Charlize Theron, well known for her intense action choreography (Atomic Blonde (2017), The Old Guard (2020)) and incredible transformations (Bombshell (2019)), has recently revealed in an interview at the Fast X premiere in Rome, Italy with MTV reporter Josh Horowitz, that Marvel has not contacted her to return as Clea in the MCU. 

I asked @CharlizeAfrica about her Marvel future and things got awkward. Not really. Well kinda. pic.twitter.com/OLR5W389gZ

— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) May 22, 2023

Theron made her MCU debut in a post-credit cameo in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (2022) where she encountered Strange and encouraged him to join her in another multiversal adventure.  

Marvel’s silence on Theron’s return is surprising due to the significant role her character, Clea, plays in the Doctor Strange universe. In the comics, Clea is the niece of Dormomu (the interdimensional monster Strange defeated in the first film Doctor Strange (2016)), the sorceress goddess of the Dark Dimension, wife of Doctor Strange, and Sorcerer Supreme. 

However, like all secret big-budget Marvel films, it is unclear if Theron is misdirecting fans like so many other actors have in the past when confronted about their superhero roles.

For the prosperity of the MCU brand and after Marvel’s poor performance with Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania (2023), the potential for a new superhero like Clea could re-invigorate the fandom. 

During a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference earlier this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger promised a new cast of MCU characters. 

“There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand. I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining, and you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole different set of Avengers.”

As for Theron, her upcoming projects include David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde 2 and Victoria Mahoney’s The Old Guard 2, both of which Theron is the lead actress and producer.