The number of Marvel heroes that have made appearances in the MCU is nothing short of impressive. On Netflix, the street-level heroes are always busy keeping those violent neighborhoods of New York City under control. On ABC, Coulson's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are taking on anything and anyone, from LMDs to the Kree. Over on Hulu and Freeform, teenagers reign supreme in face of impossible odds. Earth's Mightiest Heroes are always ready to protect and avenge the Earth, while Quill and his group of misfits are out there saving the galaxy every other day of the week. That's a lot of heroes fighting to keep us all safe and sound, and yet somehow this purple giant managed to snap our numbers in half. Clearly, our brave heroes will need some back-up, if Thanos is to be defeated. We know that Captain Marvel is on her way and rumor has it characters like Nova, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk are ready to join the MCU as well.

However, we've heard all kinds of rumors before and many of them didn't pan out. A lot of Marvel characters have been trying to get in the MCU for years, or the fans have been actively trying to get their favorites to appear on the screen. On top of that, some characters even came a step closer to joining the MCU. But, unfortunately, they failed to make the final cut. We did some research and found out which Marvel heroes almost made it in the MCU.

15 ADAM WARLOCK

Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock is coming to the MCU, there’s no doubt about it. In one of the post-credits scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we got our first look at Adam Warlock’s cocoon. The leader of the Sovereign, Ayesha, bragged about her next-gen Sovereign, referring to him as Adam.

However, Adam Warlock was initially planned to have a much bigger role in Vol. 2. Given his connection to Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, Adam was supposed serve as a forewarning for what’s to come in Infinity War. This idea was scrapped, but James Gunn has said that Adam Warlock is coming in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (but those plans might have changed as well).

14 AMADEUS CHO

Amadeus Cho holding a dog in Marvel Comics.

Amadeus Cho kind of had a cameo in The Incredible Hulk, but only if you read the novelization. Martin Starr, who went on to play Peter's professor Mr. Harrington in Spider-Man: Homecoming, was credited as Computer Nerd in the movie. However, in the novelization Starr's character is identified as Amadeus Cho, which is weird, to say the least, since Martin Starr is not Asian.

But, there are other hints that Amadeus Cho does exist in somewhere in the MCU and might appear at some point. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Dr. Helen Cho, Amadeus' mother, appeared as an ally of the Avengers.

13 BETA RAY BILL

Beta Ray Bill

One of the coolest and most-talked-about easter eggs in Thor: Ragnarok is definitely Beta Ray Bill’s visage located on the Grandmaster’s Tower. The visages, which also include characters like Ares and Man-Thing, are there to honor past champions.

It was an awesome easter egg for sure, but what would have been even better is Beta Ray Bill making an actual appearance. Interestingly enough, the Korbinite was supposed to make an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok. Kevin Feige stated that there was a Beta Ray Bill scene in the film, but that it was cut for time. Still, now that we know he’s out there it’s only a matter of time until we see him on the screen.

12 BLADE

Blade

The Blade trilogy ended 14 years ago with the lackluster Blade: Trinity. Blade: The Series, a sequel to the trilogy, was swiftly canceled after only one season. For some time now, there have been rumors about a Blade reboot. Wesley Snipes, who portrayed the character in the movies, has expressed interest to come back as Blade.

In 2017, there was a rumor that Marvel might be developing a Blade series for their Netflixverse. However, while Kevin Feige stated that they have plans for Blade in the MCU, he added that those plans are not immediate, so don’t except Blade to pop up soon.

11 CLEA

Clea

As soon as an actor is approached by Marvel for a role, fans start to speculate which role they might be playing. Rachel McAdams turned down the role of Pepper Potts in Iron Man, but she took the role of Christine Palmer in Doctor Strange.

But, before we know which character she's playing, there were rumors and articles suggesting that McAdams could be MCU’s Clea. Considering that Clea is Stephen Strange’s main love interest in the comics and that Dormammu is her uncle, it would have made sense for Clea to be in the movie. However, this turned out to be nothing but a rumor, but there's a chance we might see Clea in the future.

10 JOHNNY BLAZE

Johnny Blaze

In season four of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., much to everyone's surprise Ghost Rider came to the small screen and played a crucial part in the first half of the season. When the rumors about Ghost Rider’s possible MCU appearance started, many believed he would be getting his own Netflix series. Considering the darker tone of the Netflix shows this sounded reasonable.

It was also rumored that Johnny Blaze is the one headed to the small screen. However, as it turned out, the rumor mill got everything wrong this time. So, we got Robbie Reyes on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it was awesome.

9 MILES MORALES

Miles Morales Spider-Man

As soon as Marvel and Sony finalized the Spider-Man deal, casting rumors started spreading all over the internet. While most assumed, correctly as it turned out, that the MCU Spider-Man will be Peter Parker played by a white actor, others were pretty sure that Spider-Man will not be white.

Rumors started spreading that Marvel is looking to cast a black actor to possibly play Miles Morales. Community star David Glover, who previously campaigned for the role of Spidey in The Amazing Spider-Man, was a fan favorite to become the new Spider-Man. In the end, Marvel went with Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Glover got to play Miles’ uncle in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Unfortunately, the scene in which he calls Miles on the phone was cut.

8 SHE-HULK

She-Hulk

The Hulk probably won’t be getting another solo movie at this point, at least not the Bruce Banner version of the character. However, it’s doubtful that Marvel didn’t, sometime in the past, have plans for an Incredible Hulk sequel. In fact, there were rumors about the sequel and who may appear in it.

Among the rumored characters was Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk. Unfortunately, since the movie didn't get made we’ll never know if She-Hulk was indeed planned for Incredible Hulk 2. But, rumors of She-Hulk joining the MCU are spreading once again. Actress Angie Harmon of Rizzoli & Isles has expressed interest in portraying the character after seeing Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers, so perhaps she could be MCU’s She-Hulk.

7 NOVA

Nova Richard Rider

Nathan Fillion has been rumored to be joining the MCU in a big way so many times that if he ever really does get a major MCU role we’re all gonna have to be very suspicious of that announcement. The first time this happened was when rumors started spreading that the Nova Corps will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy.

At the same time, Nathan Fillion was rumored to be making an appearance in James Gunn’s film, which was enough to lead many to believe that Fillion is going to be playing Nova. Gunn managed to shut down the rumor, but fans are still anticipating Nova's MCU debut.

6 RICK JONES

The Incredible Hulk movie is part of MCU cannon, however, it’s mostly forgotten by both the fans and the MCU. Even Betty Ross was left behind, as well as villains such as Abomination and the Leader. Another character from the Hulk comics that popped up in The Incredible Hulk only to never appear again is Rick Jones.

In the comics, Rick has worked with numerous heroes, including the Hulk. His name appeared during the opening sequence of The Incredible Hulk, and he was supposed to appear in the movie, but he was reportedly removed by Edward Norton. Perhaps, if Hulk’s world continued to develop within the MCU we would have gotten to see Rick in a movie.

5 TIGRA

Tigra

When it was announced that Olivia Munn’s has been cast Iron Man 2 speculations started about which character she could be playing. The most popular theory was that Munn would appear as one of the Avengers such as the Wasp or Scarlet Witch. Others even suggested that Munn could be playing Tigra.

Tigra was a member of the Avengers, the West Coast Avengers, as well as the Defenders, so there are certainly opportunities to introduce her into the MCU. However, Jon Favreau never intended the role for Munn. In fact, Munn was originally supposed to play yet another one of Stark’s flings, but was re-cast as the reporter Chess Roberts.

4 KAMALA KHAN

Ms Marvel Kamala Khan

In 2015, John Ridley made a very secretive TV show deal with Marvel. The mysterious project piqued fans’ interest and pretty soon rumors about the show were running wild. One theory was that Ridley would be developing a show about Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel.

An anonymous post on Reddit suggested that Ridley was first offered Cloak & Dagger, but showed more interest in Kamala Khan. So far, there hasn’t been an official confirmation or denial on part of Marvel, so technically a Ms. Marvel show could happen at some point. That being said, some reports suggest that Ridley’s top-secret project might be canceled.

3 PALADIN

The casting call for Jessica Jones season two included a character code-named Parsley with the following description “Late 30s, male, African American, intelligent, driven, self-assured”. Given the information provided and the fact that code names usually use the real first letter of the character’s name, fans were pretty certain that Parsley was in fact Paladin.

Paul Denning, aka Paladin, is a P.I. like Jessica and has strong ties to the Defenders and Heroes for Hire, so the conclusion drawn was spot-on. But, as we all know, Parsley turned out to be Pryce Chang. For now, it seems like Paladin will have to wait.

2 SHANG-CHI

Shang-Chi

After the backlash over Finn Jones’ casting as Danny Rand in Iron Fist, rumors started circulating that in order to remedy the situation Marvel was planning to add another martial arts master to the show. The report said that Marvel was looking to cast an Asian actor as Shang-Chi. There was even mention of a Shang-Chi spin-off series if the character proved successful.

As of now, however, Shang-Chi hasn’t appeared on either season of Iron Fist or anywhere else in the MCU for that matter. But, Marvel is currently trying to diversify its cast of heroes, so Shang-Chi could still get his chance.

1 WONDER MAN

Wonder Man

Nathan Fillion’s role in Guardians of the Galaxy was blown way out of proportion. The Firefly star was rumored to be playing both Nova and Cosmo, but in the end only had a small cameo as one of the prisoners on Kyln.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Fillion was supposed to have a cameo as Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. In a flashback to Earth, there was a shot of a theater playing a “Simon Williams Film Festival” with six fake, easter egg-filled movie posters featuring Nathan Fillion. Unfortunately, this never made it into the final cut. But, James Gunn has stated that Fillion’s Wonder Man is definitely cannon.