With the comic book movies becoming more and more prevalent as time goes on, we’ve seen a couple of weird things happen. Either we have the same part being played by multiple actors, we have actors playing characters in the two big universes (DC and Marvel), we’ve even had some actors play multiple parts within the same universe and now we’re even having actors playing villains and superheroes both. Seems like everyone’s been superpowered on the silver screen at some point.
Let’s spend some time looking at actors that have played both superheroes and supervillains and decide what they did best.
Jim Carrey
You’ve probably forgotten all about this, but Jim Carrey was actually The Riddler in the Tim Burton Batman movies. And as amazing as that performance was, he is probably more remembered for his somewhat short role in Kick-Ass 2 as Colonel Stars and Stripes.
Michelle Pfeiffer
Much like the above Jim Carrey, we keep forgetting that Michelle was one of the original comic book movie supervillains. She was Catwoman in Batman Returns and then came back 25 years later to switch to Marvel and play The Wasp. Her Catwoman performance is still iconic though.
Michael B. Jordan
One of the few actors that played a big superhero and a big supervillain and never switched properties, Michael B. Jordan is mostly known for the amazing villain Killmonger but let’s not also forget he was the Human Torch in the worst Fantastic Four movie ever made. And that’s saying something, because so far there have been no good ones.
Josh Brolin
The man that played Thanos also – at the same time – played Cable in the Marvel Universe. Naturally they couldn’t resist putting a joke about it in Deadpool 2. It’s hard to pick what he did better, but Thanos has had a bigger impact than Cable so far so let’s go with that one.
Idris Elba
Idris Elba has dabbled in both the DC Universe and the Marvel Universe, having played Bloodsport and Heimdall in them respectively. He didn’t really get much to do as Heimdall and was only a proper supporting character in Thor: Ragnarok, so we’re going to have to give this one to his role as Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad.
Tom Hardy
If you ever need a buff superhero or supervillain, Tom Hardy’s your guy. Although his performance as the anti-hero Venom isn’t half bad, there’s no denying his Bane performance in the Nolanverse was downright chilling at times.
Michael Keaton
We can’t really mention the Burton Batman movies and not go back to the original Batman, can we? He’s also currently playing the Vulture in the MCU but you just have to respect the charm of those old Burton Batman movies. God I miss the 90s sometimes.
Ryan Reynolds
Oh boy, this man has quite the superhero wrap sheet. He was the Green Lantern for DC, but we don’t talk about that movie. In fact, the movie almost killed his career. When looking at Marvel properties, he was Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (yes that’s a Marvel property), then that awful Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, then Deadpool again in Deadpool and ended up also playing Juggernaut in Deadpool 2. That’s … a lot.
