12 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played Superheroes

9. Joaquin Phoenix As The Hulk

Superhero Movie Casting Spiderman Leonardo DiCaprio
Warner Bros. Pictures

Once it was announced that Edward Norton wasn't going to reprise his role as the Hulk for The Avengers movie, wild speculation as to who would fill his shoes ran rampant. One of the biggest rumors was that Joaquin Phoenix would play the big green man. It had at one point been reported that the role had been offered to Phoenix by Marvel Studios, and it seems that a large part of the public was behind this casting choice.

However, this one rumor fanned out across fan sites and news sources to no avail. Phoenix, known not only for his eccentricities as a person but also for his very deliberate and specific choices when it comes to film roles, either ended up passing on this Marvel mainstay role or never had it offered to him in the first place. The world may never know.

Contributor
Contributor

Holland Baker is based in New York City, where she is an editor, writer and co-host of Whatever It Takes: A Degrassi Podcast. In her free time, you can find her searching for bodega cats, eating mass amounts of pizza and using humor as a defense mechanism.