10 Actors Who Failed Marvel Auditions But Later Got MCU Roles

Given how massive the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become, it's good to know that it is a generous franchise in terms of second chances. Case in point — there are a number of actors who played more than one role in the MCU, confirming that people aren't forever locked out of the franchise just because their original character dies or is otherwise no longer being utilized. Given that the MCU doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, it would definitely be unfortunate if actors only got once chance to ride that train. Doubly so for those actors who unknowingly hitch their wagon to a character that doesn't have any staying power and is gone after one movie or show.

But what about people who failed at their initial attempt to join the superhero legion? Are there second chances for them as well? The answer is yes, as this feature is full of actors who tried out for one role, were rejected, and later came back to play a different role. Just to be clear, we aren't including examples of people who were offered roles and turned them down. Nor are we addressing people who were being considered for roles but never tried out for them. This article is limited to people who specifically auditioned to play one role within the MCU, didn't get that role, and have since officially joined in a different capacity entirely. 

Thus far, the only major Marvel Cinematic Universe team to exhibit any sort of staying power in terms of their own film series are the "Guardians of the Galaxy." Though they are very much an ensemble, Chris Pratt's performance as Peter Quill — aka Star-Lord — certainly goes a long way in earning that success. As seen with Robert Downey Jr. and the Avengers, it seems that the most successful MCU teams have a charismatic, often funny lead to anchor themselves to. This could explain why "Eternals" didn't pan out, but we digress. 

As comfortable as Pratt seems in the role of heading up an entire MCU sub-franchise, the beginnings of his Marvel movie journey didn't smack of an actor with lofty ambitions. In an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2023, Pratt revealed that he had not only previously auditioned for the movie "Thor," but it wasn't even for a legacy character — it was just some nameless henchman. He bombed the audition badly enough that he didn't get a call back. Pratt said he then tried and failed several more times to land other MCU roles, though he didn't elaborate on the specifics.

As it turns out, Pratt nearly blew his "Guardians of the Galaxy" audition as well. The actor said that writer/director James Gunn interrupted his audition and gave him some honest feedback, telling Pratt that what he was doing wasn't working and to just be himself. With that, Pratt finally landed a Marvel role. The rest is MCU history. 

For most of the actors who auditioned for one MCU character only to get a different role later, the two roles in question are entirely different. Wyatt Russell has the distinction of auditioning for two characters that are connected in a unique way. Before playing the Captain America (Chris Evans) replacement candidate John Walker in the Disney+ series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" — and who would later become U.S. Agent instead – Russell previously auditioned to play Steve Rogers himself.

Even more interesting is that Russell's attempt to play Rogers was his first audition ever. Some actors try to start small and some take big swings right away, with Russell falling into the latter camp. Being the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn probably helped his confidence, although we're sure Russell is building his career on his own talent and hard work, not from the privilege of being Hollywood royalty.

Despite missing one chance to be in the MCU, Russell wasn't willing to jump head first into his second without giving it some serious thought. He called now-former Marvel director James Gunn before accepting the John Walker role, as he knew the director personally. Gunn previously worked with Meredith Hagner, Russell's wife on the movie "Brightburn," and he also directed Russell's dad in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." Russell sought Gunn's well of comic book knowledge to get some insight on John Walker as a character, and that helped Russell decide to take the role. 

John Krasinski had long been a fan favorite to play Mr. Fantastic in the MCU, with numerous pieces of concept art created over the years that imagined what he'd look like as Reed Richards. While he wouldn't end up playing the official version — Pedro Pascal got that honor in "Fantastic Four: First Steps" — he did make a cameo as an alternate universe version of the character in "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness." Given how busy he is starring, writing, and directing movies, it's unlikely Krasinski will ever have the bandwidth to be a full-time superhero. 

Even so, he not only tried to join the franchise at one point, but he wanted to play one of its biggest characters. No, it wasn't Reed Richards, as much as the internet wanted that. Krasinski had actually auditioned to play Captain America, and even got to wear a version of Cap's suit when he read for the part. However, as he explained on "Ellen" in 2020, his confidence was shattered when Chris Hemsworth happened to walk by as Krasinski was suiting up. 

Hemsworth was already impressively muscular, while Krasinski still looked like — well, Jim from "The Office." Krasinski joked that he changed his mind about auditioning at that point, once he saw he didn't have the bulk to be an Avenger. Then he explains that he did, in fact, go through with the audition and gave it his all — but he obviously didn't end up getting the part.

Sometimes an actor auditions for a part, and although they fail to secure that particular role, the casting people saw something in the actor that makes them keep the individual in mind. That's what happened to Dominique Thorne, who joined the MCU as Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Thorne discussed how she had originally auditioned for the part of Shuri in "Black Panther," back when she was still in college. She says of her approach to her audition, "I think that a lot of my perspective was focused on what I was doing at the time, which was being entrenched in education. So I think I was definitely leaning super-heavy into the science aspect of it." The part ultimately went to Letitia Wright, though casting director Sarah Halley Finn was so impressed with Thorne that she promised to give her another chance later — something she naturally took with a grain of salt at the time. "How much I believed that is another thing, but they definitely did say it," Thorne muses. 

It's probably something that gets promised to actors a lot, and then nothing ever comes of it. In Thorne's case, Marvel made good on that chance. She not only got to suit up for "Black Panther" sequel but she also got to lead her own refreshingly great miniseries with "Ironheart" on Disney+ — something that only a handful of other MCU actors can claim. 

Maybe it's not that unique that Wyatt Russell auditioned to play the original Captain America, only to later get the role of one of his successors instead. Sebastian Stan can tell the same story, having failed to secure the role of Steve Rogers and instead being cast as Bucky Barnes. That's a fast turn-around from disappointment to success, though, as Barnes' importance came through during "Captain America: The First Avenger." The character was also foreshadowed by the end of the film to return in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." 

From that point on, Bucky has been a major presence in the MCU. He's a huge part of not only Steve Rogers' (Chris Evans) history, but also Tony Stark's greatest childhood loss (Robert Downey Jr.). In "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," Bucky is in competition with Russell's John Walker and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) for the title of the next Captain America. It's Sam that ultimately earns it, though Bucky later takes a leadership role with the New Avengers in "Thunderbolts*."

In retrospect, Stan has said he's grateful he didn't land the role of Steve Rogers. Kevin Feige explained Bucky's character arc to him, and it made Stan fall in love with the character. He became excited to play Barnes as he embarked onto the Winter Soldier arc and beyond. Very few MCU actors have gotten the chance to play both a menacing villain and a celebrated hero within the franchise — as the same character, no less — not to mention there's only a couple of other characters that can match Barnes for number of appearances. It's tough to argue with Stan's feelings on the matter. 

Loki seems like the Marvel part Tom Hiddleston was born to play. Not unlike Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, it's going to be impossible to imagine anyone else playing the Loki we know other than Hiddleston — despite all those variants stuck in "The Void." Which begs the question — what other role could Hiddleston have possibly auditioned for prior to landing the part of the god of mischief? It's not another sometimes villain, sometimes antihero. It's not even a character from another series within the MCU. Hiddleston's first audition was for no one other than Thor himself.

Hiddleston's audition tape for Thor, which was shown during the actor's 2019 appearance on "The Tonight Show," looks like a "Saturday Night Live" parody. All due respect to Hiddleston, his acting abilities, and his all-in audition to play Thor, but after years of knowing him as Loki, it's jarring to see him not only wield Mjolnir but sporting long, flowing blond locks. Remarkably, Hiddleston states he was in contention for the role for several months. He also reveals that he never even auditioned for Loki at all — after going a different way with Thor (Hemsworth), Marvel Studios realized it already had its Loki and offered it to Hiddleston. Things tend to work out in the end for Loki, don't they? 

Chadwick Boseman and the Wakandan king T'Challa are so intertwined that, when Boseman passed away, it was revealed that T'Challa would not be recast. Instead, the character died as well, and his sister, Suri, became the new Black Panther instead. It's hard to imagine who else Boseman could've possibly auditioned to play, given just how perfectly he fit into our hearts. But the actor did take a previous swing at a different MCU character before becoming Black Panther — and if we gave you 10 guesses as to who, you probably still wouldn't get it.

It was none other than Drax, since made iconic by Dave Bautista in "The Guardians of the Galaxy," that Boseman had auditioned for. The actor explained to Jimmy Fallon that he didn't have high hopes of landing the part. Boseman also said that it wasn't yet known what the movie's tone was going to be, so he didn't know Drax was going to be a funny character. As he explains, actors often audition for parts they know they probably won't get just to network with casting directors. The MCU's MVP of casting, Sarah Halley Finn, gets a shoutout, as Boseman credits her for knowing to keep him in mind for something later after his shot at Drax didn't pan out. 

Given that "Black Panther" would go on to not only blow everyone away at the box office, but also become the first superhero movie in history to get a best picture Oscar nomination, Boseman ultimately got to be a part of something truly special during his all-too-short life and career. 

When Lee Pace first got cast to play the character of Ronan the Accuser for the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, he probably didn't know what to make of it — or what, if anything, it would do for his career. Again, it's easy in retrospect to say that "Guardians" would be a huge hit, but it was considered a risky swing for Marvel Studios at the time. Imagine Pace's surprise when not only did "Guardians of the Galaxy" do extremely well, but he would get called on to reprise the role of Ronan the Accuser five years later for "Captain Marvel." 

If Lee had his way, he would've been a much bigger character within the MCU — and in "Guardians of the Galaxy" in particular. Back in 2012, Deadline reported on the then upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy," outlining its attempt to lock down their leading man with a mention of Pace. Around that same time, Pace told MTV he was going to read for the film, with his sights set on playing the fun role of Star-Lord. It would appear that this is another example of an actor being impressive enough during their audition that they were offered a different role despite failing to secure the one they went out for. 

Pace's time as Ronan the Accuser was a stand-out for the early "Guardians" arc, and seeing him return to take on Brie Larson as Captain Marvel was a terrific bonus. It's a good thing nobody stays dead in comics for long, as that leaves hope that we could still see Ronan at least one more time.

When you think of Michael Rosenbaum and comic book characters, you go straight to Lex Luthor. Rosenbaum played a young version of Lex in Superman's (Tom Welling) origin series "Smallville" for 10 seasons. Beyond that, Rosenbaum has a long history of voicing other DC comics characters in film and television animation, including Ghoul, Deadshot, Deadman, and multiple versions of the Flash. Rosenbaum also voiced an original character named Johnny Charisma in the video game "Batman: Arkham Knight." But it's not only the DC multimedia universe where the actor gets to play. He's a real life reality-hopper.

Rosenbaum made his MCU debut when he played Martinex, a member of Yondu's (Michael Rooker) squad in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." The character was also in the Guardians of the Galaxy's original lineup in the comics, meaning Rosenbaum was playing a legacy character — albeit one that wasn't well known to more casual Marvel fans. But if Rosenbaum had his way, he would've played Peter Quill himself. Once again, that's the role the actor originally auditioned for. It certainly would've been interesting to see him play one of the MCU's biggest heroes after having previously played one of DC's most iconic villains. 

Speaking of actors who have visited both the DC and Marvel universes, Zachary Levi is closely associated with the DCEU hero Shazam, also known as Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel in kid form). Outside of the TV show "Chuck," and voicing Flynn Rider for "Tangled," Shazam is probably the role Levi is most well-known for. And yet, like Michael Rosenbaum, he would've been the MCU's Peter Quill if he'd had his way.

Levi also auditioned to play Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy," even completing screen tests for the character. As he explained in an interview for Screen Rant, it was during a period where Chris Pratt had already been offered the role but initially passed on it, leaving the door open for another actor to swoop in. At some point, Pratt obviously changed his mind — and once he did, the role was still his to take. After losing out on Star-Lord, but before landing Shazam, Levi ended up in the MCU after all when he was cast as Fandral in "Thor: The Dark World." 

Fortunately, Levi got to reprise the role again in "Thor: Ragnarok," which meant that his entire MCU career wasn't limited to what was long considered the worst movie — though there have been several since that are now considered far worse. To sum up, everybody wants to rule the world, and almost everybody wanted to be Peter Quill. Looking back on how the franchise turned out, it's pretty understandable.