12 Near-Miss Castings That Almost Improved The Marvel Cinematic Universe

3. Mads Mikkelsen As Malekith - Thor: The Dark World

There are a couple of conflicting stories regarding Mads Mikkelsen's potential role as Malekith the Accursed in Thor: The Dark World and one is that he was originally slated to be playing the villain before he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. The other is that Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor has said the Mikkelsen simply wasn't right for the role, but we think it's far more likely that the conflicting schedules story is true, what with Mikkelsen being obliged to honour his role as Hannibal Lecter in the titular television series. Indeed, it is that role as Lecter which makes us think he would have been a better fit for Malekith than Christopher Eccleston. Malekith was one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most underwhelming villains. He was uninteresting and didn't seem all that powerful, so the sinister nature of Mikkelsen's role as the brutal cannibal could have added that extra something to make him more formidable and frightening.