10 Ways The MCU Was Almost Unrecognizable

We take the MCU for granted. We really, truly do.

Sure, you can say that there don't seem to be any legitimate stakes, there's a track record of weak villains or that most of the movies feel same-y, but while each of those criticisms have merit, they aren't universally true.

Not only did our heroes have to fight to prevent -- and then undo -- the death of half the universe, but they lost Vision, Black Widow and Iron Man in the process.

As far as villains go, for every Malekith, Yellowjacket, and Kaecilius, you have a Thanos, a Loki, or a Killmonger. And tonally, you can't rightly say that Winter Soldier felt anything like Guardians of the Galaxy, that Black Panther felt like Ant Man and the Wasp, or that Far From Home felt like Captain Marvel.

Despite all those criticisms and counter-criticisms, we can all generally agree on this: The MCU has been remarkably consistent. None of their movies have really drawn fan ire, and when it counts, they stick the landing.

That's more than you can say for Star Wars, right?

But this track record was all the result of happenstance, negotiation, and adaptation. The MCU as we know it was almost very different, in some ways for the better... but others for the worse.

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WARNING: MCU SPOILERS BELOW

One of the big criticisms of the first Guardians of the Galaxy was its horribly unremarkable villain, Ronan the Accuser. A great villain from the comics being played by a great actor like Lee Pace seemed like a surefire recipe for success, but alas, it was not. Instead, we got a dull villain with shallow motivations and a pouty demeanor (not helped in the least by the constant jutting of his bottom lip).

The sequel rectified that in glorious fashion when the filmmakers cast Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet (fun fact: Matthew McConaughey was originally offered the role). While not Marvel's BEST villain, he was definitely one of their BETTER ones, indisputably a step up from Ronan.

Originally, though, his presence was less than certain. You see, Fox originally owned the rights to the character. James Gunn didn't know this. He just assumed Marvel held the rights, so he made Ego part of his plans. Marvel had to negotiate with Fox, trading off one of their characters for Ego. Which character was that?

Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

As far as trades go, it was a pretty solid deal. We got Ego, and Deadpool got his buzz-headed sidekick. A win-win.