The original Avengers are still a big part of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but their cameos in Loki and Black Widow have been voice only. Ever since WandaVision kicked off Phase 4, the MCU has been dealing with the fallout of Avengers: Endgame where the world is moving on without Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as Captain America and the deaths of Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Although half of the original six Avengers are gone, Marvel Studios is still finding creative ways to cameo some of the Avengers who started it all.
WandaVision took place just a couple of weeks after Avengers: Endgame but by the time The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as well as Spider-Man: Far From Home, happen, it's been many months since the Avengers beat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and brought the billions he killed back to life in the Blip. It's now 2024 in the 'present day' of the MCU, although the various Marvel series on Disney+ as well as Black Widow have been set during various points in the MCU timeline. Loki also makes matters extra confusing since the Loki Variant (Tom Hiddleston) who stars in the show began his adventure in 2012 and has been hopping across time ever since, plus the Time Variance Authority exists outside of linear time. But the MCU never really forgets its characters and its own history and even villains who have been missing for over a decade, like the Abomination (Tim Roth), will soon reappear in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Now, Marvel movies and TV shows are so sneaky at integrating the Avengers that fans have to pay attention to their voices in addition to being on the lookout for an O.G. Avengers sighting. In Loki episode 5, "Journey Into Mystery", the Frog Thor who was briefly seen trapped in a jar that was buried in The Void was actually voiced by Chris Hemsworth. Even though it was a cameo that only lasted for a second or two, the Thor actor specially recorded Frog Thor's voice for Loki. Meanwhile, Black Widow references Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) several times and even shows footage of him fighting Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in Captain America: Civil War, plus Hawkeye pops up on the tablet Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) shows to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). But Jeremy Renner's voice can also be heard in Black Widow; he cameos on comms with Natasha Romanoff in the flashback to how she bombed General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) in Budapest to earn her place in S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the first three Phases of the MCU, especially during the Infinity Saga, Marvel rapidly expanded its cinematic universe but Kevin Feige and his team were always aware they would lose many of the major players who started it all after Avengers: Endgame. But with the advent of Marvel's incredibly successful Disney+ shows and how the MCU has embraced the Multiverse, the MCU is bigger than ever and constantly growing. This allows for novel ways to reintegrate the original Avengers, who will never be forgotten in the MCU, such as how many Avengers made vocal cameos with their most famous catchphrases at the start of Loki's finale.
Marvel has also had to make some necessary real-world adjustments to account for the massive changes to the MCU in Phase 4. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson, for example, have wrapped up their commitments to Marvel, although everyone has expressed an openness to return to the MCU under the right circumstances. Marvel has even ceased signing their actors to 9-picture deals as Samuel L. Jackson agreed to as Nick Fury. Overall, the talent has shown they are happy to keep popping up in the MCU, and gone are the days when actors like Edward Norton and Terrence Howard would permanently part ways with Marvel.
Meanwhile, Thor is an original Avenger whose movie franchise continues while the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) will appear in She-Hulk and Clint Barton headlines his own Hawkeye show. What If...? is another innovative vehicle to bring back popular dead characters like Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Thanos (Josh Brolin), and Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), and it's also the final MCU performance of the late Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa. Unfortunately, actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Brie Larson won't voice Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel, respectively, in What If...? But fans should still keep their eyes and ears open because you simply never know when and how your favorite Avengers characters, dead or alive, might suddenly reappear in the MCU, just like in Loki and Black Widow.
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