Tom Cruise As ‘Iron Man?’ It Nearly Happened And So Did These Other 10 Casting ‘What Ifs’

Quick! Name the only sensible choice to play Tony Stark on the big screen. The answer’s obviously Robert Downey, Jr., but we weren’t all that far off from having Tom Cruise collecting a paycheck under Iron Man‘s armour. It’s strange but true and we’re still trying to collect our brain splatter from thinking about how an Avengers poster would look with Cruise’s smiling mug on full display.

Cruise turned down the role of Iron Man, saying the script didn’t captivate him, and he’s not the only huge name attached to Hollywood’s assorted “what if” casting scenarios. We might associate mega-popular characters like Han Solo and Captain Jack Sparrow with the stars that brought them to life, but you’d be stunned to learn which actors were in consideration to tackle these parts. Heck, you might need to lug out some sort of crash mat to land on when you see which colossal franchise nearly had David Schwimmer as the lead.

To get you up to speed on what might have been, we’ve assembled a helpful two-minute video highlighting Hollywood’s most intriguing blockbuster casting decisions. Can you guess what movie nearly had O.J. Simpson as an unstoppable killing machine? Hit play and find out.

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