It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has defined the trends of the movie industry since the release of Iron Man in 2008.
The success of The Avengers and the numerous other Marvel movies has prompted other studios to try and create cinematic universes of their own, all of which have paled in comparison to the original.
The principal actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe make a great deal of money for portraying the members of The Avengers, along with their allies and enemies.
The exposure also helps them to find other major roles in Hollywood, so long as they are able to fit them around their busy schedule of playing a superhero.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a lot of actors and as such, there aren’t enough major acting roles to go around to everyone.
There are some amazing actors who can’t get a break in Hollywood, despite the exposure of being in the Marvel movies and TV shows.
We are here today to see which actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have yet to find their break elsewhere in Hollywood.
Here are the 15 MCU Actors Hollywood Refuses To Cast!
Chloe Bennet
Chloe Bennet is best-known for playing Skye in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which is a role she has played since 2013.
She started her career as a musician when she moved to China as a teenager in order to become a pop star.
Bennet went on to find roles on several prominent TV shows, such as Nashville and The Birthday Boys. Her movie roles have been limited to short films and voice roles in direct-to-video cartoons.
It seemed as if Chloe Bennet’s luck was changing recently when she was cast in a musical remake of Valley Girl.
The problem is that the movie has been shelved by MGM for an indefinite period of time, thanks to the unhinged YouTube celebrity Logan Paul having a major role in the film.
The recent controversy surrounding Logan Paul has cast doubts on the future of Valley Girl.
Nick Blood
Nick Blood is an English actor who is best-known for playing Lance Hunter in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. starting in the show’s second season.
He was supposed to play Lance Hunter in a new TV show, called Marvel’s Most Wanted, but the program never made it past the pilot stage.
Nick Blood mainly works on productions that are based in Britain, such as his roles in Babylon or Identicals. He also does a lot of work in the theatre, such as appearing in Backbeat and Women Beware Women.
Blood hasn’t had many major movie roles in his career and his presence on a major American TV show hasn’t done much to change that, with most his upcoming projects being linked to independent companies.
Henry Simmons
Henry Simmons started out in the movie and television industry in the mid-nineties. He would go on to play Detective Baldwin Jones in NYPD Blue until ‘05, which would become his most famous non-Marvel role.
Simmons would later play Al MacKenzie in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which started out as a recurring role in the second season of the show and would go on to become a regular role in the later episodes.
The success of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has done little to bolster Henry Simmons’ career, as he had no major movie roles since starting on the show.
Simmons has mainly had one-off appearances on TV shows, like Reckless and Transparent, as well as roles in short films, such as Two Bellmen and Bedtime Story.
Enver Gjokaj
Enver Gjokaj’s association with the Marvel Cinematic Universe started long before he had a starring role within it. Gjokaj played an NYPD officer in The Avengers, before going on to play Daniel Sousa in Agent Carter three years later.
In case you missed him, Gjokaj is the police officer who follows Captain America’s orders when the Chitauri attack New York. This makes him one of the few actors to have played multiple characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Enver Gjokaj is primarily a TV actor, who has had roles in shows like Dexter, Dollhouse, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Walking Dead.
His only movie role since appearing in Agent Carter was in an independent movie called Come and Find Me, which was given a limited release before being sent to video on demand.
Luke Mitchell
Luke Mitchell is an Australian actor who got his start with roles in two of the most prominent soap operas of his homeland– Home and Away and Neighbours.
These shows have actually produced several actors who went on to find success in Hollywood, such as Holly Valance and Ryan Kwanten.
Luke Mitchell went on to play Lincoln Campbell in the second and third seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who was also an Inhuman and a member of the Secret Warriors.
Since appearing in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Luke Mitchell has only had a role in an independent film called Mothers and Daughters.
His TV work has included appearing in a pilot for an ABC show called Members Only, which was greenlit for a single season before being canceled before production began. Mitchell is currently appearing in a TV show called Blindspot, where he plays Roman.
Isabelle Cornish
Isabelle Cornish is an Australian actress who found early success in the soap opera Home and Away. She also had a starring role in a TV show called Puberty Blues, which was based on the coming-of-age novel of the same name.
Isabelle Cornish would later be given the chance to make it big in America with a starring role in a Marvel TV show.
Unfortunately for Cornish, that show happened to be Inhumans, which is widely considered to be the biggest flop of the MCU.
Cornish played the role of Crystal, who is actually a major character in the continuity of the comics, due to her marriage to Quicksilver and being the mother of Luna, who is considered to be Magneto’s heir.
Crystal likely won’t see the same relevance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, due to the poor reception to Inhumans.
Isabelle Cornish has since only appeared in an Australian movie, called Australia Day.
Ellen Woglom
The absence of mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has led to other groups acting as a replacement for them, with the Inhumans being the prime candidate for explaining why someone has a superpower and the writers are too lazy to think of an origin story.
The Inhumans are alien creatures, which means that you need a few Muggles to interact with them and act as a stand-in for the audience.
This was partly why Louise Fisher was created in Inhumans, as a regular person was needed to interact with the alien protagonists.
Louise Fisher was played by Ellen Woglom, who is primarily a television actress. Woglom has appeared in shows like Californication, Castle, Outlaw, and The O.C.
She has only appeared in a few short movies, though the end of Inhumans has likely opened up her schedule for more.
Toby Leonard Moore
Toby Leonard Moore should be recognizable to fans of the Daredevil Netflix show. He played the role of James Wesley, who acted as Kingpin’s right-hand man throughout the first season.
This was the character who everyone expected to betray Kingpin and try and take over his criminal empire, but he was takenout by Karen Page before the story had a chance to become that interesting.
Toby Leonard Moore is primarily a television actor, who had a recurring role in The Pacific, as well as several minor roles in shows like Banshee and Dollhouse. He is currently playing Bryan Connerty in Billions.
Tony Leonard Moore’s biggest movie role was in John Wick, though he has only had a role in an independent film called Half the Perfect World since the release of Daredevil.
Wil Traval
Wil Traval is an Australian actor who managed to escape the soap opera curse like his contemporaries on this list and find roles in regular TV shows.
Traval is best-known for playing Will Simpson, aka “Nuke” in the two seasons of Netflix’s Jessica Jones, though he has an extensive career working on other TV shows.
Will Traval has appeared in many TV shows, such as Arrow, Dexter, Grimm, Once Upon a Time, and The Inbetweeners.
He hasn’t had much luck in the movie industry, with his biggest role being in an Australian horror movie, called Primal.
Will Traval does have some upcoming film roles coming up, but they are in low budget independent features, like Treasure Hunter: Legend of the White Witch and Vows of Deceit.
Eka Darville
The Power Rangers franchise hasn’t produced many stars, unless you count Bryan Cranston, considering he voiced several monsters in the first incarnation of the show.
Eka Darville is one of the exceptions to this, as he played the Red Ranger in Power Rangers RPM, which was a role he would briefly reprise in Power Rangers Samurai. Darville would go on to appear in Spartacus: Blood and Sand and The Vampire Diaries, before playing Malcolm Ducasse in Netflix’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders.
Eka Darville’s career has mostly been focused on TV shows, with very few movie roles in between.
Eka Darville’s most recent role was in a movie called Bernard and Huey, which was funded on Kickstarter for twenty-seven-thousand dollars.
Tom Pelphrey
Tom Pelphrey has had major roles in several TV shows, which led to him winning multiple Daytime Emmy Awards.
Tom Pelphrey has had recurring roles in shows like As the World Turns and Banshee, but his most famous role is that of Jonathan Randall in Guiding Light, which won him two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. Pelphrey would go on to play Ward Meachum in Netflix’s Iron Fist.
Tom Pelphrey has had less luck in the movie industry, as he has only had minor roles in independent and smaller studio movies.
Tom Pelphrey is due to star in a Chinese comedy movie called Crazy Alien, which is the third entry in Hao Ning’s Crazy trilogy.
This might turn out to be even bigger than a Hollywood film, considering how big the Chinese movie market is at the moment.
Sacha Dhawan
Sacha Dhawan is an English actor who has appeared in numerous TV shows in his homeland. Dhawan has appeared in shows like Being Human, Sherlock, and Utopia. He would later go on to play Davos in Netflix’s Iron Fist.
Sacha Dhawan has had much less luck in the movie industry, with his biggest role being that of a pilot in the awful After Earth.
He most recently had a minor role in The Lady in the Van, which starred Maggie Smith and Jim Broadbent as not their Harry Potter characters.
Sacha Dhawan has also provided voices for several video games, including playing the loathsome Gryff Whitehill in Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game Series. He would also reprise the role of Davos in Lego Marvel Superheroes 2.
Kat Dennings
The decision to remove Donald Blake from the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Thor meant that he needed a new connection to the people of Earth.
This is why the quirky scientists were added to the first Thor movie, as they gave him a link to the rest of the setting, while also introducing Thor to Jane Foster, who would become his love interest.
Kat Dennings played Darcy Lewis in the first two Thor movies, who was one of the aforementioned quirky scientists.
The decision was made to no longer follow this group in the later movies, which was partly inspired by Natalie Portman’s reluctance to reprise the role of Jane Foster.
This has left Dennings out in the cold, as Thor: Ragnarok focused on Asgard and her character hasn’t been seen since Dark World.
Kat Dennings’ luck with the Marvel movies has also extended to the rest of Hollywood, as her only other film role was in 2014’s Suburban Gothic. Dennings’ has had a lot more luck in the television industry, as she starred in 2 Broke Girls for six years.
Emily VanCamp
Emily VanCamp is a Canadian actress who is best-known for her role in the Captain America movies.
VanCamp played Agent 13 in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who was later revealed to be the great-niece of Peggy Carter in Captain America: Civil War, who was one of Steve Rogers’ allies during World War II.
Emily VanCamp’s movie career has mainly been limited to productions in her home country, such as with films like Boundaries.
The bulk of her work has come in the form of highly-acclaimed TV shows, which has included playing the main character in Revenge, which was a modern remake of The Count of Monte Cristo. VanCamp also won awards for her roles in Norman and Ben Hur.
Emily VanCamp is currently starring in a Fox medical drama called The Resident.
James Spader
James Spader is one of those names that you have likely heard of, even if you can’t pinpoint the movies and TV shows that he has starred in.
This is even more of a problem when it comes to his Marvel Cinematic Universe role, as he provided the motion capture and the voice of Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
His voice was heavily modulated in order to provide the robotic sound for Ultron, which meant that anyone could have played the role and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
James Spader has appeared in numerous movies in the past, though he hasn’t had any film roles since appearing in Age of Ultron.
This is partly due to Spader’s success in the TV world, as he won several awards for playing Alan Shore in Boston Legal. Spader was also nominated for a SAG award for his role in The Office.
James Spader is currently starring in The Blacklist, which he has been a part of since 2013.
Can you think of any other MCU actors who Hollywood now refuses to cast? Sound off in the comments!
