Landing a role in the MCU is a big deal because marvel movies tend to be huge box office successes. For example, Spider-Man: Far From Home pulled in 1.132 billion USD while Captain America: Civil War pulled in 1.1 53 billion USD.
The three MCU movies that earned the most were Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8 million), Black Panther ($700.1 million), and Avengers: Endgame ($858.4 million). Plenty of actors were considered for roles in the MCU but things simply did not pan out. Find out who almost played some of the biggest roles in the most epic Marvel movies.
10 Tom Cruise As Iron Man
Thinking about Tom Cruise as Iron Man instead of Robert Downey Jr. is truly sort of an interesting thought. Tom Cruise can definitely manage his way through action movies and no one will ever forget his time in the Mission Impossible movie franchise. In the mission impossible movie franchise, he doesn’t have a super-suit protecting his body as he leaves out of airplanes and climbs up the sides of buildings.
9 John Krasinski As Captain America
John Krasinski is the actor everyone knows and loves as Jim Halpert from The Office but at one point in time, he might have landed the role of a superhero. He was a very strong contender for the role of Captain America which we all know has now been taken by Chris Evans. John Krasinski described his experience putting on the iconic captain America costume during his audition process but he felt that he wasn’t quite right for the position after seeing Chris Hemsworth walk into the studio.
8 Amandla Stenberg As Shuri
Amandla Stenberg almost played the role of Sherry and that would have honestly been pretty incredible! She rose to fame after playing the character of Rue in the Hunger Games franchise. Letitia Wright took on the role after Amandla Stenberg decided to pull out. Amandla decided that she wasn’t the right fit for the role because she figured that it should go to an African actress and she is a biracial young woman. It was very thoughtful and considerate for Amanda Stenberg to make such a major decision like that.
7 Lindsay Lohan As Maria Hill
Lindsay Lohan was urging her manager to get her an audition for the role of Maria Hill in the MCU. Colby Smulders is the actress who ended up taking on the role but it is definitely something Lindsay Lohan wanted and felt that she deserved.
She spoke up about how upset she was for not getting a chance to even audition. The early 2000s were definitely Lindsay Lohan’s era but things haven’t really been as great for her ever since in terms of the Hollywood industry.
6 Amanda Seyfried As Gamora
Gamora is flawlessly played by Zoe Saldana but once upon a time, Amanda Seyfried was invited to join the MCU taking on that role. She decided to turn it down. Her reasoning? She explained that she didn’t want to spend six months of each year in green makeup! The process of putting on all of that body make-up to film different parts of the movies each day must’ve been very difficult for Zoe Saldana but it’s something that she stepped up and did until the movies were complete.
5 Jason Mamoa As Drax
Jason Momoa is a DC hero these days, rather than an MCU hero. Everyone knows and loves him as Aquaman, the hero who comes from the ocean! Outside of his DC role, a lot of his fans know him from HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Interestingly enough, he was thought of when it came to playing the role of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. Jason Momoa turned down the role because he felt like it was far too similar to too many other characters he has played in the past.
4 Joaquin Phoenix As Doctor Strange
Benedict Cumberbatch kills the game as Doctor Strange but Joaquin Phoenix is another actor people could picture in the same role. Joaquin Phoenix ended up taking on the DC character of the Joker rather than the MCU character of Doctor Strange so it all worked out in the end. The reason Joaquin Phoenix did not want to play Doctor Strange is the fact that he didn’t want to make a commitment to multiple movies within the franchise.
3 Timothée Chalamet As Spider-Man
Timothée Chalamet would’ve made an incredible Spider-Man but Tom Holland is the one who ended up landing the role instead. Timothée Chalamet and Tom Holland are constantly getting compared since they are both young and handsome but they are vastly different in so many ways! These days, a lot of fans have praised Tom Holland for his rendition of Spider-Man so obviously, casting directors made a good decision.
2 Emily Blunt As Black Widow
Emily Blunt turned down the chance to play Black Widow but due to the scheduling conflicts that she was facing, she had to turn down the role. She ended up starring in a movie called Gulliver's Travels which is pretty unheard of in comparison to the movies in the MCU. This probably wasn’t the best decision on Emily Blunt's behalf but Scarlett Johansson is actually ended up taking on the role and pretty much everyone thinks that Scarlett Johansson was a top-notch choice. She brings such a fierce edge to every single movie.
1 Saoirse Ronan As Scarlet Witch
Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, is the actress to snag the role of Scarlet Witch in the MCU. Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful superheroines from Marvel comic books and movies because of the things that she is able to do! Saoirse Ronan almost landed the role which would have caused the movies to look vastly different she was offered the part but decided to turn it down to star in smaller movies like Lady Bird.