Chris Pratt’s casting in Marvel was (sort of) down to Robert Downey Jr

If you’ve ever wanted to know Marvel’s secrets about their casting process, get comfortable because Kevin Feige is spilling all the tea.

Chris Pratt has played Peter Quill aka Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy for the past two installments.

According to Marvel president Kevin, casting Chris in the lead role wasn’t just about his new talent as a superhero. It seems it had a lot to do with the eventuality of Star-Lord coming face-to-face with Robert Downey Jr’s iconic character, Iron Man aka Tony Stark.

Speaking in Titan’s Marvel Studios: The First Ten years, Kevin said: ‘We always cast for the movie we’re making, but we also have an eye on the future.


Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy (Picture: Getty Images)

‘So when we were casting Chris Pratt, we needed the best Star-Lord, but at the same time, we said, “We need somebody who one day might go toe to toe with Robert Downey Jr”.’



Evidently, Chris was the man!

It’s been 10 years since Marvel Studios launched and began what has become one of the most lucrative franchises in Hollywood with an estimate worth of more than $17 billion (£12.9 billion).

Marvel Studios is celebrating its 10th birthday (Picture: Rex Features)

Based on the Marvel comic books, the studio has spawned an ever-growing fleet of blockbuster movies, including the Avengers series, Captain America and standalones like Black Panther, Ant-Man, Thor, Iron Man and Doctor Strange.

Reflecting on the most recent Avengers movie, Infinity War, Kevin said: ‘On the very first day of Avengers: Infinity War there was Robert, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, and it was pretty amazing.

‘There have been a handful of times in our ten years here at Marvel Studios where we have had to just stop for a second and pinch ourselves. That was one of those moments.’

Other Marvel icons to contribute to the tenth anniversary edition of the magazine, include Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito.

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