As well as the Avengers themselves, the twins, at least two villainous roles, and other expected people like Fury and Hill, it seems the movie will also include James Rhodes, Sam Wilson, Antoine Triplett, and Peggy Carter. Sam Wilson isn’t too surprising, since after all he did go off with Steve at the end of Winter Soldier, but the other three are a bit more interesting.
James Rhodes certainly is a character that can show up in big superhero stories, at least when it makes sense for the U.S. military to want to get involved(I’m sure he was en route to NYC during the big battle there, even if presumably he didn’t get there before it ended). Indeed, with S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently down for the count, I suspect he’s been a lot busier, doing lots of things the government had formerly relied on S.H.I.E.L.D. to do. But assuming he isn’t just a cameo talking with Tony in one scene but an active participant in the story, how will he get into it? Will he be sent in under orders, and if the government decides to get involved in that way? And how would that complicate things? Because inevitably it would. Or will he be going rogue? That is very, very possible, and means his story changes completely(will the writers do that justice? One would hope so).
Antoine Triplett may be the most intriguing addition. It’s a nice one, especially if he gets to meet his grandfather’s former commander and talk with him. But if he’s in the movie and the rest of Coulson’s crew isn’t, how is that going to work? Is he not going to stick with the group, then? (Is Ward going to get redeemed quicker than we thought?) Is he just going to occasionally go on missions of his own, and end up getting caught up in the events of the movie during one of them?(if so, we need a scene in the following episode where he tells the others about his adventure) How’s he going to identify himself anyway, if he is to leave people unaware that a guy they thought dead is building S.H.I.E.L.D. back up? Is he just going to appear and help the characters out without explaining anything to them? Really, this kind of thing can only work for so long; sooner or later, the Avengers are going to have to find out Coulson is alive, but if he himself doesn’t appear, I can’t think that’ll happen in this movie.
Peggy Carter I suspect will be a cameo, and I’m afraid the biggest question may have to be if she’s still going to be alive at the end of the movie. She really is very, very old now, after all. They may even have her here just for her death to have an emotional impact on at least Steve, and maybe everybody else too. But I do hope we get at least some idea of how she’s coping with learning that Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. even as she was founding it. That really is heartbreaking for her, and I hope they acknowledge that. I wouldn’t even blame Steve if her appearance in the movie actually involves him trying to keep it from her, though I’m not sure it’s plausible she wouldn’t find out; she’d have to be going pretty senile to have not received the news somehow.
As well as who is on this cast list, there’s also who isn’t: Pepper Potts and Jane Foster apparently are both sitting this one out. The former is especially surprising; when she’s CEO of the big tech company you expect her to at least have a scene or two. If this is happening simply because Gweneth Paltrow wasn’t available for whatever reason, they still have to come up with an explanation for it. Maybe she and Jane are off doing something else important? Jane has her own career completely separate from her boyfriend’s, so that’s certainly possible enough for her. Maybe we’ll get a DVD extra featuring what the two of them did during the events of the movie? Hope so.
We Need More Fruit 