One of the most beloved and known trademarks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the recurring appearances of characters. Various MCU characters have popped into various projects through all four phases so far. In fact, some like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Wong (Benedict Wong) tend to pop up all the time. There are a select few characters though that aren't part of that trend. These characters have had the longest gaps between their debut and their most recent appearances. Some characters haven't been seen in just a handful of years, but a few others haven't appeared in almost two decades. These are the MCU characters that fans were shocked to see again after so much time.

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Korath The Pursuer

Korath the Pursuer
Image Via Disney

Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Honsou) is definitely one of the lesser-known characters on this list. He's one of the perfect examples of a character with a gap between their appearances. He first appeared as one of Ronin The Accuser's (Lee Pace) lackeys in Guardians of the Galaxy. In the opening scene, after Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) locates the artifact he's been searching for, he's caught by Korath. This was back in 2014 during the middle of Phase Two when the cosmic side of the MCU was truly being explored for the first time which included many obscure characters like Korath. Of course, he wasn't set up to be anyone important to the overall Infinity Saga storyline. Plus, he was killed in the third act of Guardians by Drax The Destroyer. Many MCU fans had forgotten all about him until he popped up again in Phase Three during Captain Marvel (2019). He was one of the members of the group "Starforce" that Captain Marvel was a part of. Since this film took place in 1995, they were able to cleverly work with background characters like Korath in a very organic way.

Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X

Patrick Stewart playing Professor X/Charles Xavier in the 2022 movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture

When it comes to the X-Men, there's only one character that's appeared in every single film and that character is, of course, Charles Xavier aka Professor X (Patrick Stewart). He made his on-screen debut back in X-Men (2000) which also makes him one of the oldest on-screen Marvel characters. He appeared for nearly 20 years until his swan song came in the form of 2017's Logan. Luckily, the possibilities became endless in Phase Four with the introduction of the Multiverse. The perfect vehicle for that type of cameo was of course this year's Doctor Strange Into the Multiverse Of Madness. That's where Professor X made his triumphant debut in the MCU as one of the founding members of the Illuminati of Earth-838. During the scene, we see Professor X float into the room in his classic golden-floating chair straight out of the comics. It had been 5 years since fans had seen Patrick Stewart's Professor X.

Red Skull/Johann Schmidt

Red Skull, Hugo Weaving, Captain America The First Avenger

Red Skull first appeared in the MCU as the main big bad of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Red Skull was played by the incredible Hugo Weaving, remaining to this day as one of the best casting choices of the entire run of the MCU. Unfortunately, after the ending of The First Avenger, Hugo Weaving had no desire to return to the role. This was due to Weaving not wanting to sign a multi-picture contract, obliging him to appear in future sequels. Many MCU fans figured after all those years had passed that there was no way we'd ever see the character of Red Skull ever again. That all changed though when Avengers: Infinity War was released in 2018 and shocked fans around the world. When Thanos (Josh Brolin) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) go to the planet of Vormir to retrieve the soul stone. This new and ethereal version of Red Skull was revealed, now being played by lesser-known actor, Ross Marquand. Marquand was able to emulate the voice Hugo Weaving created for the character which made the casting change pretty seamless.

Peggy Carter/Captain Carter

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Image Via Disney

Peggy Carter made her debut in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) played by the extremely talented actress Hayley Atwell. She was a very well-received character who definitely made an impression in her debut, but unfortunately, fans wouldn't see her for a little while. That was until she got her own solo series titled Agent Carter in 2015 that came to an abrupt end in 2016 after just two seasons. There weren't any other appearances by Peggy Carter for quite some time due to her passing away in Captain America: Civil War (2016). Thankfully, she made another appearance a few years later in the quantum time-travel sequence in Avengers: Endgame (2019). At the end of Endgame, we see her finally getting to live out a happy life with Steve Rogers. Peggy's most recent appearance though was in Multiverse of Madness as Captain Carter in the Illuminati scene. She wasn't in the film too long though before she got taken out by an incredibly powerful version of Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen).

General Thunderbolt Ross

William Hurt as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross

General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) first appeared in The Incredible Hulk as an antagonist for Bruce Banner back when it was Edward Norton occupying that role. Some younger MCU fans may not remember this time when the MCU was in its infancy. At that time, it wasn't clear if the film tied into Iron Man until the post-credit scene with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) himself telling Bruce that he's putting a team togther. We didn't see Ross again for quite some time until he popped into Civil War as the Secretary of the State. He made another appearance in Black Widow (2021) which takes place around that same part of the timeline. Sadly, this would be his final appearance due to the fact that William Hurt passed away earlier this year. Despite only making a few appearances, Hurt made the role memorable.

Abomination/Emil Blonsky

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Image via Disney+

Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) made his MCU debut in The Incredible Hulk as the main villain to take on Bruce Banner. He ended up turning into Abomination after they tried recreating the super soldier serum which of course didn't quite work as expected. This inadvertently turned him into a somewhat different rage monster like The Hulk. After the end of that movie, we never saw or heard from that character again for over a decade. Abomination made a quick cameo in last year's Shang-Chi and The Legend Of the Ten Rings. He was at X'ialing (Meng'er Zhang) underground fight club in a brawl against none other than Wong. He also just popped into the latest episode of the Disney+ MCU series She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. Just as Jennifer Walters' (Tatiana Maslany) new parole case on Blonsky's behalf begins, Wong breaks him out of prison.

Jane Foster/Mighty Thor

Jane-Foster-the-Mighty-Thor

Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) made her official debut in the MCU all the way back in Phase One in Thor (2011) as the love interest of the titular god. After Thor: The Dark World it seemed that Jane Foster's (and Natalie Portman's) time in the MCU had officially ended. Jane is briefly referred to in Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015), but she was never mentioned again for many years. However, that all changed when it was announced that Natalie would be returning for Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) which was released earlier this year. Jane Foster was back to take on the role of Mighty Thor which made her a major part of the storyline in Love and Thunder. Although Portman made an incredible comeback and her taking on of the Mighty Thor moniker was well-received, it's pretty clear that she won't be popping up in the MCU again after the movie's sad ending. But, it is the MCU, so you never know..

Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius

Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in Spider-Man

Doc Ock has always been referred to as one of the best on-screen Marvel villains of all time. Alfred Molina brought a screen presence to the role which elevated every scene he was in while also making the character super relatable. He was introduced as the mad scientist back in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 back in 2004. Molina was able to make his redemption arc so believable, especially towards the end when he turns over a new leaf after regaining control of the arms again. He sacrifices himself for the greater good since it was his fault, to begin with. That ended up being the end of Doc Ock's story for a long, long time.

All these years later after two different versions of Peter Parker have been introduced to the fandom, an exciting opportunity presented itself. This was possible of course due to the introduction of the Multiverse in the MCU during Phase Four. Alfred Molina was one of the many actors to come back and reprise Doc Ock one last time in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He appeared in Tom Holland's universe during No Way Home after Doctor Strange's botched spell. He hadn't gone through that redemption arc anymore and undergoes a brand new one in No Way Home when Holland's Peter Parker finds a solution to fix the chip controlling the arms.

Green Goblin/Norman Osborne

green goblin no way home willem defoe
Image via Sony

Willem Dafoe brought the Green Goblin/Norman Osborne to life for the first time exactly 20 years ago in Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man back in the summer of 2002. Green Goblin was also done again in Amazing-Spider-Man 2 (2014) played by Dane DeHaan. Dafoe's version of Norman Osborne was killed towards the end of the original Spider-Man film when his glider impaled him in the stomach. Norman Osborne was never referenced or introduced in the MCU after Tom Holland's debut in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Marvel Studios knew with the introduction of the Multiverse in addition to Peter Parker's identity being revealed they could go for the ambitious storyline that was seen in No Way Home. Where all the previous versions of Peter Parker could return to take on their most iconic foes from the previous films. This gave way to Willem Dafoe returning as Norman Osborne for the first time in nearly two decades while simultaneously making his official MCU debut. This makes his gap in appearances the longest out of any Marvel character ever seen on screen.