Louis Leterrier Says He Wanted ‘Iron Man,’ Was Given ‘Hulk’ Instead & Passed On ‘Thor’ & ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’

When people think of the origins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they go back to 2008’s “Iron Man.” And that’s a fair beginning. But, often, people tend to forget 2008 also saw the release of Marvel Studios‘ second film, “The Incredible Hulk,” directed by Louis Leterrier. And according to the filmmaker, he could have been a much bigger part of the MCU, but it didn’t work out.

In a recent interview (really a watch-along) on the Happy. Sad. Confused. podcast, Louis Leterrier talked about his first meetings with Marvel Studios. Apparently, he was involved from the very beginning and actually was hoping to direct another film that didn’t include a giant green monster.

READ MORE: Marvel Spotlight: ‘Echo’ Is First Series To Debut Under New Continuity-Free Banner

“I know you might wanna do some things with your superheroes, I’m very interested, I’m a huge fan,” he recalled telling producers Kevin Feige and Avi Arad. “They had this big poster in the lobby and said, ‘Well, pick a superhero, that you’d like,’ and I went, [points finger at imaginary wall], this guy, Tony Stark, Iron Man. That’s what I wanna do.”

He continued, “They were like, ‘Great, great, great.’ I go back home and literally, three weeks later they called me and they said, ‘We’ve got great news, we’d like you to direct a movie for us.’ I was like, ‘Iro–‘ and they were like, ‘Hulk.’ Hulk? Ang Lee did it three years before they gave me the call and I thought about it and realized, my favorite movies growing up were ‘Frankenstein,’ the original ‘King Kong,’ werewolf movies, and the ‘Hulk’ TV show being so formative, so I was like, ‘Of course.’ They saw what I couldn’t see.”

READ MORE: Albert Hughes Say He Passed On Marvel’s ‘Blade’: “I Don’t Understand Why A Real Filmmaker Would Want To Be In That System”

Apparently, his involvement in the MCU could have gone further than his work on “The Incredible Hulk.” Leterrier also mentioned how he was offered to direct “Thor” while pitching “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“I passed on ‘Thor,’ I was like, ‘I honestly don’t know how to do that,’ and ‘Guardians,'” Leterrier said. “‘Avengers,’ obviously, yes, I told him about [my interest] in ‘Avengers,’ but I don’t think i made it to the list, but I met on ‘Guardians’ and [Feige] actually asked me if i was interested in ‘Thor.'”

While he wasn’t all that interested in doing “Thor,” the filmmaker did some extensive research on ‘Guardians,’ thinking that he might want to do that film instead.

“When I knew they were doing it, I went deep on it,” Leterrier said of his ‘Guardians’ research.
[I was thinking],‘What? It’s crazy they’re doing this!’…But no, to add the sort of feeling of a space opera with the Marvel look and sense of humor would be great.”

Obviously, we know what would end up happening. James Gunn would land the ‘Guardians’ gig, and Leterrier wouldn’t work on another Marvel Studios film. That said, we can’t be too sad for Leterreir, as he has experienced quite a bit of success, including directing the most recent ‘Fast & Furious‘ film.

You can watch the full watch-along below: