10 Worst Castings In Non-MCU Marvel Movies, Ranked

Marvel movies don’t always get their casting dead-on, especially when it comes to films that were before the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Pre-MCU Marvel movies were the Wild West of early superhero blockbusters. While the Fox X-Men movies had already established themselves as a powerful franchise, other one-off Marvel outings didn’t leave as lasting an impression. Even since the dominance of the MCU, the Sony Spider-Man universe has struggled to step out from their shadow.

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Throughout all of these films, several egregious casting mistakes have hindered the success of many films. Sometimes, assigned actors simply haven’t been able to capture the essence of a given comic book character, not giving the role the passion it deserves or having the enthusiasm to work with the material. In other cases, certain casting choices are diametrically opposed misfires that can outdo the likes of the MCU’s worst casting choices.

10 Jessica Biel As Abigail Whistler

Blade: Trinity

Whatever popular opinions of the first two Blade movies are, common consensus is that Blade: Trinity is the weakest of the three. Beyond Wesley Snipes’ infamous on-set behavior during filming and the resultant CGI eyes, the plucky group of sidekick vampire hunters tagging along with Blade muddled the action of the film. Next to Ryan Reynolds in a proto-Deadpool role was Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler, the daughter of Blade’s long-time mentor, partner, and weaponsmith from the first two films.

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Jessica Biel wasn’t awful in the role by any means, and Blade: Trinity certainly has problems worse than her mediocre archer. But there’s no denying that Biel sleepwalked through the performance, giving Abigail little personality beyond her surface-level traits. Biel was just one poor decision out of many for the last Blade film, but her character is profoundly bland to the point of recognition.

9 David Hasselhoff As Nick Fury

Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Samuel L. Jackson’s casting as Nick Fury was one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best choices, with the character in the comics later being re-designed to better resemble the actor. However, it wasn’t the first time Nick Fury was cast for film, being played by David Hasselhoff in the little-known TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here, Fury is tasked with dismantling a HYDRA attempt to release a dangerous bioweapon in New York City.

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In truth, Hasselhoff actually is a dead ringer for Nick Fury in his original comic appearance, wearing the eyepatch with vigor. That being said, he utterly fails to capture the grandiose personality of a superhero character, leaning back on his Baywatch mannerisms that felt out of place. Even if he was more connected with the material, Hasselhoff ultimately wasn’t given the best script to work with, as the made-for-TV movie is not well known for a good reason.

8 Eric Bana As Bruce Banner

Hulk

Ang Lee’s Hulk is one of the most obscure remnants of the early 2000s Marvel movies that released prior to the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having since been outshone by 2008’s The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton. For his version of Dr. Bruce Banner, Ang Lee settled on Eric Bana, whose enthusiasm in the original The Incredible Hulk TV show and proficiency with dark characters in the crime drama Chopper won him the role. Aligning with Lee’s vision, Bana’s Bruce Banner was an incredibly dark and tortured individual.

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While Bruce Banner certainly has his dark side, reflected in the fact that other people exposed to Gamma Radiation haven’t created a persona as violent as The Hulk, it isn’t the only thing worth portraying in his character. Bana failed to capture Bruce Banner’s scientific mind, altruism, or sense of humor. How much of this can be attributed to Ang Lee’s direction and how much of it is the fault of Bana’s own performance remains up for debate, but he has since been definitively outshone by both Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo.

7 Will.i.am As John Wraith

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an infamous film for many, many reasons. From the ludicrous treatment of Deadpool to the hackneyed retelling of Wolverine’s origins, the film failed to be a worthy expansion to the Fox X-Men universe for many reasons. Another one of its missteps was in the casting department, with a few questionable choices rounding out the supporting roster of mutants revolving around Wolverine. One of the most egregious was casting singer and rapper will.i.am as John Wraith, also known as Kestrel in the comics.

John Wraith is essentially a slightly southern-themed discount version of Nightcrawler, having the same powers but none of the same personality or physical mutations that make the character interesting. As an actor, will.i.am leaves a lot to be desired, his face bumping audiences out of the film by reminding them that a famous musician won a bid for some screen time. Suffice it to say, John Wraith didn’t win will.i.am many more acting roles in the future.

6 Taylor Kitsch As Gambit

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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It says a lot that X-Men Origins: Wolverine has not one, but two of the worst casting choices of non-MCU history when it comes to Marvel movies. Appearing ever-so-briefly in the film is the fan-favorite mutant cardslinger and Cajun rogue Remy LeBeau, a.k.a. Gambit. In the film, Taylor Kitsch appears as Gambit, leaving little to no impression with the small amount of screen time he is given. The worst part of Kitsch’s Gambit is his pitiful attempt as a Cajun accent, which comes across as a generic southern twang.

Beyond his voice, Kitsch simply didn’t have the charisma to win over audiences as such a famously charming character. To this day, his performance’s biggest claim to fame is gatekeeping Channing Tatum, who actually grew up around the bayou and was excited for the role, from playing the character. At least Tatum finally got his chance to shine as one of the many cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine, by far eclipsing Taylor Kitsch as most fans’ favorite live-action Gambit.

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5 Nic Cage As Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider

Speaking of Deadpool & Wolverine cameos, one pre-MCU legacy hero that was planned to re-appear as an homage but never made it was none other than Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider. On paper, Cage’s remarkable enthusiasm for superheroes and penchant for horror movies should’ve made him a perfect choice for a hero like Johnny Blaze. In practice, however, the performance Cage actually turned in as the character across his two movie appearances left a lot to be desired.

For one, Nic Cage was already perhaps too old for the role of a Johnny Blaze when he was cast in 2007, not to mention the fact that he didn’t go blonde to pay respect to Blaze’s comic appearance. Despite being known for his wacky, over-the-top performances, Cage actually plays the character weirdly close to his chest in the one film he should be truly letting loose in, coming across as generally disinterested. Cage’s Ghost Rider does have his moments, but for the most part, the role is a curiosity that doesn’t technically work.

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4 Jessica Alba As The Invisible Woman

The Fantastic Four

The first two Fantastic Four films produced by Fox are far from perfect, but one of their undeniable strengths is the excellent casting of the titular quartet. The one glaring exception to this is Jessica Alba’s portrayal of Susan Storm, an unfortunate casting choice that had poor consequences on both the film and Alba’s own career. Jessica Alba comes across as incredibly bland as the emotional glue supposedly holding The Fantastic Four together, paling in comparison to Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, and even Ioan Gruffudd.

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In truth, much of this poor performance isn’t the actresses’ fault, with Jessica Alba nearly quitting acting after The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer due to Tim Story’s negligent direction. Alba was clearly cast as eye candy first and a good representation of The Invisible Woman second, casuing her to sadly live up to her name in an unfortunate way when compared to the other heroes. Hopefully, the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps can rectify this mistake.

3 Jared Leto As Morbius

Morbius

While films before the MCU didn’t have the benefit of hindsight or the ability to compare and contrast fan-favorite castings, the Sony Spider-Man universe has not such excuse. This only makes their bizarre casting choices, such as Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, seem all the worse. Leto had already faced plenty of controversy in the comic book movie circuit thanks to his lambasted Joker portrayal in Suicide Squad, evidence that Sony sadly chose to ignore when positing him as the vampiric anti-hero.

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Despite what the memes may imply, Jared Leto’s Morbius was not well-received. As an actor, Leto takes himself far too seriously to handle the delicate balancing act of silliness and drama that superhero roles require, falling flat as the edgy Morbius. Considering that Leto allegedly pretended to have the same muscular atrophy as his character, requiring him to have a handler on set, all in the name of method-acting, his inclusion hardly seems worth the trouble.

2 Topher Grace As Venom

Spider-Man 3

In a film packed with too many villains, Venom aimed to allegedly be the end-all “final boss” of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, representing a violent polar opposite of Peter Parker’s default personality. To channel this, Raimi hired Topher Grace of That ’70s Show fame to represent Eddie Brock, Parker’s photojournalism rival who eventually becomes his nemesis after donning the same symbiote that Spider-Man sheds. Sadly, Topher Grace didn’t work as Venom for a variety of reasons.

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On a superficial level, Grace didn’t have the classic musculature typically associated with Eddie Brock and Venom in the comics, already watering down the connection between the two versions. More importantly, Grace is clearly more comfortable as a comedic actor, firing off reads that seemed overly-campy and knowingly tongue-in-cheek even for Sam Raimi’s tastes. It’s a good thing Tom Hardy has since been able to do the character justice in the Sony Venom solo trilogy, or else Topher Grace would be the popular character’s sad single cinematic showing.

1 Dakota Johnson As Madame Web

Madame Web

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As bad as some superhero castings can get outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, few are as obviously a bad idea as Dakota Johnson’s brief stint as Madame Web. Madame Web was an infamously bad flop for Sony both commercially and critically, with Johnson’s casting being a core part of the film’s failure. As Madame Web, Johnson’s seems openly hostile to the film she’s in, acting as though she’s annoyed that the camera is on her at all.

The hilariously awkward press tour leading up to the film’s release made it clear that Dakota Johnson had zero interest in comic books or superhero movies, giving the impression that she was in far over her head to lead one. This lack of enthusiasm is blatantly obvious in the final product, with Johnson’s resentment over being in the film somehow seeping through to clarity in her final performance. Try as they might, no Marvel movie is likely to make a casting choice worse than this one any time soon.