Okay, now here is something that would be pretty epic to see – Bryan Cranston playing the role of one of the mutants in ‘X-Men: First Class’. After Cranston’s starring role in ‘Breaking Bad’, he had offers coming at him left and right. Unfortunately, the actor turned down the chance to be one of Professor X’s adversaries.
The role of Nazi scientist mutant Sebastian Shaw went to Kevin Bacon after Cranston turned it down to work on ‘Drive’. Bacon did the role justice and continued to play it through the next film, ‘X-Men First Class: The High Hand’ and ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ via archive footage.
Matt Damon: Daredevil
Let’s be serious for a second here. Did anyone actually like 'Daredevil'? Ben Affleck himself has admitted he regrets starring in the film – on more than one occasion. But apparently, before he accepted it, it was offered to his friend Matt Damon. Although Damon was admittedly a fan of Daredevil in the original comic books, he turned down the role claiming he didn’t know the film’s director, Mark Steven Johnson, well enough to take the risk, but he’d consider if Christopher Nolan was the man behind the camera.
Even though it hit number one in its opening weekend, compared to several of Marvel’s more successful films, this one came up short by several hundred million dollars, grossing just over $100 million over the span of its life in theatres. Does Damon regret not taking on the role of the butt-kicking, blind superhero? Not likely.
Emily Blunt as Black Widow
That’s right, ScarJo may be an awesome 'Black Widow', but things would have turned out very differently had the role gone to Emily Blunt, who producers initially wanted to play the sultry super spy. But much like some of the others on this list, Blunt was already tied up in filming something else around the same time. This didn’t stop her from accepting the role at first, though.
Blunt came back to Marvel with a big, fat “yes,” but was quickly reminded by her team about scheduling conflicts with her film 'Gulliver’s Travels'. She called execs back and reluctantly turned down the part, leading to Scarlett’s audition and ultimately to her filling the role.
Joseph Gordon Levitt: Sky Lord
Chris Pratt plays the role of Peter Quill flawlessly in 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. It’s hard to even imagine what the films would be like without him, but imagining it wouldn’t be necessary had the role gone to the producer’s first choice – Joseph Gordon Levitt. The 'Snowden' star and Hit Record entrepreneur would have done amazing, too, no doubt, but he had something else going on at the time.
JGL was busy filming 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' when he was offered the part, so producers called Pratt. However, Pratt didn’t accept the role on the first offer, either. Luckily, he gave it some thought and graced the screens as the Star Lord.
Matthew McConaughey as Ego
Matthew McConaughey is another A-lister that Marvel has tried to recruit into their franchises for years. Most recently, he was offered a role in 'Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2' to play a villain, but turned it down.
Apparently, the actor didn’t like that he felt as though he was only being offered the role due to the franchise’s success and the fact that they thought they needed to add another big name to the roster. But hey, everything worked out in the end and the 'Guardians' movies are doing just fine without him. Plus, he’s got all of those sexy car commercials keeping him busy, anyways.