Ah, Marvel. You were doing so well. Everything about the build-up to the culmination of "Phase 1" was perfect on paper. Introduce the Big Four (Iron Man, Cap, Thor and the Hulk) in stand-alone movies, and bring them together for the king of comic-book movies (The Avengers). It revolutionised blockbuster film-making, revitalised the superhero genre, and put Marvel on the map as a studio not to be sniffed at. Then, straight out of left-field amongst the inevitable Cap and Thor sequel announcements came the movie no-one expected... Guardians of the Galaxy. Scheduled for release next year, the film follows an American pilot teaming up with a talking space-raccoon, a sentient tree and a living destroyer. Cosmic Marvel is a very obscure branch of crazy, and not one to undertake lightly while the Cinematic Universe is so young. I'm sure it will all make sense on opening day, and Marvel are chucking some serious talent behind the property. But after this tesseract-powered bombshell was unceremoniously dropped, not many were initially excited. Cautiously optimistic, yes, but no outright excitement. Overleaf are 8 other stellar supers that we believe could have been equally as suited to that precious Phase 2 movie slot...