The many films based onMarvelcharacters live and die by the strength of their casting decisions, with many notable duds dragging down the overall quality of the films they inhabit. Acrossthe films of the Marvel Cinematic Universeand beyond, movies under the Marvel banner at their best when they’re centering on a phenomenal casting choice, such as Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man or Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Butfor every iconic hero that takes the stage, there’s a poor casting decision that’s quickly forgotten.
There are several things that go into a poor casting choice that can really drag down the quality of a given Marvel film. Sometimes, the typical personality of a given actor’s characters will clash with the comic book role they’re asked to inherit, whereas in other instances, clear creative differences or bland character choices are to blame for a fumbled casting opportunity. Many of theworst Marvel movies evercan trace much of their blame back to a singular poor casting decision that went on to have dire consequences.
10Aaron Taylor-Johnson As Quicksilver
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Compared to the otherAvengersmovies,Avengers: Age of Ultronis widely considered to be the weakest of the four. Containing awkward dialogue, an underdeveloped villain, and a painful attempt at romance,the movie was a failure on many fronts.While the film marked the first appearance of Wanda Maximioff, who went on to become an important and critically-lauded character in the franchise, her brother doesn’t have as favorable of a legacy.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Cast
Avengers: Age of Ultron, released in 2015, follows Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man and Captain America, as they contend with Ultron, a rogue AI with plans for global annihilation. This Marvel sequel sees The Avengers form uneasy alliances and embark on a perilous global adventure to thwart Ultron’s schemes.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver isn’t given all that much to do before he’s unceremoniously killed, having the shallowest of arcs as he learns to care about fellow heroes like Hawkeye. Taylor-Johnson turns in a relatively bland performance as the speedster, whose cringeworthy Eastern European accent doesn’t have anything interesting to say. The final product is certainlynot a terrible character, but one that can’t help but feel like something of a waste.
9Liv Tyler As Betty Ross
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Incredible Hulksits at an awkward spot in Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. Though the events of the film technically did still happen in the MCU main timeline, the few major characters that did return to the series have all gotten recast, with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as The Hulk inThe Avengers.
The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk (1977): In this film, scientist David Banner suffers a gamma radiation overdose, triggering a transformation into a giant, muscular green creature whenever he becomes angry. This condition compels him to undertake a journey to understand and control his monstrous alter ego.
While Norton’s performance might be a tad at-odds with the universe, it’s mostly a charming depiction of Bruce Banner as an edgy loner with a heart of gold looking to heal his inner child. The same can’t be said for Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross, who should be a much more important character for the Hulk mythos than she wound up being in the grand scheme of the MCU.
Much of this can be attributed toTyler’s sleepwalk of a performance, which fails to sell any of the terror or tensiona solo Hulk movie should imply. More forgettable than outright bad, it’s no wonder Liv Tyler didn’t return to the MCU for any future installments.
8Kathryn Newton As Cassie Lang
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
One of the MCU’s biggest financial flops ever,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniahas a lot going against it. From the fake-looking CGI environments to the lame sense of humor to Kang’s utter lack of urgency as a supposedly Thanos-level threat, so much about what the movie sets out to do fails.
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Counted among this list of shortcomings is the recasting of Cassie Lang, who joins her father for the first time in superhero antics with a trip to the Quantum Realm. Thedecision to recast Cassie LangforAvengers: Endgamemade sense, as the five-year timeskip Scott found himself in following The Blip left his daughter a young teenager.
Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania follows Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, joined by Janet van Dyne, Hank Pym, and Cassie Lang, as they navigate the Quantum Realm. Their journey introduces them to peculiar creatures and challenges their understanding of reality, pushing their abilities to new extremes.
But afterAvengers: Endgamehad already produced a perfectly serviceable actress for the older Cassiein Emma Fuhrmann,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafelt the need for Kathryn Newton’s relative star-power to be more important than continuity. Ironically, Netwon has quite poor chemistry with Paul Rudd, out-acted by her predecessor in only two scenes.
7Jude Law As Yon-Rogg
Captain Marvel (2019)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has routinely had a problem with crafting memorable villains, with some of the most wasted potential in the series stemming from its antagonistic choices. To sell audiences on Captain Marvel in betweenAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame,the heroine’s own self-titled movie needed a captivating force for evil to root against. Sadly, what audiences got instead was Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg.
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s and introduces Carol Danvers, portrayed as one of the universe’s most powerful heroes. As Earth becomes entangled in a galactic conflict between two alien races, the film explores an unseen chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Due to his very presence,Jude Law instantly made the Kree warlord into one of the most obvious twist villains ever put to screen. Law’s persnickety performance and typical character choices made no secret of Yon-Rogg’s nefarious intentions long before they were actually revealed, making what should have been a shocking twist into one of the least surprising plot developments in the entire franchise. Yon-Rogg needed someone with more charisma as a hero to make his betrayal sting worse, such asGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2did with Kurt Russell.
6William Jackson Harper As Quaz
It says a lot thatAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniahas not one, but two of the biggest casting fumbles in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. William Jackson Harper was coming hot off the success ofthe finale ofThe Good Place,having enraptured audiences as the neurotic ethics professor Chidi Adagonye.
He was also a memorable presence in Ari Aster’s hit horror filmMidsommar,demonstrating his range as a character actor. This made it all the more disappointing when it was revealed that Harper only shows up briefly inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaas Quaz, a stuck-up telepath living in the Quantum Realm.
Quaz himself makes for a poor showing of William Jackson Harper’s acting skills, having none of the depth or tenderness of his other characters.
His status as a micro-citizen makes it unlikely for Harper to ever return to the MCU, totally wasting his presence in the series. Not only that, butQuaz himself makes for a poor showing of William Jackson Harper’s acting skills, having none of the depth or tenderness of his other characters.
5Olga Kurylenko As Taskmaster
Black Widow (2021)
Going intoBlack Widow,Taskmaster was one of the coolest Marvel villains the MCU had yet to tackle, a shrewd mercenary with the uncanny ability to unerringly copy the movements of anyone he sees, including superheroes. Anticipation was eager for Taskmaster’s inclusion as the central villain ofBlack Widow, despite the fact that the film opted to gender-swap the character with Olga Kurylenko to star.
Sadly, along with the gender-swap came a total loss of Taskmaster’s sassy personality from the comics. While Taskmaster’s wisecracks and confidence are a key part of his original appeal, the female MCU version was re-written to be a victim of the same Soviet program that produced Black Widow herself.
Black Widow
Black Widow: Released in 2021, Black Widow follows Natasha Romanoff as she faces a conspiracy linked to her past. Pursued relentlessly, Natasha must confront her history as a spy and navigate fractured relationships from her previous life before becoming part of the Avengers.
In doing so,Olga Kurylenko utterly loses any semblance of Taskmaster’s comic personality, or any personality at all, for that matter, playing the character as a boring brainwashed robot. It’s hard to say Olga Kurylenko is at fault for this misfire of a casting choice, but considering her lack of presence in the trailers forThunderbolts*, her days in the MCU may be numbered.
4Jared Leto As Morbius
Morbius (2022)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is far from the only theatrical franchise carrying the red Marvel logo that frequently fails to impress with its casting decisions. Jared Leto had already faced the music as one of themost controversial superhero movie castingsin history as an awkward take onThe Joker inSuicide Squad.
His next comic book appearance in Sony’sMorbiuswouldn’t fare much better, demonstrably proving that Leto perhaps isn’t well-suited to superhero franchises. Despite his method acting efforts that demanded he act as though he suffered from a mobility impairment on-set to better commune with the mind of Dr. Michael Morbius,Jared Leto makes no sense as the vampire anti-hero.
Morbius
Morbius stars Jared Leto as the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius set in the Sony Pictures Marvel universe. Afflicted with a terrible illness since his youth, Michael has struggled until he met his new surrogate brother, Lucian, nicknamed Milo (Matt Smith), who shares the same disease. The two bond over the illness, and years later, Michael discovers a potential breakthrough by using a unique gene in vampire bats. When the experiment proves to be a success, it cures Michael of his ailment - however, it also turns him into a bloodthirsty vampire. While Michael aims to curtail his bloodlust, his brother, who has also taken the cure, does not share the same empathy. As a result, Michael will have to manage his powers while trying to stop his brother’s murderous rampage.
His overall demeanor is far too serious for the campy world of Sony’s Spider-Man villain universe, clashing with the inherent corniness of the genre in an unbearable disaster. Despite what the manyMorbiusmemes might imply, Leto’s time as Morbius isn’t even fun to watch in an ironic capacity.
3Topher Grace As Venom
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Morbiuswas far from Sony’s first time fumbling the casting of a Spider-Man villain, with the conclusion of Sam Raimi’s original trilogy featuring one of the worst superhero antagonist performances ever. Highly anticipated as one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains, audiences were primed for a terrifying take on Venom and Eddie Brock that shook Peter Parker to his emotional core.
Instead, what they received wasa campy, ineffectual villain that didn’t earn Venom’s tarantula logo. Going intoSpider-Man 3,many were concerned thatTopher Grace’s legacy of being a comedic character onThat ’70s Showmade him a poor fitfor the tortured Eddie Brock.
Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3 is the third entry in Sam Raimi’s trilogy, where Tobey Maguire reprises his role as Peter Parker. Released in 2007, the film sees Spider-Man confronting new adversaries, including Sandman and Venom, while grappling with personal challenges involving an alien symbiote and complex relationships.
These fears ended up being justified as Grace’s final version of the character comes off as anything but threatening, being by far the weakest of the three villains to be stuffed into the crowded climax ofSpider-Man 3.Compared to Tom Hardy’s later take on the same character, the difference in quality is night and day.
2Christopher Eccleston as Malekith
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Thor: The Dark Worldisn’t only considered to be theworst movie of theThorquadrilogy, but one of the weakest Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in general. This is thanks in no small part to Christopher Eccleston’s Malekith, a Dark Elf with delusions of taking over control of the Nine Realms from Asgard.
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Malekith is sucha knowingly weak Marvel villainthat his name is later used as a punchline inAvengers: Endgame, with Eccleston’s phoned-in performance being largely to blame. Eccleston is one of the fewactors who openly admit animosity towards the MCU, acknowledging that his time spent in Malekith’s elaborate and stifling makeup was only a quick paycheck for him.
Thor: The Dark World
Thor: The Dark World, the second installment in Marvel’s Thor series, follows the titular hero as he faces Malekith and the vengeful Dark Elves. With the universe threatened, Thor joins forces with allies, including Jane Foster, to thwart the cosmic peril and restore balance to the realms.
His disdain for the project certainly shines forth in his performance, which makes no attempt to emote past the bare minimum standards for a stock fantasy villain. Even if he wasn’t a fan of the film, Eccleston’s professionalism as an actor is challenged by the animosity that shines through in his time as Malekith inThor: The Dark World.
1Mickey Rourke as Whiplash
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Some Marvel casting opportunities are bad because they’re a waste of potential, while others are simply terrible for the resulting performance alone. Mickey Rourke as Whiplash inIron Man 2is a rare instance of a case that somehow manages to be both, with the action movie star turning in a painfully dull villain that had the opportunity to be so much more.
For so many reasons, Whiplash is the ultimate example of missed potential and dreadful execution when it comes to the casting of Marvel characters.
Allegedly,Rourke was actually quite excited to enterIron Man 2as the main antagonist, even spending time in a Russian prison to hone the experiences of Anton Venko. Sadly, Rourke claimed that studio interference nixed his ideas for the vengeful copycat inventor, and by the time Whiplash appears on-screen, all the wind had clearly been taken out of his sails.
Iron Man 2
The third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man 2, is an action-superhero film that occurs six months after the original film’s events. After outing himself as the heavy metal superhero known as Iron Man, Tony Stark goes to great lengths to avoid demands from the government for his tech. But, unfortunately, the technology Tony used to save his life is beginning to impact his health inversely - just in time for a man named Ivan Vanko to arrive, who creates his version of the Iron Man tech to settle a decades-long score with Howard Stark’s son.
Beyond his tired, barely awake final performance, Mickey Rourke’s time in a Russian prison certainly didn’t improve his Russian accent, which is ear-gratingly awful. For so many reasons,Whiplash is the ultimate example of missed potentialand dreadful execution when it comes to the casting ofMarvelcharacters.
