It Turns Out There's A Surprising Amount Of People Who Have Appeared In Both Marvel And DC Movies
This list is by no means definitive — there's a ton more people who have had a role in both a Marvel and a DC movie!
Let's start off with a pretty easy one.
1.Ryan Reynolds
Ryan's been in Marvel movies for yeeeeears. He started off in Blade: Trinity, then moved on to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he first played Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool. Despite the portrayal of the character being widely panned by fans, including Reynolds himself, the movie tied Ryan and the character together and opened the doors for Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and the upcoming Deadpool 3.
Ryan said he was a fan of the character before Origins, and told the producers that they were going down the wrong path with their plans for Deadpool. They essentially told him to like it or lump it, so with the idea for a future Deadpool done right in his mind, Ryan sucked it up and let the Merc with a Mouth roll onto the big screen with his mouth sewn shut!
It seems Ryan's comic book roles are somewhat 50/50 in terms of success, because his DC movie went down in history for how abysmal it was. Both Ryan and his Deadpool alter-ego have great fun mocking both Green Lantern and X-Men Origins: Wolverine though, which is entertaining enough to make up for the flops! (Almost...)
2.Chris Evans
Now, our boy Chris is pretty obviously Captain America. You may also remember his role as Johnny Storm in the pre-MCU era Fantastic Four movie. However, he's actually had his time at DC, too, as he starred in The Losers back in 2010, which is based on a DC comic series.
Although it's not Marvel or DC, Chris has also had another role as a character from a graphic novel through his portrayal of Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
3.Alice Braga
You may recognize Alice from Marvel's The New Mutants, where she played Cecilia Reyes, an agent of Essex Corp. Or you might be more familiar with her in The Suicide Squad, where her character Sol Soria led the resistance in Corto Maltese.
4.Angela Bassett
Angela is very recognizable as Queen Ramonda, T'Challa and Shuri's mother in Black Panther. What you may have missed is her DC role — she was Dr. Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, but the role was later taken on by Viola Davis.
5.Ben Affleck
We all know Ben's had his time as Batman, plus a cameo in Suicide Squad (2016). However, if you cast your mind back, you might remember his Marvel role as Daredevil in the 2003 movie.
6.Ben Mendelsohn
Ben played Talos, a Skrull general, in Captain Marvel, so you'd be forgiven for not immediately recognizing him from the MCU without his prosthetics! He also played Daggett in The Dark Knight Rises, the guy who tried to take control of Wayne Enterprises with the help of Bane.
7.Brian Tyree Henry
Brian went Marvel, hopped to DC, then popped back to Marvel again. He began as a voice actor on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, bringing Miles' dad Jefferson Davis to life. His next comic book role was as Carl, the clerk at Arkham State Hospital in Joker, but he's since returned to Marvel through his portrayal of Phastos in Eternals.
8.Brett Cullen
Brett's roles are interesting because his DC start was as a congressman in The Dark Knight Rises, but he later popped back onto the DC scene as Thomas Wayne, Batman's dad, in Joker. Pre-DC, however, Brett made his way onto the comic book scene playing Barton Blaze in Marvel's 2007Ghost Rider.
9.Chris Pine
We remember Chris as Steve Trevor, the love interest in 2017's Wonder Woman. However, you may not know that he's lent his talents to voice acting, voicing the original Spider-Man on Miles' earth in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
10.Djimon Hounsou
Like David Dastmalchian, Djimon has kinda been all over the place in both the DC and Marvel on-screen universes. Going chronologically, we've seen Djimon as:
— Midnite in Constantine (2005, DC)
— Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, Marvel)
— King Ricou in Aquaman (2018, DC)
— Korath in Captain Marvel (2019, Marvel)
— Wizard in Shazam! (2019, DC)
— Korath in What If..? (2021, Marvel)
He's also appeared in a non-Marvel or DC comic book big-screen adaptation. He played Shola in The King's Man, which is based on the Kingsman comic series by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, set in the "Millarverse" alongside characters like Dave Lizewski and Hit Girl in Kick Ass.
11.Christian Bale
I mean, I don't need to tell you about his DC role, right? But I will anyway — he was, of course, Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy. However, he's set to cross over into Marvel territory in Thor: Love and Thunder, where he'll play villain Gorr the God Butcher.
12.Florence Kasumba
Florence is memorable as Ayo, a member of the Dora Milaje in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, and on the small screen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. She's scheduled to appear in the next Black Panther movie, so she's a solid part of the MCU, but she also had a role as Senator Acantha in DC's Wonder Woman.
13.Danny Huston
Danny played William Stryker in X-Men Origins: Wolverine for his Marvel stint, before crossing over to DC to play Wonder Woman's General Erich Ludendorff, who plots with Doctor Maru, aka Doctor Poison.
14.Halle Berry
Halle is obviously the iconic Storm in the Marvel X-Men franchise, but cast your mind back and you'll remember her as DC's Catwoman in the solo movie for the character back in 2004.
15.David Dastmalchian
David is EVERYWHERE in both Marvel and DC. He's had some pretty big roles in both universes, notably as Scott Lang's friend Kurt in the Ant-Man movies and Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad.
He had a small-screen DC role as Abra Kadabra in Seasons 3 and 7 of The Flash, and also as Dwight Pollard in two episodes of Gotham. As well as that, he's done voice work for both entertainment companies, as Calendar Man and The Penguin in DC's Batman: The Long Halloween parts 1 and 2, plus as his Ant-Man character Kurt in Marvel's animated What If..?
However, despite his recent big-screen roles, he actually got his start in comic book media as an unnamed thug of the Joker's in The Dark Knight, which looks to be his second-ever movie/TV role according to his IMDb.
16.David Harbour
Speaking of Davids, David Harbour has had a stint with both Marvel and DC. For DC, he played Dexter Tolliver in 2016's Suicide Squad, while for Marvel, he was Alexei Shostakov in Black Widow.
He was also the eponymous Hellboy in the 2019 Hellboy reboot, which is worth mentioning because although DC doesn't own Hellboy, the character has appeared in some DC comics and the DC video game Injustice 2 as a playable character.
Apparently, creator Mike Mignola pitched Hellboy to DC, and while they loved the character, they didn't love the whole hell setting! So they instead have the character crossover here and there, in locations that they're happy with as opposed to Hellboy's fiery lair.
17.James Marsden
When I think of James, I always see him as Cyclops in the Marvel X-Men movies, but he's also had a DC role as reporter Richard White in Superman Returns.
18.Jared Leto
Jared's roles in both Marvel and DC have both been...erm...memorable?! Back in 2016, he played the Joker in DC's Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder's Justice League, and in 2022, he played Marvel's Morbius in a film of the same name.
Both performances garnered mostly negative reviews from fans of both comic book publishers, but Jared looks set to return to both universes judging by the credit on his IMDb profile for "Untitled Jared Leto/Joker project" and the post-credits scene in Morbius.
Morbius is technically set in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel characters instead of the main MCU, but the scene showed Morbius interacting with Michael Keaton's Vulture, who appears in the main MCU in Spider-Man: Homecoming; plus, a post-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage suggested that Venom exists in the MCU, so maybe there will be a Sony/MCU crossover coming our way.
19.Idris Elba
Idris did a great job of bringing Heimdall to life on screen in the Thor movies for Marvel, but before that, he appeared in the non-MCU Marvel movie Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
On his DC resumé, Idris has The Suicide Squad (2021) and 2010's The Losers.
20.J.K. Simmons
Oscar winner J.K. is super embedded in the Spider-Man universe, with an absolute ton of credits related to the web-slinger to his name. He's been J. Jonah Jameson in:
— Spider-Man (2002)
— Spider-Man 2 (2004)
— Spider-Man 3 (2007)
— The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (TV series) (2012)
— Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload (2013)
— Avengers Assemble (TV series) (2013-15)
— Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H (TV series) (2013-15)
— Ultimate Spider-Man (TV series) (2013-15)
— Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
— Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021, uncredited)
— Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
— The Daily Bugle (TV series short) (2019-22)
as well as voicing his character in the Spider-Man 2 and 3 PSP games, in an episode of Robot Chicken, and a 2006 episode of The Simpsons!
As for DC, he's been in:
— Justice League Unlimited (TV series) (2004-2006)
— Batman: The Brave and The Bold (TV series) (2010)
— Justice League (2017)
— Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Plus, he'll be in 2022's Batgirl.
He's also been in Invincible, based on comics from Image Comics, which is the biggest comic and graphic novels publisher after Marvel and DC.
21.Laurence Fishburne
Laurence is another actor with a couple of credits with both big comic book companies. He's in DC's Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
22.Joe Manganiello
Joe's time in MCU was via his role as school bully Flash Thompson in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3, while his DC time comes from two uncredited performances, one as Deathstroke in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and one as Mr. Wilson in Justice League (2017).
23.Jon Favreau
We all know Jon as a staple of the MCU as Happy Hogan. He's been there right from 2008's Iron Man, which launched the whole MCU as we know it. But that wasn't actually his first Marvel role, believe it or not! I'll be impressed if you can name his debut Marvel role, because I had no idea until I did some digging. He played Franklin "Foggy" Nelson in the 2003 on-screen adaptation of Daredevil.
Anyway, since then, he's played the character in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, NBA Finals: Watch the Game (video short), Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far from Home, What If..?, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He also has executive producer credits on Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Avengers Assemble, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
So where's his DC cameo, I hear you ask? Well, if you go all the way back to 1995, he's credited as "Assistant" in Batman Forever. You can see him on the right of the screen from about 29 seconds to 33 seconds in this clip.
24.Josh Brolin
Who can forget Josh Brolin's intimidating Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame? You may also remember him as Cable in Deadpool 2, which is technically not a Marvel movie but is based on a Marvel character and distributed by 20th Century Fox like the X-Men series.
As for his DC time, he was the eponymous Jonah Hex in 2010's Jonah Hex.
25.Michael Fassbender
Michael was Magneto in the rebooted X-Men movie series starting in 2011, but a year before that, he was in DC's Jonah Hex.
26.Pom Klementieff
This one's a fun one. We all know her as Mantis in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy series, but she does actually have a teeny tiny role in DC if you're super eagle-eyed. If you watch carefully, you'll spot her in the scene where they go drinking in Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad, as one of the dancers on stage. You can read more about it here!
27.Michelle Pfeiffer
Paul Rudd said that Ant-Man and the Wasp star Michelle rendered the cast of Avengers: Endgame totally starstruck, with Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo exclaiming, "Holy sh*t! It's Michelle Pfeiffer!" when they saw her on set for the big funeral scene. As well as Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Endgame, Michelle will return in the next installment in the Ant-Man series, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
As for her DC role, she also brought it as Catwoman in Batman Returns alongside Michael Keaton.
28.Michael Keaton
Michael cuts an imposing figure as The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and has a cameo at the end of Morbius. For his DC time, he was in Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns movies, and he's also set to take up the cape again in the films Batgirl and The Flash.
29.Patton Oswalt
I definitely associate Patton with his recurring role as Eric Koenig in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV show, but he also had big-screen roles in Eternals and even Blade: Trinity. (Yep, the Blade movies were Marvel!)
He's also had a little stint with DC thanks to his role as Atom in Teen Titans Go! and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies.
30.Michael Rooker
He's Mary Poppins, y'all! He is, of course, the ever-quotable Yondu in the Guardians of the Galaxy series, but he also had a small role as Savant at the start of The Suicide Squad.
31.Rachel Weisz
She played Natasha's mother figure, Melina, in Marvel's Black Widow, but Rachel also starred in a DC on-screen escapade — Constantine, from back in 2005.
32.Randall Park
Randall played Jimmy Woo, Scott's parole officer in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Jimmy is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who helped S.W.O.R.D. with the mystery of the disappearing town of Westview, New Jersey, when Wanda took control of it, so Randall has an appearance in WandaVision, too.
As well as that, he's Dr. Stephen Shin in Aquaman and the upcoming Aquaman 2.
33.Taika Waititi
Taika has a memorable role in the Marvel moviesThor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame as the lovable Korg, a Kronan warrior self-described as "this pile of rocks waving at you." He also had a role in DC's The Suicide Squad as Ratcatcher.
34.Russell Crowe
Russell had a small role in Man of Steel, playing Jor-El, Superman's dad. He's also set to join Christian Bale in the fourth installment in the Thor film series!
35.Sean Gunn
Sean Gunn, whose brother James Gunn has writer/producer/director credits on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, several Avengers movies and DC's The Suicide Squad, has appeared in all of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, several Avengers movies, and The Suicide Squad. Are you seeing a pattern here? ;)
Sean's also set to be in Thor: Love and Thunder, where leading man Chris Hemsworth's brother Luke will have a cameo. No one else seems to have got the "bring your brother to work" memo though!
36.Tilda Swinton
Tilda played The Ancient One in Marvel's Doctor Strange, Avengers: Endgame, and What If..? But before her Marvel days, she was Gabriel in DC's Constantine.
37.Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester appeared in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2, and is set to appear in the third movie in the franchise, too. You may also have recognized his voice as King Shark in DC's The Suicide Squad!
38.Tom Hardy
Tom's roles as both Marvel and DC characters have been pretty hard to miss. He's Venom/Eddie Brock in Marvel's Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and no one's going to forget his portrayal of Bane in DC's The Dark Knight Rises.
39.Zoë Kravitz
You'll definitely remember her as Catwoman if you've seen The Batman, but Zoë has actually also had some Marvel roles — as Angel Salvadore in X-Men: First Class, and as the voice of MJ in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Zoë also voiced Catwoman in DC's The Lego Batman Movie.
40.Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy played Steve's stern Colonel, Chester Phillips, in Captain America: The First Avenger. And if you can shake the image of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight trilogy, you might just remember Tommy's time as the character in 1995's Batman Forever.
41.Willem Dafoe
Willem played Green Goblin in the '00s Spider-Man movies, in all three movies plus the video game. He reprised his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021.
As for DC, he's played Vulko in Zack Snyder's Justice League and Aquaman.
42.Zachary Levi
Zachary replaced Josh Dallas as Fandral, a side character in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok, but he got his time as the main protagonist in DC's Shazam! and its upcoming sequel.
43.Zazie Beetz
Zazie played Domino in Deadpool 2, but she also appeared in DC's Joker.
44.Zoe Saldaña
We're quite accustomed to seeing Zoe painted green in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, but she actually joined fellow Marvel cast-mates Idris Elba and Chris Evans in DC's The Losers!
45.Stan Lee
We all spotted Stan's cameos in basically every Marvel film he was involved with, but he also has credits on animated series like The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four, as well as TV movies such as The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and Pryde of the X-Men, and on Marvel video games, too.
Stan was so enmeshed with Marvel that it was a surprise to see his name on the cast list for DC's Teen Titans Go! To The Movies!
46.Coolio
Yep, you read that right — Coolio as in "Gangsta's Paradise" Coolio! He appeared in Marvel's Daredevil as Dante Jackson, but he also showed up in DC's Batman and Robin to oversee a street race. Apparently, he only agreed to the part because it was supposed to lead to him becoming the villain in the next film, which never happened.
Coolio said: "The only reason I did that part was because they promised me the villain part in the following Batman, which they didn’t do because Joel Schumacher — they fired him. Me and him didn’t get along that great anyway… The next Batman the villain was supposed to be the Scarecrow.” Fitting then, that the first villain in the rebooted Batman movie series, The Dark Knight trilogy, was Scarecrow — albeit played by Cillian Murphy instead of Coolio!
47.Corey Johnson
Corey played Mr. Fox in the recent Sony/Marvel flop Morbius and had an appearance in X-Men: First Class as Chief Warden. As for DC, he's provided his voice acting talents on the Constantine video game, and he's set to continue with DC in 2022's Batgirl.
He's also had his time on other comic book movies not distributed by Marvel or DC, including Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Hellboy.
48.Kenneth Choi
Kenneth has popped up on the big screen and small screen with Marvel, thanks to his role as Jim Morita in Captain America: The First Avenger, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Spider-Man: Homecoming. He also played a yakuza boss in DC's Suicide Squad.
49.Tao Okamoto
Tao starred in The Wolverine as Mariko, but three years later, she made her DC debut as Mercy Graves in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
50.Terence Stamp
Terence played Stick in the Jennifer Garner-led Elektra back in 2005. However, if we dig back through his resumé, we can see he worked with DC before his Marvel role, having first played General Zod in Superman back in 1978, then again in Superman II (1980).
Not a Marvel or DC movie, but Terence also played another comic book character role — Pekwarsky in Wanted, which is loosely based on a Mark Millar comic.
51.Mark Hamill
Mark is best known for Star Wars of course, but he actually has an extensive history of voice acting for both DC and Marvel.
After two episodes as The Trickster/James Jesse in the 1991 DC TV series The Flash, he's voiced the following:
— The Joker in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, DC)
— The Joker, Jack Napier, and a waiter in Batman: The Animated Series (1992-94, DC)
— The Joker in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (1995, DC)
— Maximus, Sentry, and Triton in Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1995-96, Marvel)
— The Joker in The Adventures of Batman and Robin Activity Center (video game, 1996, DC)
— The Joker in Superman: The Animated Series (1997, DC)
— Gargoyle and Tong-Zing in The Incredible Hulk (1996-97, Marvel)
— Hobgoblin, Jason Phillips, Jason Philip Macendale in Spider-Man (1995-98, Marvel)
— The Joker and a mugging victim in The New Batman Adventures (1997-99, DC)
— Carter in Batman of the Future (2000, DC)
— The Joker in Batman Beyond — Return of the Joker (2000, DC)
— The Joker and Dr. Isaac Evers in Batman: Vengeance (video game, 2001, DC)
— The Joker in Static Shock (2002, DC)
— The Joker in Birds of Prey (2002, DC)
— Wolverine in X-Men 2: Wolverine's Revenge (video game, 2003, Marvel)
— Solomon Grundy, The Joker, and a customer in Justice League (2002-03, DC)
— The Joker in Batman: New Times (2005, DC)
— The Joker in The Complete Robin Storyboard Sequence (2005, DC)
— The Trickster/James Jesse in Justice League Unlimited (2006, DC)
— Oiler in Ultimate Avengers II (2006, Marvel)
— Tony Zucco in The Batman (2006, DC)
— The Joker and Scarface in Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, DC)
— The Spectre in Batman: The Brave and The Bold (2010, DC)
— Red Skull in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet (video game, 2010, Marvel)
— Ulysses Klaw/Klaw in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010, Marvel)
— The Joker in DC Universe Online (video game, 2011, DC)
— Chthon and Red Skull in The Super Hero Squad (2010-11, Marvel)
— The Joker in Batman: Arkham City (2011, DC)
— Red Skull in Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat (video game, 2011, Marvel)
— The Joker in Batman: Arkham City Lockdown (video game, 2011, DC)
— The Joker in DC Universe Online: The Last Laugh (video, 2012, DC)
— The Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight (video game, 2015, DC)
— The Trickster and Sinestro in Lego DC Super Heroes: Justice League — Attack on the Legion of Doom! (2015, DC)
— Arnim Zola in Lego Marvel's Avengers (video game, 2016, Marvel)
— The Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke (2016, DC)
— The Joker in Batman: Arkham VR (2016, DC)
— Arnim Zola, Nightmare, and Ox in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012-16, Marvel)
— The Joker in View-Master Batman Animated VR (video game, 2016, DC)
— James Jesse/The Trickster in The Flash (2015-16, DC)
— The Joker in Arkham Asylum VR Coaster (2017, DC)
— The Joker, Trickster, and Swamp Thing in Justice League Action (2016-18, DC)
— The Joker, Trickster, and Swamp Thing in Justice League Action Shorts (2017, DC)
— Arnim Zola in Spider-Man (2018, Marvel)
— The Joker, Trickster, and Director in Lego DC Super-Villains (2018, DC)
— Arnim Zola/Cap Zola in Avengers Assemble (2017-18, Marvel)
As well as all of the above, he's voiced the Joker in an episode of Robot Chicken and the Trickster and Joker in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Basically, if you hear the Joker in a cartoon, you can put money on it being Mark.
He also appeared in Kingsman: The Secret Service, which isn't a Marvel or DC comic, but is based on a comic by Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar. A lot of people on this crossover list also seem to have a crossover with the Millarverse!
52.Natalie Portman
Natalie played Dr. Jane Foster in Thor, Thor: The Dark World and is set to play her and Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder for her Marvel resumé. However, she first played Evey in 2005's V for Vendetta, which originally had a 10-issue limited series with DC Comics in 1988, then continued until the series' completion.
53.Hugo Weaving
You may remember Hugo as the original Red Skull in Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger before Ross Marquand took on the role, but like Natalie, he originally had a DC role in V for Vendetta, as V himself.
As I mentioned, this isn't even all of the actors with both Marvel and DC roles! Are you surprised there's so much crossover?
Who were you most surprised to see on this list? Let me know in the comments!
