15 Near Miss Villain Castings That Would Suck More Than Eisenberg's Luthor

3. Josh Hartnett - Loki (Thor)

This one's just weird, and unlike a lot of these casting decisions, it actually made it pretty close to the production stage, as Josh Hartnett reportedly had multiple meetings with director Kenneth Branagh. Trawling back through Internet archive posts about the casting choice, the reaction was compared often to Heath Ledger's casting in The Dark Knight: a questionable choice that turned out to be a brilliant gamble. The difference is, though, that Ledger was a highly acclaimed actor anyway, whereas Hartnett wasn't (and still isn't). Prior to 2011's Thor, Hartnett hadn't starred in a major movie since 2007's 30 Days of Night, and though we all love a good comeback, Hartnett's never had a role to really prove that he had the chops for a great comeback in the first place. Plus, Hartnett would've clashed awkwardly with the Shakespeare-esque tone of Branagh's film, and I can only imagine him struggling to pull off a suitable accent. Tom Hiddleston IS Loki, after all.