Who’s the President in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Considering how many major superhuman-related crises have gone down in the US over the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’d think that the government would be getting a little bit more involved.

We’ve had an alien invasion in New York, a Norse deity landing in New Mexico, and three Hellicarriers taking a dive in Washington D.C., to name just a few incidents. Even weirder is the fact that the US military rarely gets involved. Rhodey and the Falcon are former Air Force officers, sure, but we saw nary a jet around Sokovia in Age of Ultron. 

With Captain America: Civil War on the horizon though, it sounds like the government has finally had enough of these shenanigans, and will be putting its foot down with the Superhuman Registration Act.

So who’s the man in charge? 

Well, we’ve seen a US president in the Marvel movies already, and while we can’t be certain he’ll still be the president when Civil War rolls around, the timeline does work out.

President Matthew Ellis was introduced in Iron Man 3 (played by William Sadler), where he found himself dealing with the Mandarin’s terrorist organization. He was eventually kidnapped aboard Air Force One, and held on a Roxxon oil freighter, ostensibly for his role in  acquitting Roxxon execs who were responsible for an oil spill (but actually just to get the Vice President in office). He was rescued by Tony Stark and James Rhodes, resulting in some shiny medals for the two of them.

President Ellis would be referenced again in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (although he would not appear), as one of the targets of Project Insight. We know that he’s the president post-Winter Soldier as well, due to a few name-drops in Agents of SHIELD.

We haven’t seen him since his appearance in Iron Man 3 though, so it’s impossible to say if Marvel wants a recasting or not, but considering there is only roughly a three year gap between that movie and Civil War, it’s very possible that Ellis is still president. If Marvel wants to maintain a bit of continuity there, it would make sense to bring back William Sadler in the role.