13 Great Actors Completely Wasted In MCU Movies
9. Neal McDonough - Captain America: The First Avenger
The Role: Dum Dum Dugan
Way back in 2009, before Chris Evans was cast as Steve Rogers, there was some talk of Neal McDonough potentially being lined up for the role. After all, he had previous in World War 2 projects (notably Band Of Brothers) and was a near-perfect physical match for Cap in The Ultimates series of comics.
Eventually that rumour turned into an actual revelation - yes, he would be appearing in The First Avengers, but not as Cap. Instead, he'd play Dum Dum Dugan, one of the more iconic members of the Howling Commandos, who would surely have a major role alongside Cap now that McDonough had been cast.
Unfortunately, because of the need to push the relationship between Bucky and Steve predominantly, the Howling Commandos ended up being no more than familiar-looking bit-part players. And then as quickly as they'd appeared, Cap was in the future and they were all (presumably) dead thanks to the ravages of time.
The idea of a Howling Commandos movie set after Cap's disappearance is still compelling, and that comes down to how great and underused that cast was.