Sprout Magazine

Comic Book Movie Double Take

We all have that fun moment when describing a movie to a friend and having to describe an actor by what other roles she has played. “You know, that girl who played the assassin in Aeon Flux and the mom in The Road.” Well when you’re watching movies based on comic books, it gets a lot easier thanks to several actors who play multiple comic book characters. Here’s a look at some of the best crossover character actors in the comic book movie business.

Jessica Alba

The woman you never hope goes invisible.

She took her dive into comic book movies as Sue Storm, the mother figure in the Fantastic Four movies. But there was nothing motherly about her in Sin City, when she played stripper Nancy Callahan.

Giddy up!

Ryan Reynolds

With two swords like that, he can say pretty much whatever he wants.

He took the cake as the merc with a mouth when he perfectly played everyone’s favorite cutthroat Deadpool in the unfortunate X-Men Origins: Wolverine film. The truly sad thing is that using the same acting to play earth’s first Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, wasn’t as endearing to DC fans.

Take THAT Scarlett!!

Idris Elba

He sees all… so don’t make fun of hit hat.

Elba shocked fans for being able to pull off the role of Heimdall (a Scandinavian god that this British actor really owned) in last summer’s Thor. It was a little less shocking though that he could make for scary biker Moreau in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Best way to keep bugs out of your teeth on your bike? Frown like a Bad A.

Ray Park

Sorry. Not even Kung Fu can make this character cool.

While he is most famous as the killed-too-soon Sith Darth Maul, Park is actually an accomplished stuntman who has been in several comic book-inspired films. He actually had his own lines when he played Toad in the original X-men movie. But he didn’t even get to smile for the camera when he played fan favorite Snake Eyes in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Only one sword? I think Deadpool would have something to say about that!

Chris Evans

It’s actually pretty easy to get burned out on so many comic book roles.

Evans has perhaps the most experience with crossovers across six movies (when you include him at one of the seven evil exes that Scott Pilgrim must fight). He started his comic book portrayals as Johnny Storm the Human Torch in Fantastic Four. Most people would recognize him as Steve Rogers/Captain America from the Avengers movies.

We all know that the movie would have been better if Wolverine had cameo-ed in it.

But he is also in a lesser known comic book movie that seems a gold mine of actor recasting:

The Losers
This film about a mismatched band of soldiers who end up stranded in South America after their own government fails in an attempt to assassinate them is actually based on a DC comic by the same name. Evans plays the tech weenie and class clown Jensen. Idris Elba plays tough guy Roque. And Jeffrey Dean Morgan leads the crew as Clay. He also makes our little list here thanks to his portrayal of The Comedian in The Watchmen.

the losers with one winner… and you know who that is. That’s right! The guy in the hat!