17 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played The Avengers

4. Steve Buscemi Was Almost The Hulk

Ranking alongside Bill Murray as Batman in the left-field alternate casting choices, Steve Buscemi tested for the role of Bruce Banner before Eric Bana was cast.

Buscemi would have fit the bill of actors who have the power to segue easily from slight, convincingly mild-mannered men to monsters: he has an exotic otherness that has made roles like his Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, and his scene-stealing turns in the likes of Sopranos and Con Air prove his menace.

His intellect would obviously have suited Banner, and though he isn't exactly known for his physical performances, he wrestled varsity at school and spent four years as a fire-fighter before he turned to acting, so it's obviously in him. Clearly, he was deemed too odd an option, and the more traditionally physically imposing Bana was cast.