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Giancarlo Esposito plays the terrorist leader Sidewinder in “Captain America: Brave New World,” but it turns out the “Breaking Bad” alum was originally going to play a completely different character. Namely, he was going to play King Cobra.
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Speaking to Empire, Esposito talked about his early conversations about the role. “I was on the phone with [producer] Nate Moore, who prepped me to be, possibly, a character called King Cobra,” Esposito said. “I loved [it], because if I’m walking around the neighborhood, African-Americans go, ‘What’s up, King?’ I love it. They call me King, baby! I mean, that’s the highest honor. But as it turned out, there [are other Kings] in the Marvel world, and this was connected to the Serpent Society.”
Giancarlo Esposito attends the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California.
Giancarlo Esposito attends the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Eventually, the role was changed. “Nate said, ‘We can give you all the characteristics of King, but we think he should be Sidewinder,'” Esposito recalled.
It begs the question of why the writers bothered with the name change. Those who have seen “Captain America: Brave New World” know Esposito’s character does not have any enhanced abilities that would line up with either Sidewinder or King Cobra in the comics. In fact, according to Esposito, that absence was in part the purpose of his character.
“[T]hey spoke about creating a character that was really grounded, in a mercenary fashion.,” Esposito told Empire. “They wanted to ground the movie when they went back in to do some additional shooting, and their focus now was on this additional character.”
Similar changes were made to the character of Sabra (Shira Haas) who in the comics is strong enough to have gone toe-to-toe with the Hulk on a number of occasions, but in “Captain America: Brave New World,” has no superpowers.
While it’s not at all strange to see Marvel adaptations “ground” characters in these ways, in a strange coincidence it’s particularly prevalent among snake-themed characters. Mahershala Ali plays the villain Cottonmouth in Season 1 of “Luke Cage” but without the deadly mouthful of fangs his comic book counterpart has. Mustafa Shakir’s version of Bushmaster in Season 2 of the same show does have enhanced abilities but with nothing like the snake body of Bushmaster in the source material.
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“}]] Giancarlo Esposito was originally going to play a different villain in ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’ Read More