Iron Man 3 didn’t have a whole lot of connections with other MCU films, but it almost connected with Ant-Man through President Matthew Ellis. Actor William Sadler’s President Ellis had a whole subplot devoted to him in Iron Man 3. He was kidnapped by the fake Mandarin, Aldrich Killian, and then hanged in the Iron Patriot suit. Rhodey saved him and flew him away. After Iron Man 3, he also returned in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. But we haven’t seen him in the MCU ever since. Well, he almost appeared in Ant-Man, but his scene was removed.
Sadler spoke with David Thompson and Thomas Carter in the Lights, Thunder, Action! Podcast. He said:
“I actually shot a thing for Ant-Man. I shot a bit of President Matthew Ellis for Ant-Man but they decided to use a different President, I don’t know. It was pretty silly.”
It’s interesting how Sadler said that Marvel went with a different actor to play the president. But having watched the film multiple times, we know that there was neither a political narrative, nor a POTUS scene in Ant-Man. So, a whole mystery behind this President Ellis deleted scene opens up. But, it was too long ago, so people won’t really care about it anymore. Part of the reason is that the MCU is in the year 2023 now. So, there would certainly be a different president now. In fact, whoever the current President is, he may be changed when MCU’s timeline reaches 2024.
We may not know who the current POTUS is in the MCU. We don’t even know who’d be the new one. But, there’s a running theory that James Rhodes might become Vice President. That’s be pretty cool. It’d be a nice way to retire Don Cheadle, & keep Rhodey active behind the scenes. Let’s see what the future holds.
(The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the project where we might see the new President.)
