17 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played The Avengers

5. Nic Cage Was Almost Iron Man (Well, He Tried Anyway)

There is a long and colourful history of movies that Nicolas Cage was almost in - in fact, we've looked 10 such projects that he came within a whisker of ruining before - and while some of those roles never happened because he turned them down, or the films simply stopped existing (like Superman and Batman Triumphant), in the case of Iron Man, Cage's desire to play the character was apparently just ignored.

As far back as 1997, the man who would eventually end up with his comic book movie opportunity with Ghost Rider, was campaigning for the role of Tony Stark, which is not at all surprising given his self-confessed comic book obsession.

Cage has also been involved in a She-Hulk film - or at least he tried to convince Marvel to make one with Eva Mendes - and rather comically ruled himself publicly out of Doctor Strange at one point, despite nobody asking the question.