Avengers and an Iron Man-esque hero (in Ironheart), and brought back a hero it didn't create (and thought about rebooting entirely) in Daredevil.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe turned 17 earlier this year, and as it is on the cusp of adulthood it is learning how it's as much about newness as it is about nostalgia and is dealing with the fact all of its first wave of heroes are at least a decade older, with some like Robert Downey Jr. almost two decades older than their MCU debut. For the vaunted interconnected universe that is the MCU to continue, it must now perfect something that I'd argue only one franchise has ever done: James Bond.

Here now in 2025, it's all about how to replace your favorite MCU heroes.

Creating the next Captain America, Iron Man, and Avengers

For the most part, the marquee heroes (and villains) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had never appeared in a live-action movie or TV series before. There are some exceptions, but more often than not they're not having to match or exceed the vaunted nostalgic presence of an actor who played the role before them. And for those that did have to follow in the footsteps of someone else, it wasn't a high bar they had to overachieve with.

But for Anthony Mackie, taking on the role of Captain America after Chris Evans was anything but easy. Even with a literal passing of the torch between the two actors in Avengers: Endgame, gracious media interviews by Evans following that, and the season-long liminal transference that was Disney+'s The Falcon & Winter Soldier. I enjoyed Wilson's turn as Captain America, but the jury seems to still be out on the massive shield shoes he has to fill with Avengers: Doomsday, much the same way fans did at the time when Roger Moore took over the James Bond role from Sean Connery.

You can feel the reluctance on Marvel Studios' part to wade in these waters again, while wanting to replace these heroes, with the Thunderbolts movie segueing into being New Avengers only after fans had begun seeing it. And their reluctance to fully commit to the bit and officially rename the Thunderbolts movie to New Avengers as the climax of the movie (and its marketing) projects leads me to believe they'll be known as the Thunderbolts more so than the New Avengers in the long term.

With Disney+'s Ironheart, they are aiming to replicate the broad outline of Iron Man, without it actually being Iron Man. While the original version of the character in Marvel Comics leaned into Riri Williams being the next Iron Man - by giving her the Iron Man title and an AI version of Tony Stark as her guide, Marvel Studios' version of Ironheart is having her tied more to her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, calling this show literally a "direct sequel" to that film.

In this, as with all of the things on our list, it's the pros and cons of nostalgia mixed with the realities of actors (and characters) only being up for a finite number of stories in the MCU.

The fourth attempt at a live-action Fantastic Four

While The Fantastic Four: First Steps is these heroes' debut in the MCU, Marvel Studios isn't omitting the previous FFs - from Chris Evans reprising his role as Johnny Storm in Deadpool vs. Wolverine to John Krasinski's stunt casting as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While Pedro Pascal & friends don't have any kind of measurable bar of past FFs to surpass here, they are playing against the idea that the FF in movies has been kind of redundant so far.

Whereas other times in which Marvel has recast and rebooted a superhero that has starred in major movies of its own with other actors before (see Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Nick Fury) they do so by downplaying the past to position their new cast for the future, it seems for Marvel Studios the Fantastic Four's cinematic past has an undeniable weight they want to play on just as they're trying to establish a new FF for their future.

Depending on how this goes and how much (or little) nostalgia matters to establishing a new FF, it will most certainly color what Marvel Studios decides to do about their properties in a similar situation, such as the X-Men and Ghost Rider.

Reborn (again) with Charlie Cox's Daredevil

With Charlie Cox and Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel Studios committed to something it had never done before: adopt someone else's franchise. While Netflix's Daredevil was marketed as connected to the MCU, behind-the-scenes it was not the case - being developed under a different department outside of Kevin Feige's MCU - and that parentage led to Feige's MCU ultimately disowning Charlie Cox's Daredevil and all the Netflix shows in the 2023 official book Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. According to Kingpin actor Vincent D'Onofrio, the original plan for his character and Cox's Daredevil was for it to be a complete restart - but then Marvel Studios came to their senses.

That resulted in the well-received Daredevil: Born Again season 1, and Marvel Studios slowly opening the door to other Netflix heroes such as Jon Bernthal's Punisher, and in season two Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones. But it's not just limited to that - it also happened with Deadpool & Wolverine.

In 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios welcomed not only the 20th Century Fox versions of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) but also opened the door to the unlikely Gambit, played by Channing Tatum, returning for Avengers: Doomsday no less. The success of that is paving the way to bring back other Fox-era X-Men actors such as Ian McKellen's Magneto, Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, and James Marsden's Cyclops.

In this case, it's all about nostalgia. There is a world where Marvel Studios could have rebooted the Daredevil franchise and the cast altogether, but now as it nears two decades even Kevin Feige and co. are balancing the pros and cons of nostalgia versus the desire to be completely new. You see it in the stunt casting of former Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, and you see it in all of this.

Or you will, depending on how good the next MCU  movies and TV shows are, and how well we receive them.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• All the upcoming MCU movies, TV series, and specials on the horizon
• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst