WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: THE MCU

Iron Man (2008)

>Several directors turned the movie down because they believed it'd flop before Jon Favreau was hired. Louis Leterrier was also interested, and subsequently directed THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

>Sam Rockwell and Clive Owen auditioned for Tony Stark before Robert Downey Jr. was cast.

>Rachel McAdams was offered Pepper Potts, but declined, and Gwyneth Paltrow was cast.

>Early drafts featured the Mandarin as a corrupt Chinese businessman who led the 10 Rings and created the Crimson Dynamo armor to fight Iron Man, before Jon Favreau decided to build up to the character.

>Early drafts featured Obadiah Stane only as Stark's estranged mentor, and his descend into villainy would be explored over several movies.

>In early drafts, Stark would throw Stane into a vat of acid rather than have him caught in the blast of the Arc Reactor's explosion. When the armor is retrieved, Stane's body is gone, indicating he might have survived.

>In early drafts, Stark would fight Stane in the prototype Mark IV armor, which includes a shoulder-mounted gattling gun and would later become the War Machine armor.

>The movie was filmed mostly without a script, with actors ad-libbing most of their lines based on a production guideline. Production was so chaotic that both the cast and the producers believed the movie would be a disaster until test-screenings reported surprisingly positive audience reception.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

>Mark Ruffalo was Louis Leterrier's original choice for Bruce Banner, but the studio favored Edward Norton.

>Ray Stevenson auditioned for Emil Blonsky before Tim Roth was cast.

>Norton had concerns about the movie's direction and demanded to revise the script. He notoriously clashed with producers and added several subplots that were partially filmed and ultimately cut.

>Stan Lee would originally cameo as the captain of the USS Excelsior, a fishing boat that Banner and Betty hire to take them to Manhattan after the U.S. military blockade the bridge.

>The Hulk would originally decapitate the Abomination with the chain wrapped around his neck. This was changed due to negative reception from test-audiences.

>Norton was a fan of "The Wire" and added a subplot about a man, played by Michael K. Williams, who reaches out to the Hulk during the Battle of Harlem to stop the destruction. The subplot was almost entirely cut and Williams' role reduced to a cameo.

>Norton also added an extended comedic sequence where Banner interacts with a computer geek while trying to retrieve data from the university. Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Jason Segel were approached to make an appearance as the computer geek, but when they all declined, the scene was scrapped and the geek reduced to a cameo, played by Martin Starr.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

>Emily Blunt was originally cast as Natasha Romanoff, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Scarlett Johansson.

>Terrence Howard, who played James Rhodes, was the highest-paid actor in "Iron Man", and asked to accept a pay cut for the sequel. When he refused, he was fired and replaced by Don Cheadle.

>Tim Robbins was approached to play Howars Stark, but declined.

>Zhang Ziyi was approached to play Rumiko Fujikawa before the character was scrapped.

>Justin Hammer was originally the main villain, and would've been an older, shrewd businessman. Producers envisioned Al Pacino in the role, but the idea was scrapped when Hammer was made into a younger, more comedic character and the secondary antagonist.

>Ivan Vanko was originally a secondary villain, alongside his brother Boris Bullsky. Vanko would die during the fight in Monaco, and Bullsky would be recruited by Hammer to become Titanium Man and avenge his brother's death. Sam Rockwell originally auditioned for Bullsky before the two characters were merged into one and made into the primary antagonist, played by Mickey Rourke.

>Jon Favreau's original plan was to adapt the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline, with Stark descending into alcoholism due to Hammer's machinations to ruin his public image, government pressure to surrender his technology and Pepper finding a new boyfriend, but the studio felt the subject was too dark and persuaded Favreau to change it to a storyline of Stark dying of Palladium poisoning.

>Hawkeye was featured in early drafts, but was cut due to being superfluous to the narrative, filling the same role as Black Widow.

>In early cuts, Stark and Romanoff had a more flirtatious relationship. Most of these scenes where cut as test-audiences believed it underscored Stark's relationship with Pepper.

>In early cuts, Vanko was a more sympathetic character, but most of these scenes were cut, which displeased Rourke. He disowned the movie and swore never to work with Marvel again.

>Rourke added most of Vanko's quirks such as the hair, the tattoos, the dentures and the bird.

>Favreau notoriously complained about the rushed production schedule that didn't allow him to refine the script as much as he wanted. The cast once again ad-libbed most of their dialogue.

>In the original ending, Vanko would kidnap Pepper to force Stark to surrender to him and be executed, but War Machine intervenes and rescues Stark and Pepper before killing Vanko with the Ex-Wife missile. Test-audiences felt the ending was anti-climatic, and a new version where Iron Man and War Machine fight an armored Vanko was filmed.

Thor (2011)

>Daniel Craig was the original choice to play Thor, but declined.

>Charlie Hunnam, Joel Kinnaman, Alexander Skarsgard and Tom Hiddleston auditoned for Thor. Hiddleston impressed producers enough to be offered the role of Loki. The frontrunners were Chris Hemsworth and Liam Hemsworth, with Chris ultimately being cast.

>Natalie Portman agreed to play Jane Foster because she felt the need to be in a lighter movie afte the emotionally straining "Black Swan".

>Josh Hartnett and Charlie Cox auditioned for Loki.

>Brian Blessed was originally approached to play Odin.

>Jessica Biel and Diora Baird auditoned for Sif.

>Alexander Townsend was originally cast as Fandral, but was fired due to his erractic behavior. Zachary Levi was originally approached to replace him, but couldn't commit, and Josh Dallas was cast.

>Early drafts featured Thor's human alter-ego, Dr. Donald Blake, and Kevin McKidd was reportedly approached to play him before the character was scrapped.

>Early drafts featured Thor and Loki's other brother, Balder.

>At one point, Sif and Heimdall would've been siblings, and Sif would've been black, but the idea was scrapped.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

>Louis Leterrier volunteered to direct the movie, but the studio favored Joe Johnston.

>Joss Whedon made minor revisions to the script after signing on to direct "The Avengers".

>Channing Tatum, Garrett Hedlund, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Michael Cassidy, Wilson Bethel, Chace Crowford, Jensen Ackles and Sebastian Stan auditoned for Steve Rogers before Chris Evans was cast. Stan impressed producers and was hired to play James "Bucky" Barnes.

>Evans was initially reluctant to join due to the nine-picture contract offered by the studio, but agreed once it was reduced to a six movie contract.

>Emily Blunt was offered the role of Peggy Carter, but declined. Rosamund Pike, Alice Eve, Keira Knightley, Gemma Arterton and Alexa Davalos auditoned before Hayley Atwell was cast.

>Thomas Kretschmann auditioned for the role of Red Skull. He'd later play Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in "Avengers: Age of Ultron".

>Early drafts featured Baron Heinrich Zemo and Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker as high-ranking members of Hydra, but the writers believed they'd be wasted on minor role and should be used later as main antagonists.

The Avengers (2012)

>Jon Favreau was approached to direct the movie, but declined, while Louis Leterrier volunteered his services, but was turned down.

>Joe Carnahan was in discussion to direct the movie before Joss Whedon was hired.

>Zak Penn wrote the original script, and produced multiple drafts to accomodate the developments of the MCU. At one point, there were plans to introduce Thor and Loki directly in the movie rather than give Thor his own feature, as producers believed audiences would react poorly to the tonal dissonance of Thor's magic-oriented story.

>Penn's original drafts featured the Avengers being assembled by SHIELD to fight Hulk, who had been brainwashed by Loki, before they join forces to defend the Earth from an invasion of the Frost Giants. When Whedon joined the project, he scrapped Penn's version and wrote his own draft.

>Whedon originally wanted to use Ultron as the main villain, but was convinced by Marvel to use Loki as originally planned.

>Ant-Man and the Wasp were featured in early drafts. Ant-Man was removed after his movie was delayed. Whedon still wanted to include the Wasp, but the character was ultimately cut for being superfluous to the plot.

>Early drafts made Stark into the main character, but further revisions turned the movie into a more effective ensemble.

>Whedon was the one that suggested that Thanos be added to the movie as Loki's benefactor.

>Originally, Thor would use lightning to revive Stark after he falls back from the wormhole. Ruffalo improvised the scene where Hulk awakens Stark by roaring at him, and Whedon liked it enough to include it in the movie.

>Early cuts were over three hours long. To scale down the running time, Whedon cut several segments of the Battle of New York and several scenes about Rogers' struggle to adapt to modern times.

>In early cuts, Maria Hill being debriefed by the World Security Council about the Battle of New York is using a framing device that opens and closes the movie.

>Robert Downey Jr. ad-libbed most of his dialogue.

>Edward Norton did not return due to his troubled relationship with Marvel Studios. David Duchovny was briefly considered as his replacement before Mark Ruffalo joined the cast.

>Jensen Ackles auditioned for Hawkeye before Jeremy Renner was cast.

>Morena Baccarin and Mary Elizabeth Winstead auditioned for Maria Hill before Cobie Smulders was cast.

>At one point, it was discussed to make Loki's army the Skrulls, but the studio felt the shapeshifting aspect would clutter the narrative and opted to create a new race and name them the Chitauri.

>The movie was originally rated "R" for the scene where Phil Coulson is killed by Loki. To ensure the PG-13 rating, the blood was digitally erased, the stabbing was shortened and a reaction shot of Thor was added to "break" the continuous sequence of Coulson being stabbed and collapsing on the floor.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

>Tom Hooper was approached to direct the movie before Shane Black was hired at Robert Downey Jr.'s behest.

>Early plots discussed for the movie including Stark dismantling a conspiracy to sell Arc Reactor-powered weaponry on the black market and Stark attempting to prevent the Mandarin from hijacking China's efforts to create their own Iron Men.

>The Mandarin was expected to be the main villain, but Black and writer Drew Peace believed him to be a racist caricature and decided to make him a fabrication of the real villain.

>Originally, Maya Hansen would've been the main villain, but in further revisions her role was reduced in favor of Aldrich Killian.

>Jude Law was approached to play Killian before Guy Pearce was cast.

>Jessica Chastain was originally cast as Maya Hansen, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Gemma Arterton, Isla Fisher and Diane Kruger auditioned before Rebecca Hall was cast.

>Andy Lau was originally cast as Dr. Chen Wu, an old friend of Stark's who is instrumental to Killian's defeat, but dropped out and was replaced by Wang Xueqi. The role was reduced in further revisions, although the Chinese cut of the movie had several minor aditional scenes of Wu and his assistant, played by Fan Bingbing, to cater to Chinese audiences.

>Anthony Mackie auditioned for the role of Eric Savin. He'd later play the Falcon.

>Black's first draft for the movie was rated R.

>In early drafts, Extremis was a nanotechnology-based version of the Supersoldier Serum, but was later changed to a gene therapy procedure.

>In early drafts, Pepper would've had a tryst with Killian. Killian would use his Extremis-enhanced pheromones to seduce her, record their sexual encounter and broadcast it nationwide to taunt Stark.

>"Iron Man 3" was the last movie in Robert Downey Jr.'s original four-picture contract, and was written as a definitive end for the character should Downey Jr. not renegotiate to play the character in further installments.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

>Patty Jenkins was hired to direct the movie at Natalie Portman's behest, but dropped out due to creative differences, and was replaced by Alan Taylor. Portman was reportedly upset by the decision and no longer wanted to be in the movie, but was contractually obligued to do so.

>Taylor notoriously clashed with producers, as he wanted a longer, darker and grittier movie, while they preferred a shorter, more humorous and sci-fi-oriented movie. The movie was revised multiple times during filming to find a middle ground, and several scenes were cut. Taylor also hated the stinger directed by James Gunn, which he felt didn't fit with the movie's tone.

>Mads Mikkselsen was originally cast as Malekith, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Christopher Eccleston.

>Josh Dallas couldn't reprise his role as Fandral due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Zachary Levi.

>In early drafts, Malekith was a more sympathetic character, and his backstory included witnessing his family needlessly being slaughtered by Thor's grandfather, Bors, fueling Malekith's hatred of Asgard and his obsession with plunging the Universe into darkness to restore his people.

>In early drafts, Sif had a larger role and would compete with Jane for Thor's affections, but most of her scenes were cut after Jamie Alexander injured herself on set.

>In early drafts, Loki had a minor role, but further revisions expanded his part due to his newfound popularity caused by "The Avengers".

>Early draft also included larger roles for Jane's suitor, Richard, played by Chris O'Dowd; and Asgardian commander Tyr, played by Clive Russell. They also featured the Valkyrie in a pivotal role.

>In early drafts, Jane would be corrupted by the Aether and become a vengeful sorceress, but this was scrapped as a "needless complication".

>Joss Whedon did minor revisions on the script. One of his demands a shirtless scene for Chris Hemsworth.

blablabla most of this is fucking shit and i'm glad it didn't happen

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

>F. Gary Gray and George Nolfi were considered to direct the movie before Joe & Anthony Russo were hired.

>Anna Kendrick, Emilia Clarke, Felicity Jones, Imogen Gay Poots, Teresa Palmer, Alison Brie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jessica Brown Findlay auditioned for Sharon Carter before Emily VanCamp was cast.

>Kevin Durand, Josh Holloway and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau auditioned for Brock Rumlow before Frank Grillo was cast.

>Michael B. Jordan auditioned for Sam Wilson before Anthony Mackie was cast.

>Alec Baldwin was approached to play Alexander Pierce before Robert Redford agreed to join the movie.

>Early drafts featured several flashbacks of Captain America in WWII to explore his friendship with Bucky and his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but they were nearly entirely scrapped from the movie.

>Early drafts featured Hawkeye being deployed to capture Captain America after he escapes from the Triskelion, leading to a chase through the streets of Washington, D.C. that ends with Rogers and Barton fighting in an abandoned warehouse. Rogers gains the upper hand, and Barton alerts him that there are tracking devices on his suit before letting Rogers go and making it appear as if he had escaped. He would later coordinate the evacuation of the Triskelion and protect innocent agents from Hydra operatives, but writers felt he was superfluous to the narrative and Renner was unavailable for the majority of filming.

>In early drafts, Sharon Carter had a larger role. To streamline the narrative, parts of her character were merged with Black Widow.

>In early drafts, Zola would survive the explosion at the old SHIELD outpost by leaving in a robotic body, but the idea was scrapped as it "looked too silly" after such a emotionally-heavy scene.

>Scarlett Johansson suggested the arrow necklace Romanoff wears throughout the movie.

>The movie was filmed mostly without a script

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

>Peyton Reed was considered to direct the movie before James Gunn was hired.

>Joel Edgerton, Eddie Redmayne, Jensen Ackles, Jack Huston, Cam Gigandet, Sullivan Stapleton, Logan Marshall-Green, Garrett Hedlund, Chris Lowell, James Marsden, Jim Sturgess, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Aaron Paul, Michael Rosenbaum, Wes Bentley, John Krasinski, Lee Pace and Glenn Howerton auditioned for the role of Star-Lord before Chris Pratt was cast. According to Gunn,Howerton would be offered the part if Pratt hadn't been cast.

>Gunn originally didn't want to watch Pratt's audition tape, believing him to be wrong for the role, but was ultimately convinced by his assistant and immediately decided Pratt was the ideal Star-Lord.

>Gina Carano, Olivia Wilde, Rachel Nichols, Thandie Newton and Adrianne Palicki auditioned for the role of Gamora, while Elizabeth Banks campaigned for the part, before Zoe Saldana was cast.

>Jason Momoa was offered the role of Drax, but turned it down due to salary issues. Djimon Hounson, Brian Patrick Wade and Isaiah Mustafa also auditioned before Dave Bautista was cast. Hounsou was later cast as Korath.

>Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler and David Tennat were approached to voice Rocket before Bradley Cooper was cast.

>Gal Gadot auditoned for the role of Nebula.

>Early drafts featured Richard Rider becoming Nova as a counter-point to Star-Lord. In further revisions, Rider was cut so Star-Lord could be the sole focus.

>Early drafts featured Bug as a member of the team, but he had to be cut due to copyright issues.

>Early drafts featured an appearance of Adam Warlock.

>Gunn originally didn't want to include Thanos in the movie as mandated by the studio, as he believed it'd cheapen Ronan's role as the main villain. However, he found an appropriate middle ground in Ronan threatening to go after Thanos and killing his lackey, the Other.

>Early drafts included the Spartoi and the Nova Centurions.

>In early drafts, Yondu would die during the Battle of Xandar.

>Early cuts featured additional scenes set to "Livin' Thing" by ELO and "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Also, "Hooked on a Feeling" was originally set to Star-Lord's arrival at the Moragian temple to retrieve the orb.

>Early cuts featured an extended version of the epilogue set to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", revealing an elderly Grandpa Quill still hoping Peter will return one day. The segment was cut because several test-audiences didn't recognize actor Gregg Henry due to the prosthetics used to make him look older, and felt that the scene was too depressing.

>Ronan's soldiers were originally the Badoon, but their rights were with 20th Century Fox, requiring them to be changed to Saakarans.

>Marvel wanted to use Galactus and the Silver Surfer in the scene where the Collector is explaining the Infinity Stones, and offered to extend the deadline for the rights of Daredevil so Fox could complete the troubled, long-delayed R-rated movie written and directed by Joe Carnahan that they were producing, in exchange for letting the Fantastic Four's affiliated characters revert to Marvel. Fox preferred to hold on to the Fantastic Four's lore, and a Celestial was used in that scene instead, while Daredevil and his affiliated characters reverted.

>Originally, Stan Lee would be part of the Collector's inventory and flip off Groot when Groot notices him, but Gunn changed it as believed it was "too meta".

>Imogen Gay Poots

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

>Saoirse Ronan was approached to play Scarlet Witch, but declined, and Elizabeth Olsen was cast.

>Dougray Scott and Marton Csokas auditioned for the role of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker.

>Natalie Martinez auditioned for the role of Laura Barton.

>Early into production, there were plans for J.A.R.V.I.S. to become Ultron.

>The Tesseract and Loki's staff were originally not going to be Infinity Stones. They were retroactively made into part of the Stones to further Thanos' storyline.

>Loki would originally appear in Thor's vision, discussing the impending cataclysm in the ruins of Asgard. This was cut because test-audiences were confused about the nature of the vision and believed it implied Loki was behind Ultron becoming sentient.

>The studio originally planned to cut the heroes' visions and reduce the segment at Hawkeye's farm, but Whedon convinced them otherwise. He was require to include the segment about Thor's investigation into the Infinity Stone, although it was later poorly received by test-audiences and mostly cut.

>Whedon included the romantic subplot between Banner and Black Widow as he felt the Hawkeye/Black Widow pairing originally planned by the studio was too predictable.

>Whedon notoriously struggled to write the script and clashed with the studio throughout production.

>The rough cut was over three hours long and severely edited to reduce the running time, which included completely reestructuring the final battle, which required lenghty reshoots and post-production.

>An alternative ending where Quicksilver survives and joins the New Avengers was filmed should the studio change their minds about the character's death.

>The original formation of the New Avengers also included Spider-Man and Captain Marvel, but the deal with Sony Pictures was not yet finalized and the studio felt Captain Marvel was best served being introduced in her own movie.

>In early drafts, Ultron would recruit the Abomination to join him. Tim Roth was approached to return to the role before the idea was scrapped.

>In early drafts, the Battle of Sokovia would culminate with the Ultron drones combining to form a skyscrapper-sized Ultron that'd fight all the Avengers at once.

>In early drafts, Banner would reject Romanoff, as she views him as a representative of the stable, normal life she wishes she had, and he believes he's no longer entitled to. She would also trigger his transformation into the Hulk in the final battle by claiming to have lied about her feeling to keep the Hulk under control.

>In early drafts, Rogers and Stark would have a more contentious relationship and part on less amicable terms.

>In early drafts, Ultron was directly modeled after Stark's personality and his ideals were a corrupted, extremist version of Stark's own viewpoints about humanity.

>In early drafts, the Avengers confront Ultron, the Twins and Ulysses Klaw at a hijacked Vibranium mine in the outskirts of Wakanda, which was changed so as to give Wakanda a proper introduction in the standalone BLACK PANTHER movie.

Ant-Man (2015)

>"Ant-Man" would originally be part of Phase I with a tentpole release date in 2010.

>Edgar Wright was originally attached to direct the movie. Production was delayed numerous times, and he eventually dropped out due to creative differences with the studio.

>Wright reportedly wanted a stylized and completely standalone movie, unfitting with the tone and approach of the MCU. Studio revisions to his script, including mandatory cameos by Howard Stark and Peggy Carter, are what drove him to quit.

>Adam McKay and Rawson Marshall Thurber were considered to direct the movie before Peyton Reed was hired. McKay revised the script.

>Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the frontrunner to play Scott Lang alongside Paul Rudd.

>Jessica Chastain was approached to play Hope Van Dyne, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

>Steve Buscemi was Reed's first choice to play Hank Pym, but was unavailable, and Michael Douglas was cast.

>Patrick Wilson was originally cast as Jim Paxton, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts when production was delayed.

>Matt Gerald was originally cast as a member of Scott's crew, Sam, but the character was scrapped in Reed's revisions.

>Early cuts included a prologue set in 1989, featuring a young Pym retrieving stolen data from a military compound in Cuba. Jordi Molla was cast as the compound's leader, General Castillo, but his scenes were cut.

>Early cuts featured Lang retrieving the stolen Cross Particles from HYDRA operative Mitchell Carson, but this was cut to leave the storyline to be explored in a potential sequel.

>Evangeline Lily nearly dropped out of the movie after Wright's departure, and only changed her mind after meeting Reed and learning her role would be expanded.

>Early cuts featured Darren Cross experimenting with the Cross Particles before unveiling the Yellowjacket, and testing the suit himself, explaining his insanity. The order of the scenes was rearranged in post-production to make the movie more dynamic.

>In Wright's draft, Lang is an petty criminal who has been arrested multiple times and Pym is a mad scientist obsessed with his legacy. Both characters were much less sympathetic than their movie counterparts.

>Hope Van Dyne had a minor role.

>Scott's crew was formed by eight different criminals, who all had minor roles.

>Darren Cross would become the Nano-Warrior rather than the Yellowjacket.

>Maggie and Paxton had larger roles. Scott, Maggie and Paxton would be childhood friends, and Scott and Paxton would have always competed for her affections. Paxton would been a petty crook before becoming a policeman, and much less sympathetic towards Scott.

>The final battle between Ant-Man and Nano Warrior would've taken place at a high-speed car chase.

>Reed's revisions added Scott's sympathetic backstory; Pym's more sympathetic characterization; a larger role for Hope; Scott's crew being condensed into Luis, Dave and Kurt; the Quantum Realm; Ant-Man fighting the Falcon; and reduced roles for Maggie and Paxton, with Paxton being a more sympathetic character.

Interesting user, thanks

...

Thanks, user. Any chance you have one for Civil War?

>>In early drafts, Sif had a larger role and would compete with Jane for Thor's affections, but most of her scenes were cut after Jamie Alexander injured herself on set.

If she hadn't injured herself, those scenes would have led to her being the female lead and love interest in Ragnarok, instead of the black Valkyrie we're getting.

Also these tidbits make Louis Leterrier seem insanely needy.

>Oh, you're making another movie? I'll direct it guys! No need to look anywhere else, I'm great I swear!
>Er, that's alright man we'd rather pay someone else tons more money than get you to do it

This is getting tiresome. It was a real interesting read the first time but you do this like once a week