"You know that story, it’s full of emotion and love and thunder. And it introduces for the first time a female Thor. So, for us there’s only one person who could play that role. Only one. And she’s here, I'ma introduce her to you right now. Please welcome to the stage... Natalie Portman!"
— Taika Waititi at the 2019 Comic Con panel about Thor: Love and Thunder introducing Portman, who hadn't appeared in an MCU film since 2013
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduces Ghost Rider in the Season 4 premier, but drops him into another dimension to give the villains something resembling a fighting chance. He then comes Back for the Finale in The Return.
- Captain America: Civil War has William Hurt finally make his return as General Ross, who had not been seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since The Incredible Hulk eight years earlier. He briefly appears in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow (2021) as well.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming: After not appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, Pepper Potts returns for a cameo appearance.
- Avengers: Infinity War has a surprise reappearance of the Red Skull, last seen getting teleported away by the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger. As it turns out, he ended up in the distant planet Vormir, where he is then made into the keeper of the previously unseen Soul Stone for over 70 years.
- Avengers: Endgame: Valkyrie, Korg and Miek return alive and healthy. Also Harley from Iron Man 3 cameos at Tony's funeral.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home: After being absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a good long while since Iron Man, William Ginter Riva (the guy Obadiah Stane yells at for not being able to re-create the Arc Reactor) returns as an accomplice to Quentin Beck.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home: The film sees the return of villains from Sony's pre-MCU Spider-Man films, most notably Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man 2, Norman Osborn from Spider-Man, Sandman from Spider-Man 3, The Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man and Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2; justified as characters from the multiverse being drawn into the MCU along with the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective Spider-Man roles as well, along with a brief cameo from Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
- Jane Foster returns in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder after not having been seen in the films (besides a brief cameo in Endgame, which was achieved via recycled footage) since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, as does Erik Selvig, last seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- The real Mandarin and the Ten Rings were hardly touched for years since the Iron Man 3 tie-in short film All Hail the King, before returning to importance in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: After not appearing since Captain America: Civil War, Zemo returned complete with a Beard of Evil (at first) and the character's trademark cowl. Likewise, Sharon Carter has not reappeared since Civil War, and according to the script for Endgame, she went through the Blip off-screen and has also returned. Georges Batroc also returned for the first time since Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
- Darcy Lewis returns in WandaVision after having been absent for 8 years since Thor: The Dark World.
- Emil Blonsky/Abomination was first revealed to make a reappearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, having not appeared since the 2008 Hulk film. However, he would first make a cameo appearance in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings one year prior.
- Lady Sif made a cameo appearance in the fourth episode of Loki (2021), the first time that she has appeared appeared in a main MCU entry since The Dark World. note Like Jane Foster, she also made her big return in Love and Thunder.
- In addition to Abomination, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings features the return of Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, not seen since All Hail the King in 2014.
- In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness apart from Karl Mordo returning (in an alternate universe), the trailer shows MCU Strange encountering The Illuminati, led by an Patrick Stewart’s as Professor Charles Xavier (the first appearance in the MCU) and the first appearance since Logan. Besides Xavier, the film also brings Peggy Carter back as Agent Carter and even more shockingly Ansem Mount’s Black Bolt who hasn’t been seen since the Inhumans series.
- Betty Ross shows up in the third episode of What If…? (2021), her first appearance since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.
- Hawkeye features the return of Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, in his first appearance since Daredevil ended in 2018 - still played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special brings back Cosmo the Talking Dog, last seen in Guardians of the Galaxy. She is also talking (transmitting her thoughts through her collar). Yondu Udanta returns as an animated character as well.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sees the unexpected return of Darren Cross, the Big Bad of Ant-Man. He was presumed dead, but was actually sent to the Quantum Realm where he went on to become M.O.D.O.K..
