Who Almost Played The Avengers in the MCU?

Who Almost Played The Avengers in the MCU?

We all know and love the original 6 Avengers and we love the actors they got to play those characters. BUT, it’s interesting once you learn who the other actors considered and offered the roles of The Avengers. That’s what we’re looking at today, other actors who almost played the original 6 Avengers. 

1. Tony Stark/Iron Man: The face and the godfather of the MCU is cast to perfection by Robert Downey Jr., it’s so hard to imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark. But there were other actors who were up for the part when casting began. One name would be SAM ROCKWELL, he would later get his time in the MCU as Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, but he was a name thrown out there for Tony Stark. Apparently Rockwell met with Jon Favreau, encouraged him to take on the role but ultimately never did. Rockwell has since said that he’s happy with how things went. TIMOTHY OLPYHANT revealed in 2015 that he auditioned for the role and even did a screen test for the role on the same day as Downey. I’m not super familiar with Olyphant’s work. I've seen him in a few things. I haven’t seen Justified, which is a show where he's the star of. Maybe if I see that show I can see Olyphant as Tony Stark. But with what I’ve seen him in, he doesn’t give up a Tony Stark vibe. But the biggest and most interesting name considered and offered the role of Tony Stark would bE TOM CRUISE. He was actually very close to playing Iron Man. He was the Marvel producer’s first pick for the character, he did get offered the role. But where things get interesting is Jon Favreau was the one fighting for Robert Downey Jr. Because of his past, Marvel was reluctant to cast RDJ in the role. They wanted Tom Cruise to play the role. When Cruise turned down the role, that’s when RDJ was brought on. I know a lot of people only think of Tom Cruise as the Mission Impossible guy doing crazy stunts. But it’s easy to forget that Tom Cruise is a great actor, that’s why he’s been able to have A-list success for 40 years now ever since Risky Business came out. I of course love Robert Downey Jr. in the role, but I think Tom Cruise would have been a really good pick for Iron Man and I think he could’ve done a very good job. 

2. Steve Rogers/Captain America: Once again, I love Captain America and what Chris Evans brought to the role. Captain America is my favorite MCU character and one of my favorite movie characters of all time. This is another one where it’s so hard to imagine anybody else besides Chris Evans playing Captain America. One of the more famous alternate castings for Captain America would be JOHN KRASINSKI. Krasinski has been a guy thrown out there to join the Marvel universe for 5 or 6 years now, he did finally appear in the MCU as Mr. Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that was just a cameo. Krasinski has said in interviews he did try on the suit, he did an audition. He was very close to becoming Captain America, pretty close behind Chris Evans to being cast. This is a casting that would have been interesting, there’s a sense in which I see it and a sense in which I don’t. Krasinski is most known for Jim Halpert on The Office, inherently you associate him with comedy and the fourth wall breaking stare that he does. When that’s my point of reference for him, don't stream Captain America. Now Chris Evans prior to Captain America was in Not Another Teen Movie and Fantastic Four, he wasn’t even an obvious pick for Captain America. So I'm sure Krasinski would have done a great job, he can get jacked and play the action hero in Jack Ryan. Two other names to talk about on here, that are kind of fun and that’s why I wanted to talk about them. Two other names SEBASTIAN STAN and CHRIS PRATT. Sebastian Stan auditioning for Steve Rogers is actually how he got Bucky Barnes. Chris Pratt is an interesting one because he was really known for Parks and Recreation at this time, I don’t see him as Steve Rogers. The vibe and energy he brings doesn't fit Steve Rogers at all. I think he fits Star-Lord, Peter Quill much better. What’s funny about Krasinski, Stan, and Pratt auditioning is they would all later get roles in the MCU. Stan and Pratt landing more prominent MCU roles of course. I actually would be interested in seeing John Krasinski as Captain America, of these picks that’s the casting that’s most interesting to me. 

3. Thor: Another great casting for the MCU, I wouldn’t say quite as legendary as Downey and Evans. But there’s a reason why Thor is a fan favorite MCU character, Chris Hemsworth looks the part and he brings a lot to the role. There’s some fun pieces of casting related to Thor. One casting would be LIAM HEMSWORTH, Chris’ younger brother. He auditioned for the role, apparently the audition went well. They found him to be too young. The other fun piece of casting is TOM HIDDLETSON, who of course went on to play Loki, Thor’s brother. And he auditioned for the role of Thor with Kenneth Branagh, Branagh has said they all loved Hiddleston and thought he was super talented, but didn’t think he quite fit Thor. Similar to Sebastian Stan, they offered him a different role in the movie. The final actor is an interesting one because this actor during casting was already in a big film franchise playing the world’s most famous 007 spy, that being DANIEL CRAIG. Yes, James Bond himself was asked personally to play Thor but said not because he already was James Bond and didn’t want to be Thor and James Bond. That would have made Daniel Craig a legend if he was James Bond and one of the leads of the MCU all at the same timber. If you don’t know, Daniel Craig was supposed to be one of the cameos in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but due to scheduling conflicts with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery wasn’t able to make it work. And because Craig was out, that’s who Krasinski appeared in that movie. So we’re connecting all of these actors together in some nice ways. 

4. Bruce Banner/The Hulk: For all of the obvious reasons, this is a fun one to talk about but because we already have two different versions of the Hulk in the MCU. Originally, Edward Norton was cast as The Hulk in the MCU then he got fired and they hired Mark Ruffalo. Fun fact, Ruffalo auditioned for the role when they were casting for The Incredible Hulk. Obviously that role went to Norton, but his audition is probably what led to me getting the role in The Avengers. MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY auditioned for the role in The Incredible Hulk, which ended up going to Norton. He really wanted the role because he watched the 70s tv show with Lou Ferrigno as a kid and was a huge fan of it. And he even went to Marvel after Norton was fired about possibly landing the role. Marvel wasn’t interested in McConaughey being Bruce Banner and told him “no thank you”. Which is kind of interesting, that’s such an out there piece of casting that I don’t know if that would have been a good pick or not. There’s not many actors that were also considered or auditioned, at least ones that haven’t been revealed. There’s rumors that JOAQUIN PHOENIX was offered the role but turned it down, but that’s just rumors there’s not definitive about that, so I didn’t really want to talk about it. He was also offered another role in the MCU, much later down the line. DAVID DUCHOVNY was also offered the role, but turned it down because he didn’t want to sign a long term contract. I haven’t seen The X-Files, so I can’t comment too much on whether or not he would have been a good fit. The only thing I’ve seen him do is comedy work, like Evolution. 

 

5. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow: The big notable one to talk about here is EMILY BLUNT. She’s actually been very open and vocal about her auditioning process for this role. She was even offered the role, but couldn’t make it work due to scheduling conflicts with Gulliver’s Travels. Which is a movie that she’s openly said she regrets doing, she doesn’t like that movie. But because she started in The Devil Wears Prada, she was contractually obligated to star in Gulliver’s Travels therefore having to turn down Black Widow. This is where things get fun, because John Krasinski, one of the front runners for Captain America is married to Emily Blunt. And in some runs of the comics, Captain America and Black Widow did get together, which is fun. If both Krasinski and Blunt got cast, I wonder if they would have had a romance between the two characters. I obviously love Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, she’s fantastic and embodies the character so well. Emily Blunt is also fantastic and probably would have done a great job. Of all of the castings I’ve talked about, she’s the one I wish we’d be able to see the most. Upon looking at the names who were also considered, they either had starred in a Marvel movie before or after Iron Man 2 came out. Those being ANGELINA JOLIE, JESSICA BIEL, NATALIE PORTMAN, and JESSICA ALBA. I think all of them would have done a solid job, Angelina Jolie has a long history with action movies. She’s an Oscar winning actress along with Natalie Portman. But if Scarlett Johansson wasn’t cast as Black Widow, Blunt would have been the very obvious runner up. 

6. Clint Barton/Hawkeye: The last of our original 6 Avengers to get their solo project with them in the lead, but he got a tv show. I think Jeremy Renner has obviously done a fantastic job in the role, even when Hawkeye is a side character he’s still very good and fits the role. I did some research for this, but to the public not much has been released about the actors considered for Hawkeye. I was only able to find two actors, there’s probably more out there. The two ones I found were JENSEN ACKLES and JOSH HOLLOWAY. I’m not super familiar with either of their work. Ackles was one of the leads on Supernatural, but I haven't seen that show. Josh Holloway, his primary role was on Lost as Sawyer. He also was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but has less than 5 minutes of screen time. From what I’ve been able to gather, it sounds like Jensen Ackles was actually the producer’s first pick who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Supernatural. Josh Holloway was the second pick for Hawkeye. Then that’s when they cast Jeremy Renner in the role. Which is weird to think he wasn’t one of the producer’s top picks for Hawkeye.