10 Actors That Turned Down The Most Iconic MCU Roles

Matthew McConaughey recently made his MCU debut by voicing Cowboypool in Deadpool & Wolverine to lots of critical acclaim. However, that debut is seven years late from when Marvel first approached McConaughey with the offer of a big role. In 2017, McConaughey had the option of playing Ego the Living Planet in the James Gunn-led Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 or Walter Padick in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and he chose the latter. “I like Guardians of the Galaxy, but what I saw was ‘It’s successful, and now we’ve got room to make a colorful part for another big-name actor.’ I’d feel like an amendment,” he later explained the reasoning behind his decision.

McConaughey was more than qualified for both roles, and while his performance was the highlight of the Stephen King film, it wasn’t enough to redeem the flop the film became. Kurt Russell, who replaced McConaughey as Ego, aced the role, becoming the star of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 – which grossed nearly $900 million. However, McConaughey’s decision was probably for the best, considering his one-year age difference from Chris Pratt, who was supposed to be his onscreen son at the time.

Ackles is still one of the hottest contestants for future big roles in the MCU, especially after he excelled as Soldier Boy in Amazon Prime’s The Boys. However, the Supernatural star is no stranger to the MCU, having auditioned for multiple roles at Marvel in the past. The most iconic role that he auditioned for was Captain America, which, unfortunately for him, fell to Chris Evans instead. Marvel bosses still liked his performance and later offered him the now-hit role of Hawkeye. The offer came too late for Ackles, who was commited to Supernatural at the time, forcing Marvel to cast Jeremy Renner in his place.

Ackles was also given the offer to play Deadpool before Ryan Reynolds landed the role. Ackles had to turn down the offer once again as a result of scheduling conflicts with his long-running role in Supernatural. Turning down the two roles essentially means that he missed out on the opportunity to become the face of the MCU. However, with Phase 6 and 7 set to feature more superhuman roles, Ackles remains a big prospect for an MCU debut.

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Zoe Saldana as Gamora is one of the MCU’s most successful castings of all time. However, Saldana was not Marvel’s first pick for the role. Multiple names were suggested for it, with Amanda Seyfried, then a shining upcoming talent after her success as Sophie in Mamma Mia, being one of the top prospects for the role. However, fearing for her career in case Guardians of the Galaxy bombed, Amanda Seyfried chose to pass on the role. Despite liking the script and the team working on the film, Amanda Seyfried just didn’t believe that many people would be interested in the James Gunn film: “I said, ‘Who wants to see a movie about a talking tree and a raccoon?’ Which is clearly – I was very wrong,” she later admitted.

Amanda also confessed that she wasn’t prepared for the intense transformation to become Gamora, which would see her become green for the better part of a year. Her fears were actually real because it apparently took up to three months for Saldana to complete her transformation into the character. However, the film grossed over $770 million and spawned one of the best-performing MCU franchises. Gamora also became a central character in the MCU, making it the dream role for anyone in Hollywood.

Dave Bautista made headlines when he confirmed that he would only return as Drax the Destroyer if James Gunn called him and offered him the role once again, as was the case in 2014 when he first joined the MCU. However, that is bad news for MCU fans because it will likely never happen, considering that Gunn is now the creative CEO of competitor DC Studios. Bautista’s exit could, however, open the doors for Marvel’s first choice for the role to eventually make his MCU debut. Gunn initially wanted Jason Momoa as Drax, but the Aquaman star chose to skip the auditions.

“It didn’t really fit in my time because I’ve done so many things where I don’t say much, and I’m colored up, and I have my shirt off again. I made a conscious choice to turn down some movies that were action-based to direct ‘Road to Paloma‘ so people could see that side,” Momoa later said. Momoa also said that Bautista was perfect for the role. However, with Bautista leaving, and Drax still expected to play a big role in the MCU’s future, fans would be more than happy with Momoa in the role.

Daniel Craig is so famous for his performance as Agent 007 that no one (seemingly including himself) could see him as the hammer-wielding prince of Asgard. Marvel thought otherwise, though, since they offered him the role in 2011 despite lots of A-listers, including Tom Hiddleston auditioning for it. Chris Hemsworth ended up bagging the role, beating a long list of competitors, including his own brother Liam. Hemsworth’s casting for the role eventually proved perfect, though, as he has become as synonymous with Thor as Craig is with Bond.

According to Craig, doubling up as both Thor and Bond would have amounted to “wielding too much power.” In reality, committing to both projects would have been too demanding even for Craig, with scheduling conflicts probably being unavoidable. After retiring as James Bond, Craig eventually attempted to join the MCU as Balde the Brave in Multiverse of Madness although it didn’t work out due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. A future appearance in the MCU appearance for Craig can’t be ruled out though.

T’Challa’s younger sister, Shuri, becoming the Black Panther remains the highlight twist of the franchise after Chadwick Boseman’s sudden death. With preparations underway for Black Panther 3, Letitia James seems set to play the role of the Black Panther for a long time, effectively making her the face of the franchise. However, that privilege would probably have gone to Amandla Stenberg had she not dropped out of the auditions. According to Stenberg, she felt mismatched for the role since the rest of the Wakanda royals are dark-skinned while she is biracial.

“I got really, really close and they were like, ‘Do you want to continue fighting for this?’ And I was like, this isn’t right. These are all dark skin actors playing Africans and I feel like it would have just been off to see me as a biracial American with a Nigerian accent just pretending that I’m the same color as everyone else in the movie,” she explained her reason for walking away from the role. She later got her chance when she was cast as Osha in The Acolyte and put up one of the show’s better performances.

In 2019, Marvel president Kevin Feige said they have been trying to sign Keanu Reeves into the MCU for years. According to Feige, Marvel talks to him about almost every movie they make, but just haven’t found the perfect way to introduce him into the franchise. As his statement suggests, Reeves has been offered multiple MCU roles, but hasn’t said yes to any of them so far. The most recent MCU role that Reeves had to pass on was Yon Rogg in Captain Marvel. The scheduling of Captain marvel coincided with that of John Wick Chapter 3 and Reeves chose the latter.

Jude Law went on to star in the role, although his time as the villain wasn’t the most impressive. Law later complained that the character was poorly written and that the creators didn’t listen to his requests to make changes. The character doesn’t seem to have a future in the MCU now, so Reeves probably dodged a bullet there. However, an MCU debut for him seems to be still on the horizon.

Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine has been a huge boost to the MCU, as seen in the character’s impact in Deadpool & Wolverine. However, Jackman was nowhere near the top picks when Bryan Singer was selecting the original cast of X-Men in 2000. Russell Crowe was Singer’s top pick to play Wolverine, but his schedule was tight since he was working on Gladiator at the time. Crowe was generous enough to then recommend Jackman for the role, though. However, even Crowe’s recommendation wasn’t enough, as the role was then given to Dougray Scott, who then got injured before Marvel eventually gave the role to Jackman.

Over two decades later, Crowe eventually entered the MCU as Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder. However, the role was short-lived and didn’t carry nearly as much weight as the X-men character. He later joined Sony’s Spiderman Universe as Nikolai Kravinoff in Kraven the Hunter, although that one doesn’t seem to have much of a future either. A proper MCU debut for the star, hopefully in a superhero role, would definitely be welcomed by fans though.

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Blunt is another Hollywood legend that has been linked with many Marvel projects, although she hasn’t appeared in any of them yet. The most recent rumors suggested she would play Mrs. Fantastic, but that role eventually went to Vanessa Kirby. However, back in 2010, she was Jon Favreau’s top pick to play Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2. It was a great opportunity for her to become Black Widow who has played a major role in all previous phases of the MCU.

Unfortunately, she was under contract with Fox at the time, and they had control over which roles she would play, so when they signed her up for Gulliver’s Travels, she couldn’t object. “I was contracted to do Gulliver’s Travels. I didn’t want to do Gulliver’s Travels. It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me because I take such pride in the decisions that I make and they mean so much to me, the films that I do,” she aired her regrets. It is unclear if she will join the MCU in the future, but playing Black Widow is probably off the table as the role is synonymous with Scarlett Johansson now.

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George Clooney as Nick Fury was the casting that would have launched the MCU earlier than the franchise’s eventual opening. Clooney, already a Hollywood legend at the time, was tapped to lead The Avengers in the early 2000s, long before Samuel L. Jackson. Rumors suggest that Marvel planned to put him at the center of the MCU as the franchise was being launched. Tapping in on his fame, especially after his acclaimed performance as Batman, would have catapulted the MCU into a mainstream comics franchise long before the release of Iron Man in 2008.

Clooney was apparently on board at the beginning but later changed his mind after doing further research on the role. A gory scene of Nick Fury using a man’s own intestines to choke him to death in a 2001 comic book by Garth Ennis is believed to have caused Clooney’s change of mind as he didn’t want to play such a violent character. However, despite his recent return as Bruce Wayne in The Flash, Clooney has shied away from franchises for most of his career and probably wouldn’t have appeared in the MCU as frequently as Jackson has.