The Marvel Cinematic Universe rogues’ gallery has plenty of B-villains to keep the House of Ideas’ heroes busy. One actor is opening up to share what he regrets about his MCU heel turn. From Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola and Georges St-Pierre’s Batroc to Frank Grillo’s Crossbones, great character actors have made their secondary antagonists memorable warm-up acts for the Avengers to square off with before their real big bads. Many of them have returned to the MCU for encore appearances as well. As the studio added baddies, Marvel planted plenty of post-credit scenes and Easter eggs to foreshadow their arrival. In 2014, they teased a criminal mastermind as a joke. He would eventually make his big-screen debut in a film that would become Exhibit A in the stagnation of the MCU post-Endgame. Now, the actor who stepped into his suit is ruminating on his buyer’s remorse.
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While making the rounds for Netflix’s The Gentlemen, Giancarlo Esposito spoke with Polygon about his role as Seth Voelker, aka Sidewinder, in Captain America: Brave New World. As the leader of the mercenary group SERPENT, Voelker gets the drop on Anthony Mackie’s Captain America in several memorable scenes. Unfortunately, beyond some menacing dialogue, fans say there wasn’t much for Esposito to bite into, calling the role “wasted potential.” Even though the actor says he enjoyed the role, he apparently agrees the characterization was thin: “I like Sidewinder, and I love the fact that I could be that mercenary, but I was even more interested in playing Seth Voelker, the scientist, the educated man who then flipped. There’s a story there which I didn’t have the ability to tell in what I had to do in Captain America 4.”
Sidestepping the Real Sidewinder
Created by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio, Sidewinder debuted in Marvel Two-in-One #64. Former economics professor Seth Voelker worked for the evil corporation Roxxon along with several other snake-themed villains: Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Death Adder. Voelker became a regular foe of Captain America after forming the Serpent Society. Evil scientists are a familiar Marvel trope, but an economics professor who turned supervillainy into a business model would have at least been a unique hook. Unfortunately, Brave New World left that backstory completely unexplored. The character that did make it to the film has very little in common with the comics’ version. His signature look was also left on the page. Despite fans consistently asking for comic-accurate costuming, someone at the studio didn’t think an Elizabethan collar and scales would work in the MCU.
Perhaps the idea of the Serpent Society itself was too silly for Kevin Feige to consider adapting. He telegraphed as much when he used the team as a feint during his 2014 Phase Three announcement. As he was announcing the lineup, he said the follow-up to Captain America: The Winter Soldier would be Captain America: Serpent Society. There was a smattering of applause, but Feige doubled back, saying that wasn’t big enough. The producer then revealed the real title, Captain America: Civil War, leaving the Serpent Society as an afterthought. 11 years later, that apparent lack of confidence was evident as Sidewinder became a character with no real background or identity for its actor to explore. But just as Zola, Batroc, and Crossbones all came back for another round, maybe the door isn’t closed on Seth Voelker just yet.
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