How to Get Cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Sarah Finn has been the MCU’s go-to talent seeker ever since Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” kicked off the franchise in 2008. Her keen casting sense can be seen in every film entry in the MCU, on the ABC series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Agent Carter,” and on Disney+’s “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “What If…?” “Hawkeye,” and “Moon Knight.”

While the idea of setting foot in such a gigantic, star-studded world is daunting, Finn told us that unknown actors actually have a better chance of getting cast than you might think. “The landscape has changed, for sure. I think that with the proliferation of all these outlets, there [are] so many opportunities for people,” she said. 

The CD has brought in countless big names, including Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), and the late Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa/Black Panther).

She has also helped launch the careers of newcomers like Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the “Black Panther” movies; Tom Holland, aka Peter Parker in the “Spider-Man” films; Lexi Rabe, who appears as Tony Stark’s daughter Morgan in “Avengers: Endgame”; Sebastian Stan, who portrays Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier; and Iman Vellani, who’s taken on the role of Disney+’s titular “Ms. Marvel,” aka Kamala Khan—her screen debut.

But Finn explained her main priority is simply finding the best actor for the part to bring the director’s vision to life. “We were so lucky to have Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer; so many incredible, legendary actors joined these films,” she said. “But there were also times when we engaged in a huge search, sometimes lasting a year or more, sometimes covering thousands of actors, to find the perfect person.”

Other Marvel CDs include Laray Mayfield (Netflix’s “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” “Jessica Jones,” and “The Punisher”), Randi Hiller (“Iron Man,” “Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” and “The Avengers”), Patrick Rush (Hulu’s “Runaways”), and Krista Husar (Disney+’s “Loki,” “Echo,” “Moon Knight,” “Hawkeye,” and “Ms. Marvel”).

Phase 5—the second phase in Marvel’s three-part Multiverse Saga—will release its final movie, “Thunderbolts*,” in May 2025, making room for Phase 6, which begins with the July 2025 release of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” But there do not appear to be any open casting calls available for other upcoming Phase 6 titles, which include “Avengers: Doomsday,” the fourth “Spider-Man” movie, and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” Fans can also expect the Disney+ release of multiple new tie-in series, including “Eyes of Wakanda,” “Wonder Man,” “Marvel Zombies,” and “Vision Quest.”

Marvel is highly secretive, so don’t be surprised if a casting call doesn’t blatantly highlight the project. In 2024, Reddit users put together the puzzle pieces of a possible call for stand-ins on “Thunderbolts*.” While the Facebook announcement in question went by a decoy production name, “Oops All Berries,” all signs pointed to the same filming dates as “Thunderbolts*.”

In previous years, we’ve posted casting calls for MCU films such as “Madame Web,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” We’ve also created standalone guides on how to get cast on Marvel shows, including “Echo,” “Agatha All Along,” and “Daredevil: Born Again.” Bookmark this roundup of superhero gigs so you’ll be first to know about future opportunities.  

While landing a principal part in an MCU project isn’t exactly a Thanos snap away, background gigs are easier to get. As recently as 2013, Simu Liu was an extra in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim.” Now, he’s the face of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Marvel’s first major film series featuring primarily Asian talent.

When it comes to auditioning for a CD like Finn for prominent speaking roles in the MCU—be they lead, supporting, or recurring—it’s best to go through an acting agent or talent agency. While there might be exceptions, such as if a particular project is seeking a fresh face and is aiming to find talent differently, it’s highly unlikely the MCU franchise will rely on public casting calls or random submissions. Instead, an actor’s representation may be able to get them in the door.  

That said, keep in mind how difficult and competitive Marvel’s casting stage is. Most chosen actors are those who have proven themselves with years of steady work, busy résumés, and the demo reels to show for it. (If you need help finding an agent, here’s how to get one.)

Even Drax the Destroyer needed an agent’s help. Before Dave Bautista landed his career-making role in James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” he was a struggling pro wrestler–turned–actor. “I had lost all my money from wrestling, and I was desperate to get a job,” he said at Denver Pop Culture Con. “I finally got an agent, like, two weeks before I got the audition for ‘Guardians.’ My agent says, ‘You know, I really had to fight to get you this audition…. It was really hard to get. They didn’t really want to audition you.’ ” Luckily for Bautista (and fans), the audition went well.

Among the many actors whom Bautista beat out for the role was Boseman, who would become a Marvel legend a few years later in “Black Panther.” In an interview on “The Tonight Show” in 2019, Boseman told Jimmy Fallon, “Sometimes, that’s the way it works as an actor: You go in knowing you’re not gonna get [the part], but you’re meeting the people [who] might be like, ‘He’s not this, but we’ll put him in this other thing.’ ” 

Finn echoed this sentiment, saying, “In the Marvel world, there were many actors who auditioned for one part in a Marvel film or another project and got cast years later in something else. When you do good work and show up every day, we take note. We remember that, and hopefully it turns into something down the line.”

Jacob Batalon, who stole the show as Peter Parker’s best pal Ned in the “Spider-Man” films starring Holland, had recently moved from Hawaii to Los Angeles when he found a manager who encouraged him to hone his craft at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. While in the midst of the school’s two-year acting program, he went on the first real audition of his life: a vague call for an untitled Marvel project that his manager came across, which sought someone of any ethnicity or body type who could believably play a teenager. 

“The specs were so general. It was like, ‘Any body type, any age—as long as you look like you’re 17,’ or something crazy,” Batalon told ComicBook.com. “You could’ve been anything. And then you [get] these fake sides for a self-tape, and then I got a callback self-tape, and they gave me the actual script. When they gave that to me, they were like, ‘You know what? Scratch that; just do a screen test instead….’ So I did a screen test with Tom [Holland] and Sarah Finn, the casting director who I love with all my heart. She was the person who said, ‘Oh, yeah, just wait two weeks, and then we’ll let you know either way….’ Two and a half months go by, and I’m like, Wow, this is the most depressing period of my life.” Batalon waited months, but in April 2016—April 17, 2016 at 10:47 PM, to be exact—the actor received the call that changed his life. “My manager at the time calls me up and he’s like, ‘Bro, they want you in the film. But wait, they don’t know who you’re gonna play yet.’ And I’m like, ‘You motherf—er. You f—ing crazy!’ And I was just going crazy.”

Brett Goldstein told us that he did not have to audition for his mid-credits role as Hercules in “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Instead, studio president Kevin Feige suggested him for the role. But don’t ask Goldstein if he’ll be involved in any future films. He said, “You know the ‘Men in Black’ memory thing? [Marvel] put that in your face, so I don’t remember any of it, and I don’t know anything.”

Naturally, the process is different for established names like Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), and Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), but Teyonah Parris—who was a standout as Monica Rambeau on “WandaVision” and in 2023’s “The Marvels”—caught the attention of Finn by steadily working in the industry. Not only that, but Parris had, as she told Collider, “put many Marvel [auditions] on tape over the last decade” by the time she tried out for the Disney+ original. Due to the secretive nature of the project, she didn’t know what the part was when she auditioned with random sides. 

“With Teyonah, she is an actress [who] I’ve known for a long, long time and admired all her work and [who] had been discussed for Marvel projects before, as is often the case as we’re looking to see what the right role might be,” Finn told us.

As for Liu, he wasn’t bitten by the acting bug until 2012, when he was working as a background actor making minimum wage. He subsequently appeared in short films and music videos and even dressed up as Spider-Man for kids’ birthday parties before landing an agent. 

Liu starred on the Canadian sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” for five seasons, but he always had an eye on the character Shang-Chi. Amazingly, back in 2014, he tweeted, “Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?” Then in 2018, he tweeted, “OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi.” 

But those at Marvel claim to have not seen Liu’s tweets until after he was cast. Liu had to endure an arduous series of auditions and screen tests, as well as intense physical training, beating out hundreds of other actors before ultimately proving to be the right man for the job.

Similar to roles with Netflix, Disney, and the DC Universe, landing a part in the MCU is a long and difficult road that requires hard work, charisma, physical fitness (depending on the particular role), and credits to your name. Just as Batalon, Liu, and the other Marvel megastars have done, you should:

• Focus on your craft.
• Have a website and/or social media accounts where you can show off your talents to agents and CDs. Your online presence should include updated headshots, a résumé, and demo reels.
• Find representation. Having an agent not only gives you legitimacy, but it also opens the floodgates when it comes to audition opportunities.

When it comes to the audition itself, Lyrica Okano, who portrayed Nico Minoru on “Runaways,” said when you audition for Marvel, you probably won’t know which role you’re reading for ahead of time. So Okano pushed ahead and treated hers like any other audition. “I read the sides, and if I get a full script, I read the full script, and I do as much as I can to imagine my life as the character,” she explained. “Like what she’s gone through and what’s made her get to the place where she’s at. And I ask myself a lot of questions.”

In the audition room, Finn says, “A question we ask a lot is, ‘Did you accomplish what you came in here wanting to do today? Do you feel like you did the work that you prepared?’ Hopefully, we can honor that. I understand and have an amazing amount of compassion for what actors go through and how hard they work—what it means to them every time they come in for an audition. We want to honor that and let people know that when you’re doing your best work, you never know where that’s going to land you.”

If you need a little pep talk from the team before the big battle in the audition room, check out these pieces of wisdom from Marvel’s biggest superheroes, both on and off the screen.

Do your homework.

“Be prepared,” said Finn, who has seen thousands upon thousands of hopeful actors for more than 10 years. “And also, make it your own. There is never a right way to do things. Of course, you want to pay attention to the scene, the character, and whatever notes you have; but beyond that, what takes flight in a room is when actors allow their own inspiration to come into their reading.”

Be ready for anything.

When Jeff Ward, who played Deke Shaw on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” was preparing for his audition, he was “super excited, because the character description said: ‘Think: Han Solo.’ And I was like, Cool—that’s my childhood dream,” he said. “So I went in, and I read for it. And while I was in there, they were like, ‘Can you actually read for this other part?’ And I read for the other part, and I got the other part, but [it] was much smaller. I was going to shoot two days and just be in two scenes. 

“And I went to the table read, and as I sat down, I was immediately scared because all these people from Marvel and ABC and the show were there,” he continued. “I [later] got a call on the way to my car that said, ‘Hey, could you come back and read for that original part one more time?’ One of the showrunners called me. And I did—I went back. At 11:30 that night, I found out that I was going to do the bigger part. It was supposed to be eight episodes, but now it’s turned into the whole season and past that. It was crazy. I was supposed to do two scenes and die, and now I’m doing a lot more.”

Own the moment, but don’t dwell on your audition afterward.

Life can throw you off your game—but as Stan told us, you simply have to “bring the day with you” to an audition. Stan explains: “You’re on the subway; you’re running late. You’re trying to get to the audition, and then someone bumps into you and spills your coffee. You’re pissed off, but then you get to the audition and you’re trying to make a good impression? You might as well just own the day and go in with it. At least then, you’re starting from an honest place.”

But Stan’s advice pairs well with Parris’, who purposely distances herself from each audition immediately after. As daunting and exhausting as auditioning can be for anyone at any experience level, Parris told Collider, “Part of my process is: Once you do an audition, once I do one, it’s done. It is what it is. I have to let it go spiritually and for my mental health…. I try not to operate in the space of fear.”

You’ve done the prep work—now relax.

Emily VanCamp, who has played Sharon Carter in “Captain America: Civil War” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” stressed the importance of preparing for an audition. But she also emphasized “letting it go so that you’re free to play…. You have to almost abandon your preparation to be able to really feel free as an actor to do what you do,” she said. “I missed that step for many years. I was over-prepared and focused so much because I would be so terrified of not remembering lines or not being prepared. Then that became my main focus, rather than letting go and being free in the moment.”

Put your fear in the passenger seat.

Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”) knows it’s almost impossible to ignore your fears. That’s why, as she told us, she prefers to take her doubts and concerns along for the ride. “One of my friends said something like, ‘It’s always best to tell your fear [that] you can join me in the passenger seat. You’re not going to be driving the car, but you’re welcome to be here,’ ” Kirby said. “It’s inevitable that you feel anxious or nervous, I think. I can’t just switch off my stage fright or my anxiety before going onstage, and the more I try and fight it, the worse it gets. I have to welcome it and be like, ‘It’s OK; you can be here. You’re not going to ruin the show.’ ”

A little Spidey sense goes a long way.

Holland said he used a cheat in the audition room when he was starting out. He told us, “I would get something really wrong in the first take in the room, so that the casting director would be like, ‘You should try and do it a little bit more like this.’ And then I would do it how I’d actually planned on doing it, and it would show them that I was really good at taking direction. That’s a little trick that I used to do, just to show people kind of that I was malleable and able to work with others.”

Let CDs see you in your performance.

Finn said that being memorable in the room is all about actors honoring “their own authentic voice.” She added, “An actor should always follow their instincts and follow their impulses, because as long as an actor is drawing on their own life experience and connecting with what’s real in them and bringing that to what’s real in the character, it’s going to be unique. It’s going to stand out. I think the most important thing is to bring their own original inspiration and creativity to anything they’re doing and to the role…. There’s really no way to try to guess what someone’s looking for or to try to figure out how to do it right. There’s no right. There’s only making it your own and bringing it to life.”