She-Hulk has been one of the MCU’s more daring projects. It’s unapologetic in its exploration of social issues, especially when it comes to sexism and misogyny. It turns out that the Marvel series is also a record breaker, too.
The series most recent fourth episode features an actor who smashes the record for the oldest actor to ever appear in the MCU. She-Hulk episode 4 introduced a character called Donny Blaze. Blaze is a rogue magic-user, and former student at Kamar-Taj. Now a magician, he uses his magic as a cheap show.
The new MCU character is accompanied by his magician’s assistant, an elderly man named Cornelius P. Willows. Cornelius is played by Leon Lamar who is, if you can believe it, 104 years old. This means that Lamar was born in 1919. For context, that’s just one year after the end of the First World War.
The actor clearly made a huge impression while he was working on the new TV series, because his co-star and director have been talking about him ever since.
The episode’s director described Lamar, saying that “A sharper, wittier, more wonderful actor could never be found.” Meanwhile, the actor who played Donny Blaze discussed his connection with his on-screen assistant, saying that “[Lamar] and I had just had a great rapport between takes, I was just in a constant state of interviewing him, and learning about his amazing life. I mean, he didn’t even start acting until he was in his late seventies. He’s just completely in the moment.”
Hopefully, this isn’t the last we see of Leon Lamar in the MCU. In fact, we’d like to see him in every single MCU movie and series going forward, please. More Cornelius P. Willows can only be a good thing.
If you fancy more MCU madness, check out our guide to how to watch the X-Men movies in order.