A movie is made by its stars – it’s why the writer can make 50 grand while the main lead rakes in a couple million. They’re who people go to see – the actors who portray the characters become those characters. RDJ said it, “I am Iron Man.” But sometimes, classic roles are almost played by someone completely different. This has almost happened dozens and dozens of times in the history of Marvel films.
What If? opened the door to alternate worlds, alternate heroes, alternate universes – and in some of those universes, everyone’s favorite heroes are completely different people.
Now that the multiverse is open, who knows how long it is until we see all of these faces? All of these people were almost cast in the Marvel Universe, with their casting sometimes having radically different effects on the universe that is now populated by roughly two out of every 10 movies or TV shows made today.
George Clooney was almost the MCU’s Nick Fury
Joaquin Phoenix was almost Doctor Strange
Tom Cruise was almost Iron Man
Tom Hiddleston would’ve made a wild Thor
The Office’s Jim was almost Captain America
Laurence Fishburne could have been Quentin Tarantino’s Luke Cage
Saoirse Ronan, among others, was considered for the Scarlet Witch
The Wasp originally appeared in The Avengers and was almost Bryce Dallas Howard
Hugo Weaving almost stayed in the Marvel Universe
Alison Brie was the reference for She-Hulk
Edward Norton, the original Hulk, almost returned for The Avengers – and the rest of the films after
The original Korg appeared for a brief moment in Thor: The Dark World before being remade for Ragnarok
Olivia Wilde and Amanda Seyfried almost were Gamora
After driving away the anti-woke crowd with his holiday gala meltdown, Schneider will try to win them back with some old-fashioned Christian entertainment