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Jeremy Strong once turned down an embarrassing MCU role

You'd think a role in the MCU would be a no brainer for most actors, but Jeremy Strong rejected an offer to be in the first Captain America movie

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in Succession

Ask most actors today if they want to be in a Marvel movie and they’re likely to snap your hand off for the chance to be a part of the superhero movie behemoth. But when Succession star Jeremy Strong was offered a role in the early days of MCU movies, he turned down the chance to be in the first Captain America movie, and here’s why.

A long time ago, when there was only a handful of MCU characters to keep an eye on, Strong could have played Captain America, believe it or not. Though, he wasn’t taking the role away from Chris Evans in this scenario, he was simply going to play the weak, skinny version of Steve Rogers before the super-serum kicked in.

In an interview with The Times, Strong explained how the job offer came at a time in his career when he was pretty broke, and why he decided to pass on being the body double for one of the strongest Avengers.

“They needed someone to play Captain America’s body before he turns into a superhero. They said they would use CGI to put the actual actor’s face and voice over mine,” Strong explained.

The actor admitted he “considered it,” but decided to pass because “it didn’t feel like what [he] had to offer was valued”. Instead, Strong “went back to New York and did a play about a veteran from Afghanistan in a wheelchair during the blackout of 2003.”

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Good on him, too. Things obviously turned out pretty great for Strong too, who is now the star attraction of the Succession cast, where he plays Kendall Roy in the incredible drama series Succession.

If you want more MCU, check out our guide to Marvel’s Phase 5 to see what’s up next. Or, take a look at our guide to the Succession season 4 release date to figure out when Kendall will return in the TV series.