There are so many comic book adaptations in development at any given time that a star who misses out on one part will almost always end up landing another somewhere down the line, provided the talent in question retains an interest in getting into the superhero business.
Take Morena Baccarin, for instance. The actress revealed that she missed out on being cast as Maria Hill in The Avengers, but since then she’s gone on to voice Talia Al-Ghul in two animated Batman movies, play Wade Wilson’s love interest in the Deadpool franchise, voice Gideon in The Flash, and recur as Leslie Thompkins on Gotham.
Speaking on The Happy Sad Confused podcast, Baccarin admits that Smulders was a better choice for the gig, with the How I Met Your Mother alum set to celebrate her ten-year MCU anniversary with a plum supporting role in Disney Plus series Secret Invasion.
“I didn’t get it at all, I didn’t get it at all. I love that [Joss Whedon] brought me in for it. He kept telling me she was like Sigourney Weaver in Alien, that she had this kind of hard edge to her, and I was like ‘I don’t understand.’ I couldn’t see it on the page, I couldn’t do it. I tested. I was there with Cobie, we tested against each other and I was like, ‘She’s going to get this part, I can see it.’ He wanted me to be emotional but hold it all in and be hard, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re asking me to do. I can’t do it.'”
While Baccarin’s Vanessa may have been killed off in Deadpool 2, there’s still a chance she could up as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Merc with a Mouth’s return remains in active development, and when you consider both the time travel shenanigans of the second installment and the introduction of the MCU’s multiverse, the door remains open for a potential comeback.