Recasting the MCU: Part 8

By Austin Johnson

This is the 8th of 12 recast segments, which are all dedicated to Chadwick Boseman. This has been a great journey to go on and this group is one of the strongest yet. We got Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Gamora, Rocket, and Thaddeus Ross. Party on.

5.) Jack Nicholson as General Thaddeus Ross

Portrayed by William Hurt in the MCU.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Hurt as a performer and his serious tone is key in the short but important scenes that Thad Ross is in. Jack Nicholson immediately came into my head as a guy who can come in for a few minutes and totally steal the show. Nicholson is 83 and Hurt is 70, which is quite a gap but I don’t think it matters much when they are both old dudes. Both come from the east coast and both have multiple Oscar nominations. We’re just swapping one with four for one with twelve.

4.) Owen Wilson as Rocket Raccoon

Portrayed by Bradley Cooper in the MCU.

The first thing I ever saw Bradley Cooper in was Wedding Crashers alongside Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. We already have Vince taking Jon Favreau’s spot as Happy Hogan, so let’s snag Wilson for Rocket. He’s actually seven years older than Cooper, but it’s voice acting so fuck it! Wow! In this hypothetical MCU, Owen is Rocket and Jason Statham is Groot. Fuck yeah.

3.) Nicole Beharie as Gamora

Portrayed by Zoe Saldana in the MCU.

Zoe Saldana provides a consistently progressive performance as Gamora, who has one of the most insane runs in the MCU. She’s someone that people can look up to and cheer for, so I’m going to try and select a woman who can embody those exact things. We just don’t know it yet. Nicole Beharie is seven years younger, but she contains a certain elegance that Saldana also has. She’s incredible in Steve McQueen’s Shame from 2011 and in 42 from 2013 alongside Chadwick Boseman, so let’s bring her over to the MCU for the role of her career.

2.) Alicia Vikander as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen in the MCU.

Scarlet Witch is one of the most badass and powerful characters in the whole damn thing. Alicia Vikander can match the tenacity and acting ability that Elizabeth Olsen has and she’s only a year older. I’d like to shoutout Olsen’s performance in Wind River from 2017 and Vikander’s performance in Ex Machina from 2015. I anticipate great things from both of them for a long time and I don’t think we’re losing anything by making this swap.

1.) Heath Ledger as Tony Stark/Iron Man

Portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU.

Oh boy, this is a big one. We’ve recasted some of the main Avengers already, but Iron Man is the biggest and most popular one by far these days. That has a lot to do with RDJ being perfectly casted back in 2008 for the start of the MCU journey. I texted Connor who he thought would have also made an interesting Tony Stark and he replied, “Heath Ledger.” My mind started racing as I knew it was crazy but sort of perfect. The age gap is about 15 years, so we’re changing the entire direction of the character by choosing Heath. Hell, we’re changing the direction of the entire MCU by taking Heath away from The Dark Knight and over to the good side as the leader of the Avengers. We now have Gosling as Cap and Ledger as Iron Man who are just a year apart and would carry the MCU with so much dominance.