Random Actors Would Play Avengers If They Were Cast In '90s (21 items)

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  (#1) Denzel Washington

  • Remember the Titans, Glory, Training Day, Philadelphia, American Gangster, Man on Fire, The Hurricane, The Book of Eli, Malcolm X, Crimson Tide, He Got Game, Déjà Vu, Inside Man, Antwone Fisher, John Q, Flight, The Great Debaters, Devil in a Blue Dress, Cry Freedom, Mo' Better Blues, The Bone Collector, Fallen, Safe House, Courage Under Fire, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Pelican Brief, Unstoppable, Virtuosity, Much Ado About Nothing, The Preacher's Wife, The Equalizer, A Soldier's Story, The Siege, Out of Time, Mississippi Masala, Ricochet, The Mighty Quinn, Heart Condition, License to Kill, Carbon Copy, 2 Guns, For Queen and Country, Wilma, The George McKenna Story, A Century of Black Cinema, Power, Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem, We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, Hollywood on Fire, Flesh and Blood

  Denzel Washington is arguably one of the best actors of his generation. He has continuously demonstrated his talent, and was formally recognized with two Academy Awards. In the '90s, he dominated the industry with roles in Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Courage Under Fire, and The Preacher's Wife.

  If Marvel had any intention of casting T'Challa/Black Panther during that decade, they wouldn't have had to do more than make a phone call. No other actors in that time period could have played T'Challa as well as Washington, who would have played the role as perfectly as Chadwick Boseman did when he starred in Black Panther in 2018.
• 

  (#2) Brendan Fraser

  • Crash, The Mummy, George of the Jungle, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, School Ties, The Mummy Returns, Bedazzled, Airheads, Blast from the Past, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, In the Army Now, Gods and Monsters, Inkheart, The Quiet American, Now and Then, Encino Man, The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Nut Job, Escape from Planet Earth, The Air I Breathe, Son in Law, The Scout, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Extraordinary Measures, Dudley Do-Right, With Honors, Monkeybone, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Dogfight, Still Breathing, Twenty Bucks, Mrs. Winterbourne, Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, A Case of You, Gimme Shelter, Furry Vengeance, 33 Postcards, Glory Daze, The Passion of Darkly Noon, The Twilight of the Golds, Journey to the End of the Night, Younger and Younger, Whole Lotta Sole, Presumed Guilty, The Last Time, Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists, Pawnshop Chronicles, Seconds of Pleasure, William Tell: The Legend, Big Bug Man, Breakout, Texas Rising

  These days, it seems Brendan Fraser has been all but forgotten by Hollywood, but back in the '90s, he was a mega-star. He starred in 22 films in that decade alone, with breakout performances in School Ties, George of the Jungle, and Blast from the Past. His biggest role came in 1999 with Universal Studios's The Mummy, a movie that spawned two sequels.

  Fraser's boyish good looks and carefree attitude would have been the perfect fit for a '90s version of Peter Quill/Star Lord. While Chris Pratt has cemented himself in superhero history as the character in the 21st century, Fraser would have absolutely owned the role in the '90s.
• 

  (#3) Keanu Reeves

  • The Matrix, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Matrix Reloaded, Point Break, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Speed, The Matrix Revolutions, The Replacements, The Devil's Advocate, Constantine, Parenthood, Something's Gotta Give, The Lake House, 47 Ronin, Youngblood, Dangerous Liaisons, Sweet November, A Scanner Darkly, My Own Private Idaho, River's Edge, Hardball, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Poetic Justice, The Night Before, Much Ado About Nothing, The Animatrix, Little Buddha, Thumbsucker, The Watcher, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Johnny Mnemonic, Freaked, John Wick, The Gift, Permanent Record, I Love You to Death, Street Kings, Feeling Minnesota, Man of Tai Chi, A Walk in the Clouds, Chain Reaction, Henry's Crime, Me and Will, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Babes in Toyland, The Matrix Revisited, Flying, Generation Um..., Tune in Tomorrow, The Prince of Pennsylvania, Letting Go, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, Ellie Parker, Act of Vengeance, Providence, Life Under Water, Brotherhood of Justice, Kid's Story, MTV Movie Awards Reloaded, The Great Warming, The Whole Truth, Under The Influence, Echo, Passengers, Knock, Knock, The Neon Demon, The Ultimate Matrix Collection

  Doctor Strange played a large role in what went down at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, making him one of the most important characters on screen. Marvel/Disney made the right choice in casting Benedict Cumberbatch for the role. He not only naturally looks like the Doctor, he is probably one of the best actors working in film and television today.

  That being said, he wouldn't have been the choice to play the character in the '90s because that role would have gone straight to Keanu Reeves. Forget what you know about Reeves today; he didn't step into the role of John Wick until fairly recently.

  Back in the '90s, this guy was all over Hollywood with hits including Point Break, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Devil's Advocate, Speed, and The Matrix. Reeves proved he could not only pull off serious action-focused roles, but he also had a natural wit and a wonderful sense of humor, à la the Bill & Ted franchise. With his range of talents, Reeves would have nailed the character.
• 

  (#4) Sandra Bullock

  • The Blind Side, Crash, Gravity, Speed, The Prince of Egypt, A Time to Kill, Miss Congeniality, The Proposal, While You Were Sleeping, Practical Magic, The Lake House, Demolition Man, The Heat, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Hope Floats, The Vanishing, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Two Weeks Notice, Infamous, The Net, Murder by Numbers, All About Steve, Forces of Nature, 28 Days, Love Potion No. 9, In Love and War, Premonition, Loverboy, Minions, Fire on the Amazon, Gun Shy, The Thing Called Love, Two If by Sea, Hangmen, Who Shot Patakango?, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, When the Party's Over, Welcome to Hollywood, Lisa Picard Is Famous, Who Do I Gotta Kill?, A Fool and His Money, Making Sandwiches, The Preppie Murder, Aningaaq

  Sandra Bullock's career kicked off in the early '90s with Demolition Man and Speed, which made her a household name. As the principal female lead in that movie, she established herself as a bankable actress, and she worked in blockbuster films for decades thereafter. Throughout her stellar career, Bullock has played well in drama, comedy, and action movies, which could have easily prepared her for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

  Bullock would have perfectly embodied Hope van Dyne/Wasp. Evangeline Lilly played the character in 2015's Ant-Man, but were the film released a couple decades before, the part would have gone to Bullock. Her comedic style and notable action-movie chops make her the obvious choice for the role.
• 

  (#5) Joe Pesci

  • Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Home Alone, Casino, JFK, My Cousin Vinny, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Once Upon a Time in America, A Bronx Tale, Lethal Weapon 2, Lethal Weapon 4, Lethal Weapon 3, The Good Shepherd, Moonwalker, Easy Money, Betsy's Wedding, Man on Fire, With Honors, Gone Fishin', 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, The Super, Jimmy Hollywood, The Public Eye, Love Ranch, Eureka, The Death Collector, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, Dear Mr. Wonderful, Hey, Let's Twist!, GOTTI: In The Shadow Of My Father, The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway, All for the Moral Majority!, A Galaxy Far Far Away, The Irishman

  Rather than picturing Joe Pesci running around in a racoon suit, we're operating under the assumption that Pesci would have performed voice work for the character, Rocket Raccoon. If you consider Pesci's unique manner of speaking and the way he can express attitude, his vocal talents would have made for a hilarious interpretation of the character, even if it would have been markedly different from Bradley Cooper's.

  Pesci's credentials speak for themselves. The only question would be whether or not the veteran actor would actually be game to portray the character. While he isn't known for his voice acting, he definitely has the vocal range and talent necessary to accomplish the job. During the decade, he starred in My Cousin Vinny, Goodfellas, Home Alone, JFK, and Casino to name a few.

  The only concern here would be the relatively primitive effects capabilities from the '90s, which don't truly compare to the work being done today. Even with that limitation, whatever they came up with would be hilarious so long as Pesci was behind the microphone.
• 

  (#6) Cuba Gooding, Jr.

  • Jerry Maguire, As Good as It Gets, A Few Good Men, Pearl Harbor, Boyz n the Hood, Coming to America, What Dreams May Come, American Gangster, Zoolander, Rat Race, Radio, Outbreak, Don Jon, Home on the Range, Men of Honor, Norbit, Red Tails, The Tuskegee Airmen, Machete Kills, Snow Dogs, Boat Trip, Judgment Night, Dirty, The Butler, Gladiator, The Fighting Temptations, Selma, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Daddy Day Camp, Losing Isaiah, What Love Is, Instinct, Shadowboxer, Lightning Jack, Lies & Illusions, Chill Factor, The Devil's Tomb, Hero Wanted, Sacrifice, Harold, One in the Chamber, A Murder of Crows, Wrong Turn at Tahoe, Welcome to Hollywood, Ticking Clock, End Game, The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends, The Hit List, Hardwired, Linewatch, Murder Without Motive, In the Shadows, Absolute Deception, Daybreak, Love Letters in the Sand, The Way of War, Timmy Muldoon And The Search For The Shadoweyes Bandit, Firelight, Life of a King, Firelight

  These days, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s career isn't as illustrious as it was a few decades ago. He lost some of his star power after a string of direct-to-DVD movies, but has since seen some critical acclaim with his stint on FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. With that being said, in the '90s, it seemed his trajectory was only moving in a positive direction.

  In the '90s, Gooding Jr. won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Jerry Maguire and had breakout performances in A Few Good Men, Outbreak, and What Dreams May Come. Looking back at the decade for someone who could convincingly play the role of James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine, only one name sticks out, and it's Cuba Gooding Jr.

  To play War Machine, an actor has to blend a serious/militaristic attitude with natural comedic timing, characteristics usually found in the buddy-cop genre. As he has demonstrated over the years, Gooding Jr. can bring much needed drama or hilarity to any situation. He would have been perfect for the part, which could work as a mash-up of his performances in Men of Honor and Jerry Maguire.
• 

  (#7) Brad Pitt

  • Fight Club, Seven, Inglourious Basterds, 12 Monkeys, Being John Malkovich, World War Z, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Ocean's Eleven, Thelma & Louise, True Romance, Legends of the Fall, Troy, Snatch, Moneyball, 12 Years a Slave, Sleepers, Ocean's Thirteen, MegaMind, The Tree of Life, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Ocean's Twelve, Burn After Reading, A River Runs Through It, Babel, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Meet Joe Black, Spy Game, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Seven Years in Tibet, The Mexican, No Way Out, Less Than Zero, Happy Feet Two, Killing Them Softly, Kalifornia, Cool World, The Devil's Own, Cutting Class, The Counselor, Johnny Suede, The Favor, Full Frontal, No Man's Land, Too Young to Die?, Across the Tracks, The Dark Side of the Sun, Ultimate Fights, Two-Fisted Tales, Hunk, Happy Together, Beyond All Boundaries, The Image, The Tiger, Contact, 8, Voyage of Time, Fury, Touch of Evil, A Stoning in Fulham County

  Brad Pitt is one of those actors who can take on just about any role and make it his own. Back in the '90s, this theory was tested when he played Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles followed by starring roles in Legends of the Fall, 12 Monkeys, and Seven. It seemed like Pitt could embody any conceivable character.

  Early '90s audiences would be forgiven for thinking Pitt could never achieve the physique necessary to play the God of Thunder, but the actor put on a ton of muscle for his role in 1999's Fight Club. His good looks, charm, and amazing talent in front of the camera pretty much guarantee he would have been the first person casting agents would have considered for the role of Thor.
• 

  (#8) Winona Ryder

  • Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Star Trek, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Heathers, Black Swan, Being John Malkovich, Zoolander, Little Women, Alien: Resurrection, Reality Bites, Girl, Interrupted, The Age of Innocence, Lucas, Mr Deeds, A Scanner Darkly, The Crucible, Frankenweenie, The Iceman, The House of the Spirits, Night on Earth, The Dilemma, Mermaids, How to Make an American Quilt, Great Balls of Fire!, Sex and Death 101, Simone, Looking for Richard, Lost Souls, Square Dance, Boys, Celebrity, The Ten, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Homefront, Autumn in New York, 1969, Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, Stay Cool, The Informers, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, The Darwin Awards, The Last Word, Ben Lee: Catch My Disease, When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story, The Letter, Water Pills, Turks & Caicos, Experimenter

  Mantis has definitely come in handy during some chaotic situations in the MCU. She was able to thwart Ego for some time during the final battle in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and she almost stopped Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. She is played remarkably well by Pom Klementieff in the MCU, but looking back at the 1990s, there is only one actress who comes to mind for the role: Winona Ryder.

  Ryder's career has regained momentum with her portrayal of Joyce Byers on Stranger Things, and she has done some great work in the intervening years, but she was at the height of her popularity in the '90s. During the decade, she starred in some huge films including Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Reality Bites, Little Women, Alien: Resurrection, and Girl, Interrupted. Ryder can play a small role or a large one, but no matter who she is playing, she will gain critical acclaim for her work.
• 

  (#9) Gary Oldman

  • The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Fifth Element, JFK, True Romance, Air Force One, Léon: The Professional, Hannibal, The Book of Eli, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Red Riding Hood, Kung Fu Panda 2, Lost in Space, A Christmas Carol, Sid and Nancy, State of Grace, Basquiat, Lawless, The Unborn, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Quest for Camelot, Immortal Beloved, The Contender, The Scarlet Letter, Planet 51, RoboCop, Murder in the First, Henry & June, Prick Up Your Ears, Paranoia, Tiptoes, Romeo Is Bleeding, Interstate 60, Jesus, Child 44, We Think the World of You, Sin, Criminal Law, Guns, Girls and Gambling, Dead Fish, Chattahoochee, Rain Fall, Meantime, The Firm, Honest, Decent and True, Arthur & Lancelot, Nobody's Baby, Track 29, BackWoods, Monster Butler, Criminal Empire for Dummies, Touch of Evil

  Loki is a difficult character to cast. After being exposed to Tom Hiddleston's performance across five Marvel films, it's difficult to picture anyone else portraying him. Of course, if the role had to be cast back in the '90s, there isn't another person who could play the charming villain quite like Gary Oldman.

  Back in the '90s, Oldman hopped from one role to another playing so many different characters, it's difficult to summarize his acting abilities other than to simply say they're astonishing. He played a pimp in True Romance, Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, and Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved. He also played the imitable Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element, but the role that points directly to how devious and dastardly he could be was his performance as Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional.
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  (#10) Eddie Murphy

  • Shrek, Mulan, Beverly Hills Cop, Shrek 2, Trading Places, Coming to America, The Nutty Professor, Shrek the Third, Life, Shrek Forever After, Beverly Hills Cop II, Harlem Nights, The Golden Child, 48 Hrs., Dreamgirls, Beverly Hills Cop III, Norbit, A Thousand Words, Boomerang, Dr. Dolittle, Bowfinger, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Distinguished Gentleman, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Shrek the Halls, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Daddy Day Care, Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy: Delirious, The Haunted Mansion, I Spy, Dr. Dolittle 2, Meet Dave, Another 48 Hrs., Holy Man, Showtime, Best Defense, Metro, Imagine That, Shrek 4-D, 100 Years of Comedy, Fall Of Chances, Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular, A Century of Black Cinema, Beverly Hills Cop IV, B.B. King "Into the Night", Dangerous: The Short Films, Beverly Hills Cop, Triplets

  Back in the '90s, Eddie Murphy was an A-list star. He started the decade with a few duds, but came back in a big way with The Nutty Professor and continued to cement his fame with performances in Doctor Doolittle and Mulan.

  Murphy's career never put him in something skin-tight where he could play an action superhero, but he did work in the action genre with the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy and you can't argue that Donkey from Shrek wasn't a hero in his own right. He isn't the first guy you would think of today to strap on some mechanical wings and soar through the air as an action star, but back in the '90s, he would likely have been Hollywood's first choice in casting Sam Wilson, AKA the Falcon.
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  (#11) Ben Stiller

  • Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, There's Something About Mary, Happy Gilmore, Madagascar, Tropic Thunder, The Royal Tenenbaums, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Night at the Museum, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Empire of the Sun, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, The Cable Guy, MegaMind, Meet the Fockers, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Reality Bites, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Little Fockers, Mystery Men, The Heartbreak Kid, Starsky & Hutch, Along Came Polly, The Watch, Keeping the Faith, Orange County, Tower Heist, Flirting with Disaster, Greenberg, Submarine, Night at the Museum 3, Permanent Midnight, Heavy Weights, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, Next of Kin, Envy, Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, Duplex, Merry Madagascar, The Trip, Hot Pursuit, Penguins of Madagascar, Pauly Shore Is Dead, School for Scoundrels, Run Ronnie Run, Highway to Hell, If Lucy Fell, The Suburbans, Black and White, Stella, The Hardy Men, The Marc Pease Experience, Fresh Horses, Confessions of an Action Star, Hooves of Fire, Newt, The Independent, Used Guys, King of the Elves, Elvis Stories, Nobody Knows Anything, Danny Roane: First Time Director, Working Tra$h, The House of Blue Leaves, He's Way More Famous Than You, That's Adequate, The Nutt House, The Great Antonio, Heat Vision and Jack, Elmo's Christmas Countdown, While We're Young, Madly Madagascar, Zoolander 2, Nantucket Film Festival's Comedy Roundtable, Mission: Improbable

  As Paul Rudd proved in 2015's Ant-Man, playing Scott Lang requires a certain level of humor and charm only a few actors can pull off. Looking back at Ben Stiller's career in the 1990s, he would have made for an amazing Scott Lang. To be fair, Paul Rudd could have played the character back then as well, but he was a bit too young, perhaps a little too green to portray him as well as he did in his mid-40s.

  For Stiller, he was dominating the box office with hits including Reality Bites, Happy Gilmore, The Cable Guy, and There's Something About Mary. He even got a chance to play a superhero with the 1999 release of Mystery Men where he played Mr. Furious: a guy whose superpower was that he got really, really mad. While he's rarely forayed into action films and has relied almost entirely on comedy, you can't fault him for that wise decision, and he's clearly an incredible actor nonetheless. 
• 

  (#12) Mel Gibson

  • Braveheart, Lethal Weapon, Pocahontas, Mad Max, The Patriot, Signs, Mad Max 2, We Were Soldiers, Lethal Weapon 2, Hamlet, Chicken Run, Gallipoli, Ransom, Maverick, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Casper, The Year of Living Dangerously, Conspiracy Theory, Lethal Weapon 4, Lethal Weapon 3, What Women Want, Bird on a Wire, Machete Kills, The River, The Beaver, Air America, Payback, The Singing Detective, The Bounty, Get the Gringo, Paparazzi, Forever Young, The Man Without a Face, Tequila Sunrise, The Million Dollar Hotel, Fathers' Day, Attack Force Z, Edge of Darkness, Mrs. Soffel, FairyTale: A True Story, Tim, Summer City, The Chain Reaction, Celebrating AFI, The One Dollar Diary, The Face: Jesus in Art, The Expendables 3, Blood Father

  Mel Gibson has taken a lot of flack over his personal life and some of the comments he has made over the years. That flack is undeniably deserved, but back in the 1990s, there was nothing Gibson could do wrong. He was a hit actor, People's Sexiest Man Alive (1985), and was beginning a remarkable career as a director.

  Among his many hits that decade, he released Braveheart, Maverick, Lethal Weapon 3, Hamlet, Ransom, Conspiracy Theory, Payback, and Lethal Weapon 4. The man couldn't be stopped, which is why he is just the right guy to play Thanos.

  Thanos is a force who cannot be stopped in the Marvel Universe, and nobody had the star power to play him besides Gibson in the '90s. He might have balked at the idea of playing someone considered to be about as evil as evil can be, but given his talent in front of and behind the camera, seeing Gibson play Thanos back in the '90s would have certainly made for an amazing film.
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  (#13) Alicia Silverstone

  • Clueless, Batman & Robin, Tropic Thunder, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Blast from the Past, Beauty Shop, The Art of Getting By, The Crush, Butter, Love's Labour's Lost, Hideaway, Fight for Your Right Revisited, Excess Baggage, Stormbreaker, The Bad Mother's Handbook, The Babysitter, Torch Song, Vamps, True Crime, Ass Backwards, Gods Behaving Badly, Scorched, Silence Becomes You, Candles on Bay Street, Cool and the Crazy, New World, Scattered Dreams, Global Heresy, Paul McCartney and Friends: The PETA Concert for Party Animals, Angels in Stardust

  Wanda Maximoff is one of the most important characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. She has a close relationship with Vision and her powers are derived from an Infinity Stone. Because of this, she plays a major part in the last act of Avengers: Infinity War and she was well cast when the role went to Elizabeth Olsen.

  Olsen's take on the character bridges the gap left by Marvel's film-rights issues, leaving her a Mutant who isn't a Mutant. Back in the '90s, this wouldn't have been a problem for Marvel, seeing as they didn't sell those rights until 1993, leaving a few years for Alicia Silverstone to try her hand at the role. Granted, if they shot the film after '93, she would have still made it her own.

  Back in 1995, Alicia Silverstone became a huge star thanks to her role as Cher Horowitz in Clueless. She continued to land major roles before putting on the tights/rubber costume of Batgirl for the critically panned Batman & Robin. That film failed, but not due to her performance. Casting her as Wanda Maximoff would give her the chance to show the world she could handle playing a superhero in a great film, which is only one of the reasons she would be perfect for the role. The others involve her charm and acting talents, but frankly, it would be nice to see her take on another superhero after Batman & Robin failed so hard at the box office.
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  (#14) Sharon Stone

  • Casino, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Antz, Catwoman, Alpha Dog, The Quick and the Dead, Last Action Hero, Bobby, Broken Flowers, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Above the Law, King Solomon's Mines, Sphere, Basic Instinct 2, Sliver, Stardust Memories, Lovelace, Action Jackson, Irreconcilable Differences, The Specialist, The Muse, He Said, She Said, If I Had Known I Was a Genius, Cold Creek Manor, Diabolique, Deadly Blessing, The Mighty, Picking Up the Pieces, Gloria, Diary of a Hitman, If These Walls Could Talk 2, Last Dance, Fading Gigolo, Simpatico, Scissors, Beyond the Stars, The Stars of Star Wars, A Different Loyalty, Intersection, Les Uns et les Autres, The Year of Getting to Know Us, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Year of the Gun, Beautiful Joe, The Burma Conspiracy, Gods Behaving Badly, Streets of Blood, Searching for Debra Winger, Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, Five Dollars a Day, Calendar Girl Murders, When a Man Falls in the Forest, Blood and Sand, The Vegas Strip War, Cold Steel, Border Run, Twisted, Waco, Tears in the Rain, Harold and the Purple Crayon: Let Your Imagination Soar, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan, Special Thanks to Roy London, Un Ragazzo D'Oro

  Sharon Stone is a veteran actress with roles going back to 1980, but she really made her mark in the 1990s with roles in Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Casino. Stone is the type of performer who can command a room. She has the skills to play any role that comes her way, which is why she would have been perfect to play Pepper Potts in a '90s version of The Avengers.

  The role in the MCU has been played by Gwyneth Paltrow, and while the two actresses are very different in terms of the roles they have played over the years, Stone's take on the part would have been something wonderful to behold. She showed off her action skills in Total Recall and her comedic charm in The Muse, leaving her as a clear choice in casting her for Pepper Potts, during what was arguably the height of her career.
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  (#15) Michael J. Fox

  • Back to the Future, Mars Attacks!, Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III, Teen Wolf, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, The American President, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Frighteners, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2, Class of 1984, Casualties of War, Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, The Secret of My Success, Midnight Madness, Doc Hollywood, Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, High School U.S.A., For Love or Money, Greedy, The Hard Way, Interstate 60, Light of Day, Blue in the Face, Bright Lights, Big City, Don't Drink the Water, Mickey's 60th Birthday, Life with Mikey, Your Studio and You, Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, Where the Rivers Flow North, Coldblooded, The Magic 7, Roast of Denis Leary: Uncensored, Poison Ivy, Saving Milly, 50 Watt Fuse

  Jared Leto was a bona fide, up-and-coming Hollywood darling in the '90s. He proved he had some serious acting chops in My So Called Life, The Thin Red Line, and Fight Club. Not to mention his incredible musical talent (songwriting, singing, playing multiple instruments) he presented to the world when he formed 30 Seconds to Mars in '98.

  The actor had all the makings of an incredible Peter Parker: he was wiry, could convincingly play a smart and jaded teen (a real staple of '90s heroes), and he most certainly had the hair for the part.

  The actor even portrayed the Joker in 2016's Suicide Squad, so it's safe to assume he would have been open to playing a comic book hero a few decades prior.
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  (#16) Tom Cruise

  • Top Gun, Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, The Outsiders, A Few Good Men, Mission: Impossible, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Eyes Wide Shut, Tropic Thunder, Minority Report, Risky Business, Magnolia, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, Austin Powers: Goldmember, The Color of Money, Collateral, The Firm, Legend, Days of Thunder, Oblivion, Valkyrie, All the Right Moves, Mission: Impossible II, H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, Rock of Ages, Cocktail, Far and Away, Lions for Lambs, Born on the Fourth of July, Losin' It, Knight and Day, Endless Love, Taps, Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, Celebrity News Reels: Hollywood's Most Infamous Couples and Ugliest Breakups, Mission: Impossible 5, The Hardy Men, Northern Lights, Van Helsing, Top Gun 2

  It's basically inarguable that Iron Man is the center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU only exists due to the success of 2008's Iron Man, helmed by director Jon Favreau and led by Robert Downey Jr. If the film needed to be cast sometime during the previous decade, RDJ wouldn't have made the cut due to some personal issues he was going through. Hollywood would have turned to the one man capable of launching the franchise: Tom Cruise.

  Cruise is essentially Hollywood royalty and fans know if his name is attached to a project, odds are, it's going to be successful. Cruise's work in the '90s includes blockbuster hits like A Few Good Men, The Firm, Days of Thunder, and the first Mission: Impossible film (which was followed by five sequels). Looking back, it's almost impossible to picture anybody else playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in the '90s.
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  (#17) Johnny Depp

  • A Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 21 Jump Street, Ed Wood, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Donnie Brasco, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Rango, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Dark Shadows, Blow, Finding Neverland, Chocolat, Secret Window, The Lone Ranger, Public Enemies, Jack and Jill, Dead Man, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Cry-Baby, Benny & Joon, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Ninth Gate, Don Juan DeMarco, The Tourist, Before Night Falls, Arizona Dream, The Libertine, The Brave, Into the Woods, The Man Who Cried, The Rum Diary, The Astronaut's Wife, Mortdecai, Private Resort, Nick of Time, Transcendence, When You're Strange, Deep Sea 3D, Tusk, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Slow Burn, Shantaram, Yoga Hosers, Happily Ever After, L.A. Without a Map, Cannes Man, The Source, Sonic the Hedgehog, Wild Roses, Tender Roses, London Fields, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, Divine Rapture, The Devil, the Sinner, and His Journey

  Johnny Depp saw controversy over his 2017 divorce from Amber Heard and the allegations she made against him, but back in the '90s, he was one of the most recognizable stars Hollywood had to offer. Even before landing the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl​​​​​​​, Depp had an impressive filmography.

  His work includes memorable characters in films including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, and Sleepy Hollow, to name a few. Depp's ability to mix action and comedy has been apparent his entire career, which makes him the obvious choice to play Hawkeye.
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  (#18) David Duchovny

  • Zoolander, Working Girl, The X-Files, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Evolution, Beethoven, Return to Me, Chaplin, The Joneses, Kalifornia, The Rapture, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Trust the Man, Julia Has Two Lovers, Connie and Carla, Playing God, Full Frontal, The TV Set, Bad Influence, House of D, The Secret, Close Encounters: Proof of Alien Contact, Things We Lost in the Fire, Queer Duck: The Movie, Ruby, Goats, Red Shoe Diaries: The Movie: Special Edition, New Year's Day, Phantom, Red Shoe Diaries: Four on the Floor, Red Shoe Diaries: Hotline, Red Shoe Diaries: Temple of Flesh, The Beaufort Diaries, Red Shoe Diaries: Forbidden Zone, Denial, Venice/Venice, Red Shoe Diaries: Girl on a Bike, Red Shoe Diaries 18: The Game, Baby Snatcher, A Discussion About Things We Lost in the Fire, Clair Obscur

  Nobody would look at David Duchovny and think of him as the Hulk, but you could say the exact same thing about Mark Ruffalo. Playing the Hulk isn't about running around in torn purple shorts with green paint on your skin, it's about playing Bruce Banner. Duchovny's charm, sense of humor, and ability to take over a scene would have made him the ideal choice to play Bruce Banner back in the '90s.

  Of course, it wouldn't have been easy to knock out the fantastic CGI used today to render Ruffalo's Hulk on screen, so someone would have had to pretend to be a giant green goliath back in the '90s. Who better to play the part than the original Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno? Seeing Ferrigno and Duchovny team up to play the Incredible Hulk on screen is definitely something that would have cemented the MCU as a classic set of films far before 2008.
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  (#19) Leonardo DiCaprio

  • Titanic, Inception, The Departed, Django Unchained, Gangs of New York, The Wolf of Wall Street, Shutter Island, Catch Me If You Can, The Great Gatsby, Romeo + Juliet, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, The Basketball Diaries, Blood Diamond, Body of Lies, The Quick and the Dead, The Beach, The Man in the Iron Mask, Revolutionary Road, Poison Ivy, J. Edgar, This Boy's Life, Critters 3, Marvin's Room, Celebrity, Total Eclipse, The Foot Shooting Party, One Hundred and One Nights, A Hundred and One Nights, The Revenant, Don's Plum, Sinatra, Xtreme City

  Captain America is the moral heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's the "all-American boy" who can take down a tank and tell you exactly what it means to be a patriot. Kevin Feige and co. made a sublime choice when they allowed Chris Evans to take the mantle in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, but had they made the movie decades earlier, they most certainly would have knocked on Leonardo DiCaprio's door.

  DiCaprio's work in the '90s began with breakout roles in This Boy's Life, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and The Basketball Diaries, but he solidified himself as a major player in Hollywood later in the decade. DiCaprio's presence in Romeo + Juliet and Titanic proved to the world this guy had star power. He would have been a key name on the marquee, and would be a priority when it came to casting Steve Rogers. He had the look, the attitude, and the gravitas to make the role work.
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  (#20) Jean-Claude Van Damme

  • The Expendables 2, Bloodsport, Kung Fu Panda 2, Timecop, Last Action Hero, Street Fighter, Kickboxer, Cyborg, Missing in Action, Breakin', Hard Target, The Quest, Universal Soldier, JCVD, Lionheart, Sudden Death, Double Team, No Retreat, No Surrender, Maximum Risk, Double Impact, Universal Soldiers: Regeneration, Nowhere to Run, Legionnaire, Knock Off, Death Warrant, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Universal Soldier: The Return, Replicant, The Order, Inferno, Derailed, Assassination Games, In Hell, Until Death, Second in Command, Welcome to the Jungle, Wake of Death, Dragon Eyes, Full Love, The Hard Corps, The Exam, Narco, Black Eagle, Barbarous Street, Beur sur la ville, Monaco Forever, The Shepherd: Border Patrol, Rzhevsky vs. Napoleon, Six Bullets, U.F.O., Enemies Closer, Swelter, Pound of Flesh

  Jean-Claude Van Damme was one of the biggest action stars to hit the silver screen back in the 1980s and 1990s, but his star power faltered as he chose a career nestled in straight-to-DVD films. Even with a floundering career, Van Damme was a household name in the '90s and he would have made for an interesting Vision.

  Granted, the action star has issues with tight, mobility-limiting costumes (which is why he backed out of being the Predator in the '80s), but he could have made for a great Vision. He would likely have been something of a controversial casting choice at the time but, odds are, he would have made the character his own and blown away audiences with his performance, even if he couldn't do his split/punch move he does so well.

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