Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Ethan Peck has revealed that he was very nearly cast as Steve Rogers/Captain America during the formative days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Per The Direct, Peck -- who currently stars as Mr. Spock in the Star Trek franchise -- was asked to discuss some of his most memorable auditions during a panel at DragonCon 2022 in Atlanta. "I've had a lot of bad ones and some good ones, I guess," Peck said. "But some memorable ones, I was of a smaller few [group of actors] to be considered for Captain America many years ago, which stands out. And also, I came pretty close to the role of The Deep in The Boys."
The role of Steve Rogers ultimately went to Chris Evans, who made his first appearance as the character in the 2011 MCU film Captain America: The First Avenger. Evans made many more appearances as the Star Spangled Man with a Plan before passing the mantle of Captain America to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson. Meanwhile, it was Chace Crawford who was ultimately cast as The Deep in Prime Video's satirical superhero series The Boys, based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.
At any rate, Peck can now be added to the list of known actors who were up for the role of the MCU's Steve Rogers/Captain America at one point, joining the likes of John Krasinski, Sebastian Stan, Chris Pratt, Scott Eastwood, Wilson Bethel, Ryan Phillippe, Kellan Lutz, Alexander Skarsgård, Jensen Ackles and Wyatt Russell. Of course, despite losing the role of Cap to Chris Evans, many of these actors ended up getting to join the Marvel fold in one way or another.
While Stan didn't get to play Captain America himself, he was cast as Steve Rogers' sidekick, Bucky Barnes, who would later become the Winter Soldier. Pratt then went on to play the MCU's Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Bethel made a name for himself on the Netflix side of the MCU, starring as the villain Bullseye in the third and final season of Daredevil. Most recently, Krasinski made an appearance as Mister Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Meanwhile, while he didn't get the role of Steve Rogers, Russell did eventually get the chance to play the MCU's Captain America -- technically, at least.
In Marvel Studios' Disney+ original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Russell starred as John Walker, the government-sanctioned pick to replace Steve Rogers as Captain America. John's time as Cap was short-lived, however, as he took on the identity of U.S. Agent after the aforementioned Sam Wilson -- Steve's personal pick to succeed him -- reclaimed the shield as his own. In a similar vein, Ackles has yet to join the MCU proper, though did play Soldier Boy -- an analog of Captain America -- in the third season of the aforementioned Prime Video hit The Boys.
As for Peck, he went on to join the Star Trek universe in the iconic role of Spock, originally played by Leonard Nimoy and later played by Zachary Quinto. Peck first portrayed Spock in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery in 2019. He recently reprised the role in the spinoff series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which also acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. Strange New Worlds debuted its first season earlier this year, with Season 2 expected to launch in 2023.
Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 are currently streaming on Paramount+.