15 Actors Who Almost Played MCU Characters

9. Morgan Freeman - The Ancient One

When you want an actor who can play a wise ancient dude, isn't Morgan Freeman always at the top of this list? Before Marvel eventually went for the more radical choice of Tilda Swinton, Freeman had apparently made it down to the final three male picks (also including Ken Watanabe and, hilariously, Bill Nighy), but it wasn't to be.

Tilda absolutely murdered the role (in a good way), whitewashing controversy aside, so it's hard to be too mad about Freeman not joining the MCU.

Would It Have Worked?: Yes, but the character probably would have been reworked quite substantially considering that Freeman is about to turn 80, and there's no way in Hell he could've been as spry as Swinton was during the various training and action sequences.

Brilliant though Freeman is, it really feels like Swinton was a better choice.