The Russo brothers came into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2014 with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. At the time, the brothers have been working for several years directing episodes of NBC's sitcom Community. So, when they got the chance to make Marvel movies, the Russos brought in some Community actors for cameos.
The Community cameos became a running joke and several regular members of the cast have popped up in the MCU. Today, we're listing all the Community cameos that we've spotted in MCU movies. Fair warning, if you have yet to see Avengers: Endgame, here be spoilers.
JOHNNY PEMBERTON (ANT-MAN)
When Scott Lang got out of prison in the first Ant-Man movie he really did try to stay on straight and narrow. He even got a job at Baskin-Robins selling ice-cream to idiots who don't understand that ice-cream shops don't sell burgers or pretzels. The idiot in question was portrayed by Johnny Pemberton, whom Community fans may remember from the season six episode "Queer Studies & Advanced Waxing".
Pemberton played the stage assistant who helped the director Matt Lundergard cast the play based on the movie The Karate Kid. His role was really small and he mostly just sat in the background during the rehearsals.
TIM HEIDECKER (ANT-MAN AND THE WASP)
Ant-Man and the Wasp had three Community actors and it’s not even a Russo brothers movie. While these probably weren’t primarily intended as Community cameos, fans of the show will probably recognize the faces of these three actors.
First up, we have Tim Heidecker, who played a Four in the Community season five episode “App Development and Condiments”, where an app called MeowMeowBeenz is used to rank everyone on campus. Thus, the students are ranked in classes 1-5. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Heidecker appears as the captain of a whale-sighting boat that Ant-Man, or rather Giant-Man "visits" to find Sonny.
WALTON GOGGINS (ANT-MAN AND THE WASP)
Speaking of Sonny, Sonny Burch is one of the antagonists in the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie. This black-market technology dealer with ties in the FBI attempted to pull a fast one on Hank and Hope by stealing their Mobile Laboratory, but Ant-Man managed to stop him in time. Sonny Burch was portrayed by the Justified star Walton Goggins, but fans on Community will recognize him as Mr. Stone.
In the season five episode "Cooperative Polygraphy", Mr. Stone approached the study group after Pierce's funeral as the executor of his will, which entailed the members of the group taking a polygraph.
RANDALL PARK (ANT-MAN AND THE WASP)
The third Community cameo appearance we spotted in Ant-Man and the Wasp is Randall Park. In the MCU, Park plays FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, formerly an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., assigned as Scott Lang's parole officer and tasked with tracking down and arresting Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne.
Randall Park's role on Community wasn't nearly as big as in Ant-Man and the Wasp, but the most eagle-eyed fans probably remember seeing Park in the season six episode "Intro to Recycled Cinema" where he played himself auditioning for a part in a Steven Spielberg movie.
STEVE AGEE (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2)
Comedians Steve Agee and Brian Posehn appeared in the season five Community episode “App Development and Condiments” as David and Bixel, the guys who developed the MeowMeowBeenz app. Agee later made another appearance in the episode “Modern Espionage”.
Steve Agee also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2017, Agee portrayed Gef in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – that would be the gentleman with the goggles pictured above with the guy who has the most hilarious name in the entire galaxy, Taserface. Though, his cameo is a reference to James Gunn's film Super, in which Agee played a comic book store employee.
MARTIN STARR (SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING)
In the second episode of season three, titled “Geography of Modern Conflict”, Professor Cligoris unknowingly ignites a rivalry between two Annies in his Political Science class. A series of events leads to the two Annies facing off in a Model UN competition that will decide which team gets to represent Greendale.
Actor Martin Starr also played a professor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, precisely Spider-Man: Homecoming where he plays Peter’s science teacher, Roger Harrington. Starr also made a brief appearance in The Incredible Hulk as Amadeus Cho.
BRIE LARSON (CAPTAIN MARVEL)
Sure, Brie Larson is now best known for playing Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, before she put on the superhero costume, Larson appeared on several episodes of Community. She made her first appearance as Rachel, aka the coat check girl, in season four episode “Herstory of Dance” and kind of hit it off with Abed. In season five, the two are even shown dating for a while.
To call Brie Larson’s MCU gig a Community cameo would be an understatement, to say the least, but the connection to Community is present, so we felt that it needed to be recognized on this list.
D.C. PIERSON (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is teeming with Community cameos, which is fitting considering it’s the movie that started this running joke. The honor of first Community cameo in the MCU goes to D.C. Pierson who played the annoying Apple support tech who tried to assist Steve and Nat, while they were using one of the laptops to access the USB drive Fury gave them.
Pierson appeared on several episodes of Community where he played Mark Millot, a student at Greendale College, member of the sketch comedy group “Greendale Gooffaws” and reporter for the Greendale Gazette Journal Mirror.
AARON HIMELSTEIN (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER AND AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON)
Aaron Himelstein wasn’t a regular on Community, but he did make a pretty memorable appearance in the season one episode “Debate 109”. Himelstein portrayed Jeremy “Soulpatch” Simmons, a City College student who arrives at Greendale to compete in the Intercollegiate Debate Finals against Greendale’s newly formed debate team Jeff and Annie.
Himelstein made his first MCU appearance in the Russo brothers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Agent Klein, who refused to launch the Hlicarriers and stayed loyal to Cap. Klein popped up again in Avengers: Age of Ultron helping the Avengers during the Battle of Sokovia.
DONALD GLOVER (SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING)
In the season two episode “Anthropology 101”, which aired in September 2010, Donald Glover’s character, Troy Barns, can be seen wearing Spider-Man pajamas. This was a nod to the ongoing online campaign that supported Glover for the 2012 Spider-Man reboot. As we all know, Glover did not get that part, but he did get something else.
In Jon Watts Spider-Man reboot, MCU’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Donald Glover appeared as Aaron Davis, who is the uncle of Miles Morales. Watts described the casting as “a surprise treat for the fans” and, indeed, it was.
JIM RASH (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR)
After casting Danny Pudi in their first MCU movie, the Russo brothers decided to bring along Community’s one and only Dean Pelton for a role in Captain America: Civil War. Actor Jim Rash appeared at the beginning of Captain America: Civil War as the M.I.T. Liaison who enthusiastically talked to Tony Stark about his generous donation. Interestingly, the M.I.T. Liaison was notably similar to Community’s Dean Pelton, minus the flamboyant costumes.
Fun fact, in the Community episode titled “Modern Espionage”, Jim Rash performed an homage to the famous elevator fight scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
DANNY PUDI (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the Russo brothers MCU debut. The critically acclaimed second installation in the Captain America trilogy came out in 2014. At the time Community was at season number five. The Russo brothers got Danny Pudi, who portrays Abed Nadir on Community, for a cameo role in The Winter Soldier.
Pudi appeared as a S.H.I.E.L.D. communications officer named Moore who was on duty when Cap, Sam, and Natasha took control of the communications room. He didn’t get much screen time, but he met three Avengers.
KEN JEONG (AVENGERS: ENDGAME)
In an interview from 2016, the Russo brothers said that the Community cameos won’t end with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, so we expected a Community cast member to pop up during Avengers: Infinity War. While that didn’t happen, we did get two Community cameos in Avengers: Endgame.
Fairly early into the movie, Ken Jeong, who portrayed the fascinating Ben Chang, aka Senor Chang, aka Kevin, appears as a security guard at the storage facility where Scott Lang re-emerges from the Quantum Realm, and Chang lets him out. The other Community surprise came a bit later into the movie.
YVETTE NICOLE BROWN (AVENGERS: ENDGAME)
Ken Jeong’s Community co-star Yvette Nicole Brown, who portrayed Shirley Bennett, a student at Greendale Community College and a member of the infamous study group also makes an appearance in Avengers: Endgame. Brown plays an administrative employee at the S.H.I.E.L.D. army base in 1970 where Tony and Steve travel to acquire the Pym Particles and the Tesseract.
True to form, Shirley doesn’t let anything escape her watchful eye as she quickly suspects our duo and calls security, almost getting them arrested. Since the Russos are taking a break from the MCU, this might be the last Community cameo we get. But here’s hoping Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, and Chevy Chase visit the MCU as well.