The Two Howard Starks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark

While watching the movie "Avengers: Endgame" in the theater earlier this year, I was thrown by the actor who played Howard Stark. He seemed different to me than the man who had played the father of Tony Stark (Iron Man) in "Captain America: Winter Soldier." As it turns out, I soon discovered I wasn't the only one. I told a local comic store owner about my confusion, and he agreed with me that he found the portrayal confusing too.

This weekend, I watched "Captain America: Civil War" for the first time since its theatrical release. I was struck by how the actor who played Howard Stark was the same man who had portrayed him in "Avengers: Endgame." While the character belongs to the past, what occurred between the Winter Soldier and Howard Stark drives much of the action in "Captain America: Civil War," so it's a fairly important role. Obviously, the Marvel Cinematic Universe extends over many films, so recasting of minor roles is inevitable. Still, I was curious about the two actors who played Howard Stark, so I decided to investigate further.

John Slattery as Howard Stark

American actor John Slattery portrayed Howard Stark in "Iron Man 2" (2010), "Ant-Man" (2015), "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), and "Avengers: Endgame" (2019). British actor Dominic Cooper portrayed Howard Stark in "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011), the short film "Agent Carter" (2013) included as an extra on the home video release of "Iron Man 3," and several episodes of the "Agent Carter" TV series in 2015 and 2016. Additionally, he will voice the role of Howard Stark in an animated web series (or streaming TV series?) in 2021 called "What If...?"

Or, to put the two faces in chronological order:

Movie/TV Series                                       Actor                 
Iron Man 2                                               John Slattery      
Captain America: The First Avenger       Dominic Cooper
Agent Carter (Short Film)                        Dominic Cooper
Ant-Man                                                  John Slattery     
Agent Carter (TV series)                         Dominic Cooper
Captain America: Civil War                     John Slattery     
Avengers: Endgame                               John Slattery      
What If...?                                               Dominic Cooper

Obviously, "Captain America: The First Avenger" is set before all the others (in the 1940s during World War II), and the "Agent Carter" film and TV series would naturally follow. Dominic Cooper plays Howard Stark then. But when Tony Stark travels back in time to 1970 and speaks with his father in "Avengers: Endgame" that's John Slattery playing Howard Stark. John Slattery then plays the role forward, as he portrays Howard Stark's death in 1991, as revealed via a video recording in "Captain America: Civil War."

Was it necessary for two actors to span the fifty years of Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, given the wizardry of make-up and modern special effects? Or was the casting of the two Howard Starks determined simply by actor availability? At least I know what actor played Howard Stark when now, and as a result, so do you.

Dragon Dave

The Yeti and Illustrator Alan Willow

Jamie discovers the Yeti-control spheres in a cave.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Of course, there are all kinds of pictures. Some images really speak to you, while others prove eminently forgettable. But few compare to video, which includes motion and sound, and can bring characters and a story to life in a way words or still pictures never can. 

Sadly, five of the six episodes of the Doctor Who story "The Abominable Snowmen" no longer exist. I've watched the story reconstruction several times. This was a real labor of love for dedicated Doctor Who fans. They cobbled the missing episodes together using photos taken of a TV screen, a complete sound recording (probably compiled from multiple sources, and most likely all from just a child's low-tech cassette recorder) and some fan-made animation. While I'm amazed by their achievement, it's the events from the single remaining video episode that cling most tenaciously to my memory.

 So unlike most of the classic Doctor Who stories, reading Terrance Dicks' novelization of "The Abominable Snowmen" was like revisiting a novel I hadn't read in years. I vaguely remembered bits of the story, but for the most part, while familiar, it was also completely new. Again.

Monks defend the monastery during a Yeti assault.

 Given the worth of a good picture, and how much it can contribute to a story, I'm glad the artist who drew these interior sketches receives credit in the book. Of course, Terrance Dicks gets his name on the spine, on the cover, and inside. The publishers also point out that Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln wrote the original screenplay. While the illustrations are copyrighted by the publisher, at least the illustrator, Alan Willow, gets a mention. That's better than some books, in which the interior artist is never recognized until years later, if ever.

Alan Willow would go on to illustrate more of the early Doctor Who novels. Sadly, the series dropped the interior illustrations after awhile. But at least in these early books, we have these wonderful sketches that enhance the story. That's especially nice for stories like "The Abominable Snowmen," which no longer exist in their original form.

Edward Travers, explorer for Britain's Royal Geographic Society, spots a monk and two Yeti.

A few thoughts strike me as I conclude this series on "The Abominable Snowmen." One is that the novelization copyright is dated 1974. This is the same year in which Terrance Dicks left the TV series, after serving for five years as script editor. So this may represent one of his first literary efforts. A second thought is that it was not widely known at this time that the BBC were wiping old tapes to use again, so it would not have represented an intention to preserve a lost story. Third, and lastly, Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen is the first book in the Target Doctor Who series. This suggests that the publishers thought this story was strong enough to launch their range, and that the idea of the Yeti was powerful enough to draw readers to their new book series.

They would have had eleven years worth of Doctor Who stories to choose from by this time, encompassing the first, second, and third Doctor eras. That adds up to over seventy stories! So the fact that Target Books chose "The Abominable Snowmen" to launch their Doctor Who line suggests they must have thought it was extraordinary.

All of which makes me wonder why, with the exception of a cameo appearance in "The Five Doctors," the Yeti never returned to the TV series. But then, Doctor Who has never suffered from a lack of frightening monsters, or threatening alien races.

Dragon Dave