MCU Star Addresses Possible Confusion From New Marvel Role

Highlights

Marvel actor playing multiple roles in upcoming Venom film shrugs off fan confusion concerns.
Chiwetel Ejiofor joins Venom as a military soldier tracking Eddie and Venom, speculations place him as a villain Orwell Taylor.
Despite appearing in the MCU as Karl Mordo, Ejiofor is enthusiastic about his new role in Venom movie.

One actor who appears in Doctor Strange will play another character in the upcoming Venom: The Last Dance. When asked how his new role might confuse fans, he just laughed it off and said they should watch it.

Marvel comics have inspired a lot of movies, including Venom, a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous and liquid-like form that lives inside a human host named Eddie Brock. The movie series debuted with Venom in 2018 and spawned two sequels, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2018) and Venom: The Last Dance (2024). One actor joins the next Venom movie but has already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as an egomaniacal sorcerer. The actor will reportedly be playing a villain in the film, and he is thrilled with his new MCU role despite concerns that fans might be confused by his two characters in the franchise.

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Chiwetel Ejiofor made his MCU debut as Karl Mordo, a sorcerer under the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) in 2016’s Doctor Strange. He reprised his role in the 2022 sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Mordo is meant to be killed off by Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange 2, but the scene was scrapped. He remains canonically alive in the MCU. However, Ejiofor was also cast to join Tom Hardy in Sony Pictures’ Venom: The Last Dance. He plays a military soldier tracking Eddie and Venom. In one scene in the trailer, he can be seen capturing a symbiote. Ejiofor’s role hasn’t been named, but there are rumors he plays the villainous Orwell Taylor. In an interview with Josh Horowitz, he was asked about his new Marvel character and if he was concerned about fans being confused with his two roles in the MCU.

Ejiofor said:

I feel the best thing to do there is just watch the film.

He added that important conversations happen after everybody watches and engages in the film. For Ejiofor, pre-engagement convos are not as significant at this time. Instead, he shared his experience working with British screenwriter Kelly Marcel, who penned the movie, and Hardy, who headlined the film. He even complimented Hardy for portraying Venom remarkably. He said, “It was fantastic to work with Kelly [Marcel] in that world and to engage with a really special character that Tom [Hardy] has danced with. When you see on set when Venom arrives, you’re like, ‘Wow.’ It’s a real sort of moment.”

As for Mordo’s story arc in the Doctor Strange sequel, Ejiofor said he hadn’t predicted it but found it fascinating. In one scene, Scarlet Witch killed the members of the Illuminati, including Peggy Carter, Blackagar Boltagon, Maria Rambeau, Reed Richards, and Charles Xavier. She left Mordo alive, but an original concept art for Doctor Strange 2 revealed that he was supposed to be dead along with the others. Ejiofor said, “I felt like there was something potentially really exciting about where that could go. I like that broadly. I like the idea these characters and worlds can be explored in these really incredible ways.”

Venom and Doctor Strange are in different universes in the MCU. While there are chances fans might be confused seeing Ejiofor playing two characters in the MCU, it won’t be as confusing if they just take his roles in different films as it is, as they aren’t related to each other. Also, it’s not new for Marvel to hire actors playing different roles in other films. For instance, Chris Evans was Jonathan “Johnny” Storm/Human Torch in two Fantastic Four movies before he became Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America. Evans reprised his Fantastic Four role in Deadpool & Wolverine. However, one of the most surprising castings of a former Marvel actor is probably Robert Downey Jr.’s. RDJ played the fan-favorite and beloved character Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. RDJ’s superhero character died in Avengers: Endgame, but he rejoined the MCU as Doctor Doom for the next two Avengers movies — Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Downey Jr.’s casting confused many, including his Iron Man co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, who asked, “I don’t get it are you a baddie now?” RDJ will reportedly make his Doctor Doom debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. As for Ejiofor, it’s best to just take his new MCU role squarely.