Superhero movies are the biggest thing in Hollywood right now and this has been the case for the last 8-10 years with the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The beginning of MCU was the reason Hollywood has now found so many new talents in the industry that are now doing remarkably well. So, there are various actors in Hollywood who owe their popularity to Marvel when they were cast in various superhero roles. Here is a list:
Chris Evans
We all know Evans as our very own Captain America. Before Chris started out with Marvel, he played many roles and even got to be Human-Torch for 2 movies, but he was not able to get the proper breakthrough in Hollywood. When the role of Cap was first offered to him, he passed it on because of the long contract he had to sign with Marvel, and he was only convinced when Robert Downey Jr. personally called him up for it. He should now be glad that he did not resist any more than that.
Sebastian Stan
Sebastian Stan wasn’t known quite a lot before accepting the role of Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s best friend and ally in World War II turned Soviet assassin turned Captain America’s ally. He had a few appearances on different shows like ‘Gossip Girl’ and short roles in films like ‘Rachel Getting Married’ and ‘Black Swan’. He was certainly a working actor, and he actually got work in some critically acclaimed films, but he wasn’t getting any big roles until his role in the 3 Cap movies. Because of that, he got big roles in movies like The Martian and Logan Lucky.
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo if you talk about him now is a huge name in Hollywood and is a remarkable actor and has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards. But, before he was the Hulk because he mostly took on serious roles in movies which were smaller in scale, people did not really know him that much. Hulk gave him the recognition that he deserves and movies like Now You See Me just added on.
Jeremy Renner
Jeremy Renner was a pretty known name before Hawkeye but his movies did not do that well which did not allow him to make the breakthrough that he would have really expected. Even though he might be known as the weakest Avenger, he’s still pretty cool and we got to see how gifted he really is as an actor in movies like The Arrival, Mission Impossible, etc.
Clark Gregg
Clark Gregg has been in the acting business since the late ’80s, but you probably might have never heard of him if it wasn’t for his role as Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We all assumed that his Marvel career was over after his tearful death in The Avengers at the hands of Loki that ultimately brought the team together, but that wasn’t the case at all as later he was brought back and he has been running his own team on TV ever since, The Agents of SHIELD. This one role has made the actor really popular and lovable.
Anthony Mackie
Arguably, Anthony Mackie’s first big role was as Sergeant JT Sanborn in ‘The Hurt Locker’, the Oscar-winning Best Picture. Mackie has actually appeared in two Best Picture winners, the other being ‘Million Dollar Baby’. So, he has certainly had steady work in film over the years, but nothing he has given him the recognition before his portrayal of Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and its MCU sequels. He has got a bunch of great side roles under his belt, but this one’s probably the best of his career.
Chris Hemsworth
Hemsworth is an awesome actor but Before obtaining the role of Thor, he was mostly known to American audiences for his short appearance in J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’ reboot where he played George Kirk. That role was pretty small and he played a role in an Australian soap opera before that. So he is an actor that really owes it to Marvel because the fame and the post-Thor opportunities that he has got is only because of Marvel.
Chris Pratt
Well looks like Marvel is the one that made the Chris trio popular. Chris Pratt was not a very renown actor before he became Star-Lord. He was literally a goof-ball who only did small comic roles. Marvel made an awesome movie with a bunch of unpopular actors and director and this is what made Pratt so big in Hollywood now.
Dave Bautista
Bautista might be popular because of his career as a Wrestler in WWE, but no one expected him to be such a great actor. Before Drax, he did 3-4 small roles but nothing of the scale of Drax. Drax really lets the audiences see how good the former wrestler is as an actor and people now really love him for the roles he does no matter how big or small they are.
Robert Downey Jr.
The biggest reason why Superhero movies are such a big thing in Hollywood right now, and the biggest example of an actor getting really famous and loved is this man, Sir Robert Downey Jr. he really is ‘Iron Man’. Iron Man really began his career and he was not as recognized before Iron Man. After he got cast as Iron Man, we got to see him as Sherlock Holmes, and these two roles just made him one of the most expensive actors in the entire Hollywood.
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