WandaVision: Why Agent Monti Looks So Familiar

It can be darned-near impossible to convince a secret government agency operative to bring you a cup of coffee. At least, that's the takeaway some of us got from WandaVision's fourth episode, which saw the return of Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and the introduction of Agent Monti, a character who will, undoubtedly, go down in MCU history as the only S.W.O.R.D. agent foolish enough to not give Darcy exactly what she asks for.

During his brief time on screen, Agent Monti might have caught your eye, and with good reason — Alan Heckner, the actor behind the performance, has been popping up with greater and greater frequency in the last couple of years. There's a slim chance that you spotted him during The Walking Dead's eighth season, in a brief appearance as a member of the Saviors in the episode titled "How It's Gonna Be." But Heckner has picked up some more screen time since then, and a couple of notable contributions might have drilled his face into your mind ahead of his debut as a member of the MCU's Sentient Weapons Observation and Response Division.

One of Heckner's most memorable roles in recent years was in Doom Patrol's freshman season. If you haven't checked it out yet, the series is delightful, funky, and just north of indescribable, but we'll give it the old college try. In episode 1, we're introduced to celebrity race car driver Cliff Steele, played by Brendan Fraser. The shake to Steele's bake is his best bud Bump Weathers, played by Alan Heckner. Unfortunately for, gosh, pretty much everyone involved, Cliff's home life is a branching diagram of infidelities — he is having an affair with the nanny, while his wife is hooking up with Bump. She even tells him as much through the subtle act of getting really handsy with the guy while Cliff, eyes dangerously not-on-the-road, drives by at breakneck speeds.

In the world of comic book melodrama, it is a sad fact that no good can come of no good. In the end, Cliff's wife is killed in a car accident, Cliff himself has his brain inserted into a robot body, and their daughter is raised by a guilt-ridden Bump, who later goes on to be eaten by an alligator. It's a familiar story, but a good one nonetheless.

With season two of Cobra Kai came a spate of narrative possibilities. John Kreese, the malevolent patriarchal antagonist from Johnny Lawrence's childhood, had made his return, a portent of trouble to come. Johnny had his own problems to deal with, too — he had symbolically abandoned his son in favor of his students, seemingly completing his transformation into the worst father ever and inviting new tales of multigenerational drama. His star pupil, meanwhile, had laid drunken, violent hands on the girl of his dreams, a foreboding hint at the potential darkness brooding within his young heart.

Anyway, in episode 2, Daniel and Amanda LaRusso (Ralph Macchio and Courtney Henggeler, respectively) have to run their car dealership all by themselves, and that's pretty fun too. During a montage of their exciting day at work, they're seen working the good-cop-bad-cop salesmanship one-two punch on a difficult customer, helpfully credited as Difficult Customer. Was it Alan Heckner? You bet it was, and you'd better believe those crafty LaRussos went on to sell him at least one car, presumably with wax on. It might not have been the meatiest role in the Karate Kid franchise, but it was a memorable moment for the series' power couple.