Celebrities who were nearly cast as superheroes

Celebrities who almost played our favorite superheroes - Stories about celebs that almost made it as superheroes are the best, especially because it's hard to picture someone else playing some of those Marvel and DC Comics beloved roles.

From Leonardo DiCaprio to Emily Blunt, these Hollywood stars were almost cast as superheroes!

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Heath Ledger - Batman - The actor refused the role of Batman when he was initially contacted by Christopher Nolan because he wasn't too fond of superhero movies. However, after the success of 'Batman Begins,' Ledger was allegedly fascinated by the director's work and approached him again. As we all know, he ended up playing the Joker.

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Jake Gyllenhaal - Batman - Gyllenhaal was one of the runner-ups to play the role of Dark Knight in Nolan's trilogy. However, Christian Bale ended up getting it, not only because he was the director's favorite, but also due to the success of 'The Machinist.'

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Tom Hiddleston - Thor - Director Craig Kyle talked about how hard Hiddleston had worked to get the role of Thor, but he didn't get it because everybody could see he was perfect to play the villain Loki instead!

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John Krasinski - Captain America - He was one of the favorites for the role and even screen tested twice for it, but we all know Hollywood hunk Chris Evans ended up getting the part.

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Cillian Murphy - Batman - Murphy also screen tested for the role of Batman, but he didn't end up getting it. However, he impressed Nolan so much he got the part of villain Scarecrow.

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Tom Cruise - Iron Man - Cruise was always in the running for the role of Tony Stark, but when he was given the first script, the actor didn't like the story because it focused too much on Tony's father, so he abandoned ship.

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Sam Rockwell - Iron Man - When Cruise refused the role, Rockwell was one of the candidates alongside Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau was very keen on hiring him. Although Downey Jr. ended up getting the part, Rockwell played the villain in the second Iron Man movie.

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Leonardo DiCaprio - Spider-Man - After the success of 'Titanic,' the idea was to get DiCaprio to play the lead of the superhero movie adaptation. The director at the time was James Cameron, but producers couldn't agree on the script and by the time they came up with a final version, DiCaprio wasn't interested anymore.

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James Franco - Spider-Man - When director Sam Raimi took the reins, James Franco and Tobey Maguire were the main candidates for the role of Spider-Man. Against the opinion of many producers, Raimi ended up picking Maguire but he also kept Franco to play the villain Harry Osborn.

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Edward Furlong - Spider-Man - The actor may have left the spotlight, but when James Cameron was still considering directing the Spider-Man movies, Furlong was one of the favorites due to his performance in 'Terminator 2.' However, it all went bust when Cameron abandoned the project.

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Nicolas Cage - Superman - With the success of Batman in 1989, Warner wanted to ride the wave and release Superman too, so they hired Kevin Smith to write the script and Tim Burton as a director. Cage went as far as doing a costume audition, but after the negative reviews of 'Batman & Robin' and three failed scripts, Warner dropped the project.

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Will Smith - Superman - Smith was invited to audition for the part at the same time as Nicolas Cage, but he also refused it because he was too busy shooting 'Wild Wild West.' Years later, director Bryan Singer asked him to play the first black Superman in history, and yet again, he refused it!

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Sylvester Stallone - Superman - Can you picture Stallone playing the same role as Christopher Reeve had played in 1978? That's what almost happened after Sly pushed for it, but it didn't work out for him because Marlon Brando (who had landed the role of Superman's father Jor-El) had one demand: that the 'Rocky' star wouldn't be cast as his son!

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Ashton Kutcher - Superman - Kutcher was also one of the runner-ups for the role in 'Superman Returns,' but he rejected the idea because he thought the character was cursed!

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Lee Pace - Starlord - Pace tried out for the part, but the studios wanted someone with more comedic strengths (Chris Pratt ended up getting the role). Yet, Pace managed to impress and landed the part of villain Ronan.

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Christopher Mintz-Plasse - Kick-Ass - Finding an actor for the role of Kick-Ass wasn't easy at all. It is said that around 600 candidates tried for the part in the space of six months. Mintz-Plasse was one of them, but director Matthew Vaughn didn't like his screen tests, though did end up giving him the role of the villain Red Mist.

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Dougray Scott - Wolverine - Even though it's hard to picture someone else other than Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine, the truth is that Scott was the first pick. However, he had to drop the project because the shootings took too long to kick off and he preferred to be a part of the film 'Mission: Impossible 2.'

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Jim Caviezel - Cyclops - A similar thing happened to Caviezel: the actor dropped the role of Cyclops so he could shoot the movie 'Frequency.'

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Emily Blunt - Black Widow - Blunt was actually the first pick for the Black Widow role before Scarlett Johansson, but she couldn't fit it in her busy schedule as she was also shooting 'Gulliver's Travels.'

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Marlon Wayans - Robin - The 1992 movie 'Batman Returns' was supposed to include Batman's sidekick Robin too. Wayans even shot some scenes with the costume but they never made it to the final cut. He was allegedly paid for it anyway.

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Anne Hathaway - Black Cat/Felicia - Sam Raimi's fourth Spider-Man movie never came about, but several sources suggested Hathaway was the chosen one for the part of Felicia, who would be a variation of the character Black Cat.

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Robin Williams - Joker - Jack Nicholson initially refused to play the Joker in Batman's 1989 movie. Williams was a huge fan of the character and almost got the part before Nicholson backtracked and accepted the iconic role.

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Jack Black - Green Lantern - Warner came up with an idea along with screenwriter Robert Smigle where Black played a TV star who was chosen by the ring which gives the Green Lantern his powers. However, the script leaked online and the fans' response was so bad the project got axed.

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Angela Basset - Storm - In the 90s, Fox tried to produce an X-Men movie for which Angela Basset was confirmed as Storm. However, it never went ahead. In 2004, when Bryan Singer took over as director, he picked her for the role again, but she asked for too much money and Halle Berry ended up getting the part.

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Beyoncé - Wonder Woman - Beyoncé publicly talked about how much she wanted to play the role of the heroine, but the project never got off the ground.

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Josh Brolin - Batman - Before Ben Affleck was cast as Batman in 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice' in 2016, Zack Snyder met with Brolin to try and convince him to play the role of Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, the actor wasn't interested.

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Josh Hartnett - Superman - In 2001, Warner Brothers had already thought of a movie in which Batman would face Superman, and Hartnett was the favorite to put on the Superman cape. However, the project didn't go ahead at the time - it only happened years later in 2016.

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