A <i>WandaVision</i> actor was fired for leaking spoilers!
21 Actors And Directors Who Quit Or Got Fired By Marvel
Getting a chance to direct or star in a Marvel production may seem like a dream come true, but for some, that dream comes to an end when their vision doesn’t match the studio’s.
Others end up losing out on that dream because Marvel decides to go in a different direction — or because they slip up.
Here are 21 actors and directors who quit, were fired, or were recast by Marvel and why:
1. Andrew Garfield played Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 — and he was supposed to reprise the role in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
In 2014, he was scheduled to announce the upcoming movie alongside then-Sony CEO Kaz Harai at a post-World Cup gala in Rio de Janeiro. However, after already arriving late, Garfield wasn’t feeling very well, so he had to drop out of the event last minute.
Unfortunately, Harai cut the announcement from his presentation, and the Sony executives were so upset with Garfield that they fired him and canceled the movie altogether.
Afterwards, Sony negotiated with Marvel to introduce a new version of Peter Parker into the MCU. Garfield finally got a chance to reprise his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
2. Before Garfield, Tobey Maguire played Peter Parker in Spider-Man. However, reportedly, a salary dispute nearly cost him the sequel.
He reportedly made $4 million for the first movie, whereas producer Laura Ziskin was paid more than $30 million. Maguire allegedly felt that his original offer for the sequel was unfair compared to Ziskin’s previous paycheck.
Then, he began reporting back problems. Even though he’d been known to have back problems before, the studio heads allegedly thought he was using the issue as a threat, so they offered his role to Jake Gyllenhaal.
Ron Meyer — the then-president of Vivendi Universal and Maguire’s future father-in-law — stepped into the negotiations. Maguire reportedly had to agree to medical tests to prove his back was in good enough condition, then recieved $17 million for the sequel.
3. Scott Derrickson directed Doctor Strange, and he was initially slated to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as well.
However, in a mutual agreement, he left the project over — as Marvel put it in a statement to Variety — “creative differences.”
Cowriter Steve Cargill — who left the sequel at the same time — told CinemaBlend that Derickson “wanted to do one movie, and Marvel wanted to do another movie,” so the two of them decided to make The Black Phone instead.
So Sam Raimi agreed to direct his first superhero movie since the widely panned Spider-Man 3.
4. Donald Glover and his brother Stephen were going to be writers, producers, and showrunners for an animated adult Deadpool series on FX.
However, both the Glovers and FX withdrew from the project over “creative differences.”
In retaliation, Donald shared a spoof version of his “Finale” episode script on Twitter, which featured Deadpool taking shots at Marvel and theorizing the series was canceled because “it just feels like everyone wants something different, but no one wants to do anything different to get it.”
Stephen also theorized that the “hilarious” Taylor Swift episode they wrote “definitely was the last straw.”
5. Patty Jenkins was the original director for Thor: The Dark World.
However, only three months after signing on, she left the production because she “did not believe that [she] could make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing.”
She told Vanity Fair, “I think it would have been a huge deal —it would have looked like it was my fault. It would’ve looked like, ‘Oh my God, this woman directed it and she missed all these things.’ That was the one time in my career where I really felt like, Do this with [another director] and it’s not going to be a big deal. And maybe they’ll understand it and love it more than I do.”
Alan Taylor replaced her, but he wasn’t satisfied with the direction Marvel took, either. His version of the movie was dramatically reworked during post-production.
6. Robin Williams was initially cast as the voice of the titular character in 1986’s Howard the Duck.
However, the movie was filmed before the voice role was filmed, so the puppeteers read Howard’s lines — and the flapping of his bill matched their delivery. Williams’ signature style of improvisation was confined to pre-filmed movements.
After three days, he quit because he felt he was “being handcuffed in order to match the flapping duck’s bill.”
So Chip Zien’s agent called him and told him that there was a ticket waiting for him at the airport counter and he needed to get there ASAP.
7. Zachary Levi was initially cast as Fandral in Thor.
However, he had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict with Chuck.
Marvel replaced him with Stuart Townsend.
8. However, Townsend didn’t last long in the role of Fandral.
Right before production was set to begin, he was replaced over “creative differences.”
Josh Dallas took over the role.
9. However, Dallas only played Fandral in Thor.
“The timing wasn’t right,” and he had to give up the role because of his commitment to Once Upon a Time.
“I’m bummed about it because I had such a great experience and great time making the first film and was really excited about coming back. Marvel and Disney tried to make it work,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
Finally, Zachary Levi returned to the role, and he stayed in it until the character’s death in Thor: Ragnarok.
10. Damion Poitier already had a small role (Man #1) in The Avengers when the director decided to film an extra scene featuring Thanos. Since the role hadn’t been cast yet, Poitier stepped in.
His appearance as Thanos was uncredited, and the role was recast to Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Poitier may have been replaced as Thanos, but he moved on to a new role in the MCU. He made an appearance as one of Crossbones’ mercenaries in Captain America: Civil War. He also did stunt work in that film as well as for Thor: The Dark World.
11. Edgar Wright originally signed on to write and direct Ant-Man. He was attached to the project as early as 2003, when he cowrote a treatment for Artisan Entertainment.
During the early days of Marvel Studios, he showed the treatment to founder Avi Arad and president Kevin Feige, who agreed to use it as a basis for their MCU script.
He shot a test reel, delivered several more drafts, and championed Paul Rudd for the lead role. However, right before filming was set to begin, Marvel decided he needed to rewrite the script again and pushed back production.
When the studio still wasn’t satisfied with his version of the script, they outsourced a draft to their in-house writers. However, this new version reportedly lacked Wright’s signature voice, so he decided to leave Ant-Man two months before filming finally began.
Peyton Reed replaced Wright as director.
12. Emma Fuhrmann played Cassie Lang after the five-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame.
During its Investor Day the following year, Disney announced that the character would return in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — but she would be played by Kathryn Newton.
Sadly, Fuhrmann didn’t know her role had been recast until the public announcement was made.
13. Ed Norton played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, and he planned a sequel as well.
“I laid out a two-film thing: The origin and then the idea of Hulk as the conscious dreamer, the guy who can handle the trip,” he told the New York Times.