12 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played Superheroes

12. Matthew McConaughey As Doctor Strange/Peter Quill

Following his highly lauded "McConaissance," Matthew McConaughey has had his pick of whatever roles he wants to play in Hollywood. So when it came time to find the next character in the MCU, Doctor Strange, casting directors naturally headed his way.

McConaughey was offered the mystical part of Doctor Strange (as well as a chance to be in Guardians of the Galaxy), but the actor was weighing his options between the Marvel projects and that the Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower. He concluded that though Marvel films are generally successful, he felt The Dark Tower script was well written and liked that he'd have more creative freedom in taking on the role paired with it. As he said in a recent interview with Playboy:

I like Guardians of the Galaxy, but what I saw was ‘It’s successful, and now we’ve got room to make a colorful part for another big-name actor.’ I’d feel like an amendment. The Dark Tower script was well written, I like the director and his take on it, and I can be the creator, the author of the Man in Black—a.k.a. the Devil—in my version of this Stephen King novel.”