17 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played The Avengers

17. Val Kilmer Was Almost Captain America

Despite being one of the better Batman actors, Val Kilmer has long been considered a Hollywood morality tale: not only was he apparently difficult to work with (including on his career making job in Batman Forever) but he also made some stunningly odd decisions in his career. In fact, the list of films that the actor turned down reads like a lesson in why you should always invest in an agent with your best interests at heart: as well as turning down the chance to return for Batman & Robin, Kilmer also turned down roles in Dune, Blue Velvet, Point Break", In The Line Of Fire and Indecent Proposal.

Imagine how that CV could have looked...

The most intriguing film that Kilmer turned down among the many others was Captain America - not the role that would go to Chris Evans during the modern comic book movie love-in, but rather the 1990 atrocity starring Matt Salinger. For once, Kilmer could count this as a smart move, and a dodged bullet, since he turned the role down in favour of working on The Doors, which was about a million miles away in terms of quality, despite Stan Lee's frankly baffling assertion that the 1990 Cap was good when he saw it, claiming that the re-shoots it underwent were to make it even better:

"Director Albert Pyun did it so well and so excitingly that everyone in the audience kept clamoring for more."