12 MIA Marvel Cinematic Universe Characters Unlikely To Ever Return
11. President Matthew Ellis (William Sadler)
Though the plots of many of the MCU’s films have had planetwide impacts, world leaders have been noticeably absent from them.
Iron Man 3 was the exception, featuring President Matthew Ellis and Vice President Rodriguez in a plot that saw the latter conspire to overthrow the former. When this was thwarted by Tony Stark, Ellis continued to govern, being targeted by HYDRA in The Winter Soldier and appearing in several episodes of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D and WHIH Newsfront ahead of the release of Civil War, but he disappeared entirely from the narrative thereafter.
Assuming that the MCU is in line with real world election years and Ellis secured the presidency in 2012 (an episode of Runaways makes reference to him beating Barack Obama) he would’ve been up for re-election in 2016. Had he won a second term, he’d have been constitutionally prohibited from running again in 2020.
Given that the MCU’s current ‘present’ is 2023, Ellis will be long removed from the White House and there is no reason to feature him again, William Sadler’s talents as an actor notwithstanding.