After one of the best villain actors in the MCU revealed that he originally auditioned for the role of Captain America, I realized that it helps to prove a weird superhero casting role. I think we can all agree that the MCU’s villains are the stuff of legend. This is largely thanks to the fact that the MCU is so good at sticking to Marvel’s golden rule for villains, which, in a nutshell, stipulates that no villain can be purely evil and must exhibit some redeeming or empathetic factor – like the MCU’s most iconic villain, Thanos.
Good writing, however, is only half the work. The rest pertains to the actor picked to portray a Marvel character and the work they put into the role. Another strong suit of Marvel Studios is casting, with the studio proving its proficiency right out of the gate after casting Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Yet while some actors were born to portray superheroes, a shocking number were a better fit for supervillains despite initially auditioning for a superhero role. One such example is now a co-star in Daredevil, and I’m frankly glad he missed out on his initial choice.
Wilson Bethel Revealed How He Came Close To Being The MCU’s Captain America
He Got As Far As Wearing The Suit
Wilson Bethel portrays Benjamin Poindexter, AKA Bullseye, in the third season of Netflix’s Daredevil and the upcoming sequel series, Daredevil: Born Again. Since its canonicity was definitively confirmed, this makes Bethel an official part of the MCU, but he was nearly inducted much earlier if his original audition was successful. Bethel revealed as much at a Fan Expo event in January, stating that he auditioned for the role of Captain America and got as far as trying on the suit before the role ultimately went to Chris Evans. His full quote is as follows:
The hardest hit I took was…I came very close to being cast as Captain America. I went through multiple rounds of screen testing, and the suit felt incredible. Yeah [when asked if he has pictures] There were all these things that were happening that made me feel like I was getting the part. And then I remember my agent calling me one day, and they’re like, ‘No, actually, they offered it to Chris Evans’ or whatever.
From what Bethel reveals, it certainly sounds like he got pretty far into the casting process. While I do feel sympathy towards the actor when he reveals how he thought he was getting the part, I can’t help but feel like Marvel ultimately made the right decision. Chris Evans is, after all, the perfect actor to portray Steve Rogers – a point that many Captain America: Brave New World detractors struggle to see beyond. Besides, while Chris Evans has secured his spot alongside Robert Downey Jr. as an actor synonymous with the MCU, Bethel is also making a huge impression.
Wilson Bethel Is A Perfect Marvel Villain Casting In Daredevil
Benjamin Poindexter Is One Of The MCU’s Most Compelling Villains
Ultimately, sidelining Wilson Bethel in favor of Chris Evans was a win-win. Bethel’s performance as Benjamix Poindexter is a standout feature of Daredevil season 3 (and the show as a whole), delivering a rendition of Bullseye that is genuinely terrifying yet sympathetic. Bethel expertly conveys Poindexter’s struggle to suppress his psychopathic tendencies through the use of psychiatry tapes as if they were medication. After Fisk’s successful subsequent manipulation of the ex-FBI agent, Poindexter then becomes fearsome enough to rival even Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin with a formidable skill that overcomes Daredevil in their first encounter.
Incidentally, Daredevil‘s Bullseye and Kingpin are both prime examples of Marvel’s proficiency with villains. It takes a certain kind of actor to be able to convey the nuances that pervade the MCU’s most compelling and sympathetic villains, and I think both D’Onofrio and Bethel have proved that they are among them. This kind of actor isn’t constrained to the MCU, of course, but it is rather striking that a similar process to how Bethel made his way to the Poindexter role seems to befall a litany of superhero movie villain actors.
A Huge Number Of The Best Supervillain Castings Initially Auditioned For A Superhero Role
The Process Of Casting Attempted Superhero Actors As Villains Is Becoming A Trope
The process of auditioning for a superhero role only to later land the role of the supervillain is something of a trope at this point. For example, another of the MCU’s most iconic villains, Loki, was expertly cast with Tom Hiddleston, but the actor who would go on to portray the immensely beloved brother of Thor initially auditioned for the role of Thor. This was revealed, along with the clip of Hiddleston’s audition, in the Disney+ series Marvel Studios ᴀssEMBLED: Loki.
Tom Hiddleston put on an American accent in his audition for Thor, though Asgardians would end up speaking with English accents.
Three(ish) examples of this phenomenon even surround just one MCU movie: Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Michael B. Jordan, who portrays Erik Killmonger in Black Panther, originally auditioned for the role of Sam Wilson, AKA the Falcon and future Captain America. If he had succeeded, he might have been helping out Sebastian Stan’s Steve Rogers had Stan’s first MCU audition gone according to plan, though his stint as the (now reformed) Winter Soldier remains an MCU highlight. While she is no superhero, Sharon Carter was also nearly portrayed by Karen Gillan before she would go on to portray Nebula.
Heath Ledger, for instance, was initially approached to embody Christpher Nolan’s Batman before he would go on to portray the most iconic rendition of Joker.
Over at DC, the upcoming Superman has pulled a similar move as Loki and Thor with its two main rivals, Superman and Lex Luthor. Nicolas Hoult is due to portray the iconic Superman villain but initially auditioned to portray Clark Kent, a role that would go instead to David Coresnwet. Likewise, Cillian Murphy had originally auditioned to portray Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy before ultimately landing the role as Batman Begins‘ main villain, Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow.
While they didn’t necessarily make the auditioning stage, several iconic supervillain actors were also in consideration for a number of superhero roles. Heath Ledger, for instance, was initially approached to embody Christpher Nolan’s Batman before he went on to portray the most iconic rendition of Joker. Sam Rockwell was also considered for Tony Stark before he would instead portray the instantly likable and tragically underused Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2. Jake Gyllenhaal was also reportedly in line to play Doctor Strange, though he would instead embody a different kind of magician with Mysterio.
Why So Many Of The Best Supervillain Performances Come From Actors Who Also Auditioned For Superhero Roles
The Actors Prove That They Are Capable Of Exhibiting Sympathetic Traits
Ultimately, it seems as though casting directors and superhero movie studios have tacked onto a tactic that somehow delivers some of the best villains committed to the big screen. After looking a little deeper, I’m willing to bet that this is an intentional move, and we need only consider Stan Lee’s Golden Rule for the reason. By taking an actor who works well as a superhero and casting them instead as the villain, you are more likely to deliver on an exceptionally nuanced, compelling, and ultimately sympathetic foil.
This is the case for all the aforementioned instances of actors who initially auditioned for the role of a superhero before being cast as the supervillain – Nicolas Hoult’s as-yet-unseen Lex Luthor notwithstanding. Loki and Killmonger consistently top the list of the best MCU villains because of how sympathetic they are. Killmonger considers himself to be a hero of the people, while Loki desires the recognition and love received by superheroes like his brother. Bucky Barnes and Nebula, meanwhile, go from villains to superheroes in the space of a couple of movies.
Ultimately, casting actors who initially aimed for superhero roles as villains is indicative of their versatility. While I will always embrace the involvement of actors renowned for playing bad guys as villains in the MCU (with Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder being a recent example), I also think casting actors more well-known for their likability as villains is a recipe for success. Thanks to the number of examples where this is the case, I hope it’s a practice the MCU and DCU continue.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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Spider-Man Homecoming 4
- Release Date
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July 24, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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