Why Kevin Feige didn’t want to cast this actor in the MCU

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige nearly blocked a star from The Incredible Hulk from appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Feige has played a central role in the casting of every MCU movie and TV show dating back to the shared universe’s first-ever installment, 2008’s Iron Man. Together with that film’s director, Jon Favreau, he oversaw Robert Downey Jr.’s installation as Tony Stark / Iron Man, which he would go on to declare “one of the greatest decisions in the history of Hollywood.”

In the decades since then, Feige and his team have grown the MCU’s ranks to include a massive line-up of industry unknowns, up-and-comers, and outright A-listers. They’ve also increasingly looked outside Hollywood to recruit new talent, as in the case of K-drama star Park Seo-joon’s casting in The Marvels.

Feige’s hasn’t always landed his top picks, though. A recent example of this is Daniel Craig’s unrealized MCU cameo as Baldur the Brave in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which apparently made it as far as the costume design stage before Craig bowed out.

Why Kevin Feige didn’t want to cast Tim Roth in the MCU

Even so, Feige usually gets the people he wants – although on rare occasions, he can be convinced to go in a different direction. Such was the case with Tim Roth’s casting as Emil Blonsky / The Abomination in The Incredible Hulk, according to the new behind-the-scenes tome MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (via The Direct).

As detailed in the book, Feige originally wanted a big-name star to portray Abomination and felt that Roth – then largely known for low-budget indie flicks like Pulp Fiction – didn’t fit the bill. Undeterred, director Louis Letterier and Roth himself argued that the latter’s character actor chops would benefit The Incredible Hulk more than another, more high-profile performer’s name recognition.

This argument ultimately won Feige over, especially after Letterier positioned Roth as the kind of actor who could sell the fledgling MCU’s more over-the-top elements without descending into camp. Feige later thanked Roth for talking him around, and brought the star back for a supporting role in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and a cameo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Will Kevin Feige recast two major MCU characters?

However, not all of Feige’s casting decisions have panned out so well. Notably, two of the MCU’s most prominent new additions, Jonathan Majors and Tenoch Huerta Mejía, have since been accused of abuse and sexual assault, respectively, leaving their futures with the franchise in limbo.

While there’s still no word on whether either actor will be replaced, a recent report claims that Feige and his team have discussed the possibility of writing out Majors’ character, Kang the Conqueror. This approach would require the studio to find a new overarching nemesis for the MCU Phases Five and Six, with Doctor Doom supposedly bandied about as a potential substitute.

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