The most famous, infamous, and forgotten Marvel Studios casting choices that never happened, from Emily Blunt to Joaquin Phoenix

If Marvel’s Multiverse Saga has demonstrated one thing, it’s that there are multiple different versions of the MCU out there, including ones where John Krasinski of all people is Reed Richards, and not Pedro Pascal. What kind of insanity is that? It’s almost as if Tobey Maguire was Spider-Man, or Andrew Garfield, or… Well, you get the picture.

This got us thinking, though; what about the alternate realities where the Marvel heroes we know weren’t played by the actors we’ve come to associate with them? After all, movie casting is a magic all of its own that involves scheduling, availability, and the right person to say yes at the right time… and there are more than a few stories of near-misses and almost-happeneds when it comes to Marvel Studios’ 16 years to date. With that in mind, let’s revisit some of the MCU heroes that weren’t, in three different roles: Famous, Infamous, and Forgotten.

This is the latest topic in Popverse's new weekly series Famous, Infamous, and Forgotten — a vigorous, opinionated, and intense look at one specific corner in the pop culture realm we inhabit to pick out the most famous version of it all, the most infamous version of it all, and the most forgotten version of it all.