Actors Who Were Almost Avengers

It has been more than a decade since the Marvel Cinematic Universe burst onto the scene and changed the pop culture landscape forever. We still get goosebumps recalling the shock and joy we felt after the end credits of "Iron Man" when Samuel L. Jackson, sporting his Nick Fury eyepatch, told Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark about the "Avengers Initiative." One movie with all of those characters? Could they actually pull it off? It seemed impossible. Oh, how naïve we were.

22 movies and 11 years later, what seemed novel then is commonplace now. It's easy to forget that the MCU is still the most audacious and ambitious experiment in blockbuster franchise filmmaking, and was in no way a sure thing. A big reason why the MCU succeeded — perhaps the main reason — was the cast assembled to don the costumes. It's hard to imagine anybody else playing Earth's Mightiest Heroes, yet it was almost so. Now, as we're about to embark on what may be the final adventure of the original Avengers, it's a fun thought experiment to look back and wonder what might have been. Face forward, true believers — here are the actors who were almost Avengers!

Tom Cruise may have been the most bankable movie star to circle the role of Tony Stark, but he was not the only one. While we're glad RDJ got it, for instance, Nic Cage in full gonzo mode playing a drunken billionaire in a robot suit is kinda incredible. However, one actor who came especially close to donning the red and gold was Sam Rockwell. Wait ... Sam Rockwell? 

Yeah, it's true. Director Jon Favreau asked Rockwell to audition for the role. While it sounds strange now, is it any crazier to think that Rockwell would play the part, given where RDJ was back in 2007? RDJ has managed to shake his label as "box office poison," thanks largely to Tony Stark. Could Rockwell have done the same? 

Alas, it was not to be, though we doubt Rockwell is crying himself to sleep at night next to his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Besides, he got his chance to play in the MCU sandbox, dancing into the role of Justin Hammer in "Iron Man 2." These days, he'd make a mean Lex Luthor.

The role of the not-so-jolly green giant has seemed like a game of musical chairs. After Eric Bana, but before Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo, the front runner to don the torn purple pants was Fox Mulder himself, David Duchovny. Bana, who starred in Ang Lee's "Hulk" in 2003, dropped out when he discovered the sequel was set to be straight-to-DVD. You might say it made him angry ... very angry. 

Duchovny's frontrunner status was revealed by Marvel's then-vice chairman Peter Cueno back in 2006. However close Duchovny came to getting the part is unclear. All we know is that he obviously did not get the role, and the straight-to-DVD sequel to Lee's film was scrapped altogether. Instead, Edward Norton got the part in "The Incredible Hulk," which basically rebooted the franchise into the new continuity of the MCU when the movie debuted just after "Iron Man" in the summer of 2008. Norton famously got fired and replaced by Mark Ruffalo, who has played the part of Bruce Banner in of his subsequent MCU appearances.

Emily Blunt wasn't the only member of her household to almost be in the MCU. Her husband, John Krasinski, almost donned the red, white and blue of the star-spangled Avenger, Captain America. As his role as Jack Ryan has proven, he's more than capable of playing a patriotic super-soldier. Alas, it wasn't Marvel who pulled the plug on Krasinski playing the part, but the actor himself. 

According to Krasinski in an interview on "Conan," he got as far as a costumed audition, during which he saw Chris Hemsworth walk by in full Thor regalia. In that moment, Krasinski realized what he was about to get himself into and had a change of heart. "I went, 'I'm good. This is stupid. That's okay, I'm not Captain America.'" Krasinski's decision may seem like madness to us mere mortals. But if you've ever watched a behind-the-scenes video of actors wearing $100,000 Halloween costumes and staring at ten-foot tennis balls surrounded by green screens, you can see his point. We salute Krasinski's decision, and are totally cool with how Chris Evans has carried Captain America's mighty shield.

As impossible as it is to imagine anybody but Chris Pratt playing Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn had a backup plan. "There was a good chance that, if I didn't cast Chris, that I would've cast Glenn Howerton in the role," Gunn said to GQ. Howerton plays the morally reprehensible Dennis on the long-running FX sitcom, "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." Clearly, Gunn has a thing for sarcastic TV sitcom stars. 

While Howerton would have done fine in the part, he lacks Chris Pratt's movie star gravitas that took "Guardians" into the box office stratosphere. Had Howerton played Star-Lord, the film likely would have been a quirky, under-the-radar space romp destined for cult classic status down the road. Instead, with Pratt in the lead role, it became a surprise smash and one of the most bankable franchises in the Marvel pantheon. Pratt deserves a lot of credit, but so do the other Guardians. Based on the other actors up for the parts, we could have had a much different film.

Two of Hollywood's biggest Hollywood comedy heavyweights were also up for membership in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" — Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler. While still early in casting for the film, Marvel was checking on the availability of each of them. It was uncertain, however, whether both actors were up for the same part, or for different roles. Understandably, there was speculation that they were up for the roles of Rocket Raccoon and/or Groot. 

As Marvel true believers know, those parts eventually went to Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively, though it is fun to consider what Carrey and Sandler would have brought to the parts. Would Carrey's Rocket Raccoon have had the same mannerisms as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective"? Would Sandler's Groot have said "I am Groot" in a voice similar to Bobby Boucher? All we can do is speculate, though frankly we're fine with how things turned out.

Back in 2013, when Edgar Wright was still attached to direct "Ant-Man" (that's a whole other story), there were two actors still in the running for the part of the miniature marvel — Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt was just one year removed from playing Robin — or Nightwing, or Batman Two, or some combination of the above — in Christopher Nolan's final entry in "The Dark Knight" trilogy, "The Dark Knight Rises." Variety reported that he was one of the final two actors being considered for the part, alongside Rudd, who had a series of leading roles in comedic hits under his belt. That may have been what gave Rudd the nod, as Wright was going for an even more comedic tone than the other Marvel movies. 

However, Gordon-Levitt denied he was ever in the running, saying the rumors were "nothing but lies" and squashing them like — wait for it — a bug. So, maybe Gordon-Levitt wasn't actually up for the role? Anyway, it's all water under the bridge (or over the ant hill), as Paul Rudd has played the role in four MCU films, including the upcoming "Avengers: Endgame."

Here's some wacky casting that might have wound up being awesome. Academy Award-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix was apparently not only in the running, but the front runner to play the part of Marvel's favorite magician, Doctor Stephen Strange. Marvel really wanted Phoenix for the role, so much so he was rumored to be in final negotiations. Then, for whatever reason, the talks broke down. 

According to the acclaimed thespian (who is known for taking on quirky projects) it had nothing to do with Marvel's more mainstream brand of entertainment. "I think they make some great, fun movies," he explained. "I enjoy those movies sometimes, and I think they keep the f****** industry going in some ways, so I don't have a problem with it at all... I think everybody was really happy with how things turned out. All parties were satisfied." So yeah, basically we have no idea what the issue was, but in any event, Phoenix didn't take the part, and it went to Benedict Cumberbatch. Phoenix, true to his word that he has no problem with comic book films, later played the medium's most famous villain in "Joker."

When it comes to superhero parts, Hawkeye isn't exactly as coveted as Spider-Man, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, or Plastic Man. So perhaps it's not surprising that Jensen Ackles turned it down. We know what you're thinking: "Turn down a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Is the dude crazy?!" While we can't speak to his reasoning, we can say that at the time the MCU wasn't quite the MCU. Remember, before "The Avengers" broke all the records in 2012, the MCU was just a few superhero films that referenced each other. It wasn't the interconnected, multi-film and TV show mega-franchise (where if you miss one episode of one series you'll be confused forever) that we know today. 

So if Ackles wasn't interested in playing Hawkeye, we get it. According to IndieWire, he reportedly auditioned and didn't get the part of Captain America (the role he really wanted), but impressed the producers enough to get offered the part of Hawkeye. Ackles supposedly turned it down, citing his commitment to TV's "Supernatural." One suspects he might have moved some dates around to secure Cap, but not Hawkeye. Instead, the part went to Academy Award-nominated actor Jeremy Renner, who had no qualms about playing a supporting superhero. Meanwhile, Ackles has gotten to play a Captain America of sorts: Soldier Boy, in Amazon Prime's "The Boys."

Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow go together like salt and Pepper Potts. Yes, we just made that joke. No, we don't regret it. However, the Academy Award-winning Paltrow (who reportedly didn't know Samuel L. Jackson was even in the Marvel movies), was not "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau's first choice. According to Latino Review (via Rotten Tomatoes), the director was so high on his main choice that the "Iron Man" script was sent exclusively to Favreau's favorite — Rachel McAdams. Back in the mid-2000s, McAdams was still basking in the warm afterglow of "Mean Girls" and "The Notebook", and had her pick of parts. Evidently Iron Man's love interest wasn't high on her list of priorities, though apparently "The Time Traveler's Wife" was.

While McAdams was not a part of Marvel's inception, she is part of their global domination. She played Dr. Stephen Strange's love interest, Dr. Christine Palmer, in "Doctor Strange." So maybe "Master of Mystic Arts" is more her type than billionaire military arms industrialist?