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8 Actors Who Were Sadly Wasted In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Across the 13 movies released under its banner so far, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has featured some of the crème de la crème of Hollywood acting talent. Apart from the lead actors who it has made into stars – Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt spring to mind – it has also managed to coax a lot of very big names into roles of various sizes and importance.

7) Natalie Dormer

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Game of Thrones’ Queen Margaery, Natalie Dormer, has mainly made a name for herself on TV, with recurring and regular roles in the likes of The Tudors and Elementary. However, she has made a few film appearances, too, particularly in The Hunger Games saga. It is a surprise, then, that Marvel employed the actress for such a tiny part in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Dormer appears as Private Lorraine, the secretary to Tommy Lee Jones’ Colonel Phillips. She turns up for one scene where she tries to seduce the naïve Cap – but they are interrupted by Peggy Carter. It’s a fun little sequence which adds to the growing affection between Steve and Peggy (as well as addressing the fact that not just one woman would be after Steve), but Dormer could have been granted a much bigger role. Hayley Atwell was obviously perfect casting, but Dormer wouldn’t have been a bad choice for Peggy, actually.

6) Richard Armitage

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Another famous face mostly hidden away in Captain America: The First Avenger is Richard Armitage, who turns up as an ill-fated HYDRA agent. His character, Heinz Kruger, is pretty instrumental to the plot, as he infiltrates Cap’s creation and is responsible for Dr. Erskine’s death. However, it’s still an unfairly small part for the charismatic actor, as Kruger unceremoniously kills himself off after a short amount of screen time.

If you don’t know the name, Armitage is most well known for playing Thorin Oakenshield, the head dwarf in The Hobbit movies. He’s also proven his acting chops as creepy serial killer Francis Dolarhyde on Hannibal and in several British TV shows like Robin Hood, Spooks (MI-5 in the US) and Strike Back.