The Marvel Cinematic Universe holds the record for some of the most perfect castings of all time. Take Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark aka Iron Man, Chris Evans in the role of Steve Rogers aka Captain America, Scarlett Johansson in the role of Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow, or simply Chris Hemsworth in the role of Thor Odinson as examples.
Though the example isn’t restricted to just these 4, these are the most epic proof that basically, almost every single actor cast in the MCU is perfect for the role.
However, despite these immaculate castings, a lot of actors have bid farewell to their roles as well. While some of these were fired from Marvel movies, others simply couldn’t work on future projects of the franchise due to reasons of their own.
Thus, to evaluate some of the major actors who had to leave the characters they were initially cast as behind, here is a list of four actors who couldn’t make their way more up than they already did in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with Andrew Garfield.
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4 Actors Who Got Fired From The Marvel Cinematic Universe
1. Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield was undoubtedly one of the biggest fan-favorite castings in the entire MCU. Cast as the beloved Spider-Man for a reboot film series after Tobey Maguire, he had the audiences completely immersed by his flawless performance throughout the two The Amazing Spider-Man movies he donned the suit in.
However, his tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t supposed to come to an end so soon. As it turns out, the Hacksaw Ridge star was supposed to play the character once again for yet another installment of the film series, The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
But that never came to be due to a last-minute incident: because of sickness caused due to jetlag, Andrew Garfield was unable to attend the crucial promotional event where TASM 3 would have been announced by Sony boss Kaz Hirai.
Yet, instead of understanding his problem, many Sony executives had severely displeased reactions to the web slinger’s behavior, and thus, ended up calling off The Amazing Spider-Man 3 along with making their disinterestedness in any future projects for The Amazing Spider-Man saga known, the result of which led to the canceling of a Black Cat solo movie, and Sinister Six film as well.
Nonetheless, Garfield got his chance to reprise his role and don the suit once again, after notably several years passed with multiple rounds of negotiation with Marvel. This ‘chance’ was none other than his surprise appearance in Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
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2. Edward Norton
It is no surprise that the Edward Norton-led 2008 installment of The Incredible Hulk franchise was widely loved by fans. His epic performance as Bruce Banner was widely commended by fans and critics alike worldwide.
However, he was later replaced by Mark Ruffalo as the big green for all future Marvel projects. This was because of the “creative differences” he faced with the seniors in charge of the movie, which eventually led to him getting fired from the role.
A little backstory here: initially, when Norton was cast for the role of Hulk, his demands of having considerable creative control over the film (something that he has been long notorious for, for almost all of his projects) was obliged by the studios and Kevin Feige.
But while his demands were initially accepted, with him becoming a secret co-writer of the project, things took an ugly turn later on as his ideas clashed with those of the director, leading to him walking out of the project after The Incredible Hulk.
Thus, 2008’s installment from the Hulk franchise was the last ever that starred Edward Norton as the male protagonist, with little to no hope of the actor returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe anytime soon (or simply at all, to be very honest).
3. Jonathan Majors
Let’s be honest: Jonathan Majors did an absolutely splendid job while he was still a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as multiple variants of the supervillain Kang the Conqueror, especially in the two seasons of the superhit series, Loki.
However, then he found himself getting involved in some serious legal troubles, what with him getting convicted of assault and harassment charges imposed on him by his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari.
While initially, before his trial, Marvel was very quiet about the entire situation, Majors later found himself getting fired from the franchise as the court proved him guilty of all the charges, leading to all his future projects with the cinematic universe getting axed.
Because of this, the MCU has been facing quite some troubles lately (as per multiple reports) about whom to make the big bad since Kang was supposed to be the ultimate supervillain now that Thanos was out of the picture. Regardless, Jonathan Majors’ return is close to hopeless.
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4. Terrence Howard
Originally, in the first installment of the Iron Man franchise, Terrence Howard was cast for the role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, one of the dearest friends of Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But by the time the cast got to making Iron Man 2, Howard saw himself facing an unanticipated exit from the movie, with Don Cheadle replacing him for every consequent project that involved the War Machine.
This was because of the higher salary negotiations he insisted on, but the unwillingness of the studios on the matter eventually led to him facing the exit door despite having initially signed a three-film contract with the franchise.
Regardless, it was only for the better, for fans have been loving Cheadle in the role much more than they ever could with anyone else in Rhodey’s shoes, let alone Terrence Howard.
