Everyone Missed This Avengers: Age of Ultron Trick That Explained 1 Major MCU Recast

One of the first recasts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was made much smoother thanks to one detail in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. After they took down the last HYDRA stations, Age of Ultron pitted the established Avengers team against the self-made tyrannical artificial intelligence known as Ultron, who planned to render humanity extinct to save the Earth. Ultron’s plan stemmed from him scan of every piece of digital media, leading him to surmise that humanity is what’s wrong with the planet, and this sequence included a brief cameo from another MCU character.

During Ultron’s scan of all the world’s media, the robot saw a glimpse of Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s father. While Gerard Sanders briefly played the role in 2008’s Iron Man, the better-known John Slattery became Howard Stark for his most substantial role in 2010’s Iron Man 2. In 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, however, Dominic Cooper played Stark during the 1940s, and Age of Ultron made the transition from Cooper to Slattery seamless. Slattery and Cooper’s features were combined to create the image of a middle-aged Stark in Age of Ultron, but you might have missed this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

It’s understandable that Ultron would catch a glimpse of Howard Stark while scrolling through all the travesties in the history of Earth. As a genius-level scientist, inventor, and engineer, Stark was a coveted addition to various government projects throughout his life. As a young man, he worked on the Manhattan Project and Project Rebirth, the latter of which culminated in Steve Rogers’ transformation into Captain America. Stark later had a hand in founding SHIELD, using the Strategic Scientific Reserve as a foundation, which makes him one of the most important figures in the MCU’s history.

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Marvel Studios only used this trick to introduce a middle-aged Howard Stark once, while John Slattery was de-aged for his appearance as Howard Stark in 1970 in Avengers: Endgame. The 2019 crossover event marked an important moment for Howard Stark and his son, Tony, as Robert Downey Jr.’s Avenger got the chance to properly speak to his father while he was collecting the Space Stone from Camp Lehigh. Slattery’s did appear fairly similar in Endgame to the brief depiction of Howard Stark in Age of Ultron, with Marvel Studios surely using Dominic Cooper’s appearance as a reference.

Versions of Howard Stark most recently appeared in What If…? season 3 back in 2024, one based on Cooper’s depiction, and another based on Slattery’s. A variant of Cooper’s Stark helped Agatha Harkness film her transformation into a Celestial being, while a variant of Slattery’s Stark was saved by the Red Guardian, who stopped the Winter Soldier from killing the Stark parents. It’s unclear if or when Howard Stark will return to the MCU, but it would be fantastic to see either Slattery or Cooper reprise the role, especially with Robert Downey Jr. returning.

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