A few characters in the history of comic book movies have jumped the fence so to speak when it comes to starring in Marvel or DC roles, and while a few people have gone on to play the hero there have been a few that have taken their turns as villains as well. Some folks that idolize Marvel or DC comics tend to take a dim view of this since they don’t want to see their favorite actors playing for both sides, but the idea that actors are going to go where the money and the roles are is kind of hard to fight since they might have their favorites too, but they’re more likely to take a role wherever it pops up if they agree with it. Obviously, some roles have been a little less successful than others, but the idea is that actors tend to go where they think the money is going to be, as well as the best opportunity. The whole Marvel vs. DC feud is pretty silly anyway, no matter that a lot of fans would probably take those as fighting words. When you really think about it, a person can like both and not upset the precious balance that people think exists between them.
Here are a few actors that have been seen in DC and Marvel movies.
5. JK Simmons
His role as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies is likely more memorable than his brief time spent as Commissioner Gordon in The Justice League, but JK Simmons is kind of hard to miss since he’s such a great actor. Spending his time as the irritable character of Jameson was perfect since as he’s proven throughout his career he can be kind of a grouch in some roles, but Jameson was so devoted to the ruination of Spider-Man that he needed a truly masterful presence to play him, and Simmons was perfect since he was grumpy, sarcastic, and kind of an all-around jerk most times. In other words, he was perfect.
4. Chris Evans
It’s funny to ask people who they prefer more, the cocky and arrogant Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, or the upright and noble character of Captain America. People somehow forget that Evans spent two movies being the brash and extremely egotistic Johnny Storm, but it’s likely because they want to forget that those movies were made. But as Captain America people have idolized him in such a big way that they’ve likely forgotten that he was in a DC collaboration as Jensen, the lovable tech guy in The Losers. It counts, as DC and Vertigo came together to make the project happen, and it featured a pretty good cast too, but not good enough to be that memorable.
3. Josh Brolin
Is there any way to not notice that some of the DC movies that people have been in have really sucked while their Marvel appearances have been great? Jonah Hex is another movie that people tend to want to forget about while Brolin’s turn as Cable and Thanos managed to get a lot of attention. It’s hard to believe the guy that played Brandon in The Goonies grew up to be Thanos in the MCU. Josh Brolin’s career has had a good number of ups and downs, but in recent years he’s definitely made a huge comeback that’s seen him starring in some of the biggest roles of his career. Hopefully, he’ll be back for Deadpool 3 if it actually gets off the ground.
2. Ben Affleck
There’s no need to guess who Batfleck has taken on and yet it’s easy to say that people might like to forget that Daredevil ever happened. It does tend to happen that Marvel movies can bomb in a big way too since the man with no fear didn’t exactly cover himself with glory in his own movie, but a lot of people enjoyed Affleck as Batman. While it would appear that he’s all done with the character for the most part the hope is that he’s all done with superheroes if he’s not going to don the iconic suit any longer since there aren’t a lot of roles that he feels suited to play at this time in his career.
1. Ryan Reynolds
When talking about guys that really had some work to do in bringing up the standards of a superhero movie Ryan Reynolds has to be one of the top names to start the discussion since his time as Green Lantern and then the infamous Wade Wilson in X-Men: Origins-Wolverine were just cringe-worthy to the max. But his current role as Deadpool is nothing but great since he’s been winning people over left and right since the first movie came out, and a lot of people are hoping for a third.
In another decade or so it’s likely going to be kind of amusing to see how the comic book movie revolution got started.
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