Tom Cruise

Back in 2004, when his star was shining brighter than ever, Tom Cruise was actually talking with Kevin Feige about starring in and producing the first Iron Man flick. However, as time passed, the actor became less and less impressed with the project – particularly with the script. And so he dropped the role.

As we later found out, this was certainly for the better, with Robert Downey Jr. basically building the MCU. And, as we found out later, the script wasn’t a problem for him – together with Jon Favreau, the actor improved it on a daily basis as Iron Man was shooting.

Everybody knows the end result.

Tom Cruise went through a rather difficult period afterwards. However, since Ghost Protocol, he is back in the game. Maybe this time he’ll find that perfect script. Right?

What other A-listers should be on this list?