10 Ways The Marvel Cinematic Universe Almost Turned Out Completely Different

9. The Other Hemsworth Was Nearly Cast As Thor

As a fledgling studio with only three movies under their belt, two of which featured Iron Man, Thor was an incredibly risky project for the relatively-unproven Marvel Studios. A $150m fantasy-tinged comic book movie with the unlikely choice of Kenneth Branagh behind the camera based on a title character that had little name recognition with general audiences, the stakes were only raised higher by the studio's insistence that a relatively unknown actor be cast in the lead role (although unconfirmed reports claimed that Daniel Craig had been offered, and turned down, the part). An open casting call went out in regards to Thor, with almost every up-and-coming young actor in Hollywood eying the potentially career-changing role. Charlie Hunnam, Joel Kinnaman, Tom Hiddleston and Alexander Skarsgard were all screen-tested, but the final choice came down to two unknown Australian actors that just happened to be brothers; Chris and Liam Hemsworth. Obviously, the older Hemsworth was eventually cast as Thor and nailed it, injecting the character with the requisite amount of charisma, charm and stoic heroism required. However, during the initial round of auditions the movie's casting director passed on the opportunity to put Chris forward for a screen-test before the young actor forced his way back into contention, finding himself head-to-head with his younger brother as the final two candidates for the role, with the man that became Thor recalling; 'We both came all the way over here from Australia and ended up battling against each other.' Despite coming agonizingly close to landing the star-making part and losing it to his elder sibling, runner-up Liam Hemsworth got his chance to star in a blockbuster franchise soon after by landing a supporting role in The Hunger Games.