MCU: 10 Returning Characters We're Most Excited About

Marvel has a track record of pulling fast ones on the audience, with characters who we thought we'd never see again suddenly popping back up in later films.

William Ginter Riva - who first appeared in Iron Man - made his return in Far From Home 11 years later; Red Skull was "vanquished" in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, but later reappeared (albeit with a different actor portraying him) in Infinity War; Iron Man 3's Harley Keener came back in Endgame after a six-year absence; both Ronan the Accuser and Phil Coulson appeared in Captain Marvel; John Slattery's Howard Stark played a small but pivotal role in Endgame; and of course, there's Mr. Harrington, who had a non-speaking, unnamed cameo in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, only to reappear in Spider-Man: Homecoming as the same character.

That trend is set to continue as Marvel moves into the future, with future properties - both on the big screen and on Disney+ - poised to bring back characters who have died, disappeared, or are presumed to have departed the franchise altogether. In the case of all of these characters, it'll be nice just to see a familiar face. But with others, we have an entirely different reason to be excited: their return implies big things coming to the MCU, setting up the next several years of films and television shows.

Some of these are confirmed, and some are more of educated guesses than anything else. So, who should we all be most stoked to see?

Let's just get this out of the way: Thanos SHOULD be much higher on the list. "Then why isn't he?!" you ask, exasperated. Well, dear reader, that's because we've got no real assurance that he'll be in the future of the MCU, at all. He's the only character on this list whose continued presence is 50/50 (at best).

But calm down. If you were wanting more of the Mad Titan, there's a small sliver of hope. Where does that hope come from? It actually comes from Jim Starlin, who created the character. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Starlin said the following:

"Well, I understand that the story's not completely ended. They've already announced that. I think a young Thanos appears in The Eternals. I remember reading that somewhere. They made a s**t load of money off this guy, so I don't see them retiring him anytime soon. Comic book characters tend to have an extended lifespan beyond the actors who work on them. I'm half expecting to see much more Thanos down the line."

While that shouldn't exactly be taken as gospel, it is interesting, nonetheless. Concept art of a young Thanos exists, so Marvel could feasibly explore his backstory (with a younger actor) in The Eternals, which will span thousands of years.