Sometimes it takes three people to play one character in the Marvel Screen Universe – you can ask Eric Bana, Ed Norton and Mark Ruffalo about that – but sometimes that same universe has to utilize the same actor to play more than one role.
This year Alfre Woodard plays two characters in Disney’s sprawling Marvel Universe.
We’ve known for a while that Woodard plays Mariah Dillard on “Luke Cage,” which hits Netflix Sept. 30.
But it just came to light that Woodard also has a role in “Captain America: Civil War,” arriving in cinemas May 6.
Despite contrary speculation, it appears Woodard does NOT play the same character in both “Luke Cage” and “Civil War.”
Sources suggest in “Civil War” she plays a grieving mother who helps convince Tony Stark to back the superhero-regulating Sokovia Accords that so irk Steve Rogers.
In “Luke Cage” Woodard’s Mariah Dillard is a Harlem politician whose life is upended by Cage’s arrival in her corner of Manhattan.
This is not the first time an actor has played two roles in Disney’s onscreen Marvel universe; “Dollhouse” star Enver Gjokaj played proto-SHIELD agent Daniel Sousa in “Agent Carter” after he played a cop in Joss Whedon’s first “Avengers” movie.
Also, if you choose to consider Tony Stark’s robotic butler Jarvis and The Vision separate characters, Paul Bettany played both.
Also also, Chris Evans and Ray Stevenson have each played two different Marvel Comics characters on the big screen (*cough*HumanTorchCaptainAmerica-PunisherVolstagg*cough*), but the Fox and Lionsgate films apparently exist outside Disney’s continuity.
Find all of ScreenCrush’s story on the matter here.
