It’s no secret that this has been the decade of the Comic Book Movie. CBMs have ruled the summer box office since Blade was released in 1998. Needless to say not all CBMs have been classics, but some actors have become fixtures within the genre appearing in film after film, role after role. This is a tribute to those actors who just can’t seem to get enough of these super powered franchises. As to why they do it? Who knows maybe they just love comics. Maybe they just need to pay for that new Ferrari. Maybe they like how they look in weird clothes. Maybe they just love us. HA! No, seriously, gotta be the car.
Just to set the record straight on my criteria for this list. Each CBM is counted regardless if it is a repeated character. TV appearances such as Smallville or voice work on comic book related animated series or video games are not included as I wanted this to strictly emphasize comic book movie roles. In addition, I only counted actors who have played more than one character; hence no listings like Hugh Jackman or Sir Ian Mckellen who have appeared in several CBMs, but only as a single character.
Chris Evans: 6 CBMs
Fantastic Four 1&2 – Johnny Storm/Human Torch
The Losers – Jake Jensen
Scott Pilgram Vs. The World – Lucas lee
Captain America – Steve Rogers/Captain America
The Avengers - Steve Rogers/Captain America
Evans is tied for the most CBM’s making (or committed to make) a whopping six total play four different characters. Evans has become the got-to-guy for the CBM genre. Having now landed the role of Captain America I have a feeling this will be Evan’s last comic character, but definitely not his last CBM.
Doug Jones: 6CBMs
Batman Returns – Thin Clown
Tank Girl – Ripper
Men in Black II – Joey
HellBoy 1&2 – Abe Sapien
Fantastic Four: RSS – Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer
Doug Jones, the man without a face. Due to always being covered in prosthetic make-up, he may be the least recognized face on this list, but he has played more individual characters than anyone involved with CBMs with a total of five different roles. Even under all that latex and face paint Jones has never failed to wow us.
Hugo Weaving: 5CBMs
V for Vendetta – V
Transformers 1-3 - Megatron
Captain America- Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
Even though Weaving has done many films making him a legend amongst the geek community and his face is well known to the general movie going public, he hasn’t had much luck getting face time in CBMs. Let’s hope he gets the chance to give us the evil eyebrow in Captain America before they bury him under the mask of the Red Skull.
Samuel L. Jackson: 5CBMs
The Spirit – The Octopus
Iron Man 1&2 – Nick Fury
Captain America – Nick Fury
The Avengers – Nick Fury
Perhaps one of the more controversial CBM castings in recent years, SLJ will be a constant figure in the new Marvel Film Universe as the spymaster/superhero camp counselor Nick Fury. I’m just dying to see if they’ll let him say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHER[frick]IN' HYDRA ON THIS MOTHER[frick]IN' HELECARRIER!!!"
Tommy Lee Jones: 5CBMs
Batman Forever – Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Men in Black 1-3 – Agent K
Captain America – Chester Phillips
It’s always sad when a great actor plays a crap role in a mediocre CBM. Such was the case with Jones’ Joker based Two-Face. He has nearly made up for that travesty with his soon to be three times behind the wheel as Agent K of MIB. His role in Cap may finally push him over the top in terms of redemption, but he’s get an automatic free pass if he can talk Will Smith out of raping our ears with another rendition of an MIB theme rap.
Ryan Reynolds: 4CBMs
Blade Trinity - Hannibal King
Wolverine - Wade Wilson/”Barakapool”
Green Lantern - Hal Jordan/Green Lantern 2814
Deadpool – Wade Willson/Deadpool
Much like Evans, Reynolds has tried on several comic characters for size, but he is the only actor looking at possibly becoming famous for two major franchises from the big two in Deadpool and Green Lantern.
James Marsden: 4CBMs
X-Men 1-3 – Scott Summers/Cyclops
Superman Returns - Richard White
I have to give Marsden credit; so far he’s gotten the short end of the CBM stick getting minimal screen time, yet making the most of it. His making a memorable Cyclops in some forgettable X films and making Richard White a very likeable character in a role that he could easily have been the guy we were rooting against in Superman Returns.
Rebecca Romijn: 4CBMs
X-Men 1-3 - Raven Darkholme/Mystique
Punisher – Joan
Jerry O’Connel , you lucky bastard. Be it in blue scales or a blue sun dress she is still one of the hottest women to ever grace a CBM.
Halle Berry: 4CBMs
X-Men 1-3 – Ororo Munroe/Storm
Catwoman – Patience Phillips/Imitation Catwoman
Eh, Storm… Eech, Catwoman.
Morgan Freeman: 4CBMs
Batman Begins – Lucius Fox
Wanted - Sloan
The Dark Knight – Lucius Fox
Red – Joe
The voice, the serine dignity, there is only one Morgan Freeman. Whether playing the dutiful Lucius Fox or the evil Sloan Freeman is always class.
Terence Stamp: 4CBMs
Superman 1&2 – General Zod
Elektra- Stick
Wanted - Pekwarsky
The grandfather of CBM baddies. Kneel before Stamp!
Megan Fox: 3CBMs
Transformers 1&2 – Mikaela Barnes
Jonah Hex – Lilah
Is her career over yet? Tell me when it is then it’ll be safe to go back to the cinema. Why is it that a girl that hot makes you think your hand would come back sticky if you touched her?
Ron Perlman: 3CBMs
Blade II – Reinhardt
HellBoy 1&2 – HellBoy
Like Jones he is most famous for roles we probably couldn’t identify him for. As he proved in Blade 2 he don’t need no stinking make-up. He is just so damn bad ass. They have a Ron Perlman Boulevard in Badassville.
Karl Urban: 3CBMs
Red – William Cooper
Priest – Black Hat
Judge Dredd – Judge Joseph Dredd
Urban was a late arrival to CBMs though not to the geeks of the world with roles in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and as Bones in the new Star Trek films, but when he jumped into the ring he came out swinging with a flood of comic roles all at once. I’m still hoping he keeps the helmet on while screaming, “I AM THE LAW!”
Brandon Routh: 3CBMs
Superman Returns – Clark Kent/Superman
Scott Pilgram vs. The World – Todd Ingram
Dead of Night – Dylan Dog
Touted as the Superman for a new generation, apparently not, Routh is still hanging in there by the skin of his teeth, but if Dead of Night ends up being as DOA as Scott Pilgram then we may only be seeing this guy on Chuck from now on.
John Malkovich: 3CBMs
Jonah Hex – Quentin Turnbull
Red - Marvin
Transformers 3 – Sam’s Boss
Like Urban, Malkovich has come guns blazing in CBMs. Unfortunately those Navy Colts were first fired in Jonah Hex, so nobody really saw that. Though I have to think it was better than seeing him flying the skies with Vultress (shudder) in Spider-Man 4 would have been.
Bruce Willis: 3CBMs
Sin City – John Hartigan
Surrogates- Tom Greer
Red – Frank Moses
Willis is still my personal pick for the new Ben Grim so let’s hope we can add another notch to his CBM belt.
Jon Faveau: 3CBMs
Daredevil – Foggy Nelson
Iron Man 1&2 –Happy Hogan
He acts! He directs! He writes! He produces! The only thing he doesn’t do is fly. Still he qualifies as Marvel Studio’s behind the scenes Superman.
Nicholas Cage: 3CBMs
Ghost Rider 1&2 – Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider
Kick-Ass – Damon Macready/Big Daddy
Flaming skull head: check. Bad Adam West impersonation: check. Black rubber goth Superman costume: nope. Thank God. Keeping my fingers crossed that Ghost Rider 2 is infinitely better than the first one. Still Big Daddy was Kick-Ass. “NOW SWITCH…TO KRYPTONIIIIIIITTTTEEE!!!”
James McAvoy: 3CBMs
Wanted – Wesley Gibson
X-Men: First Class – Charles Xavier
Wanted 2 - Wesley Gibson
The guy behind all the CBMs that make me ask, “Why?”
John Hurt: 3CBMs
Hellboy 1&2 – Professor Broom
V for Vendetta – Adam Sutler
He had me at the chest buster in Alien.
Jeffery Dean Morgan: 3CBMs
Watchmen – The Comedian
Jonah Hex – Jeb Turnbull (Small uncredited role)
The Losers- Franklin Clay
DC’s secret weapon. Okay I won’t go that far, but one out of three…humph. Well, he was a bad ass Comedian.
Jason Flyming: 3CBMs
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
Kick-Ass – Doorman
X-Men: First Class – Azazel
Yay, it’s… that guy again. What’s his name? Yay.
Scarlet Johansen: 3CBMs
The Spirit – Silken Floss
Iron Man2 – Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
The Avengers – Black Widow
I can forgive no Russian accent. I can forgive the debacle that was The Spirit. What I can’t forgive is… Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Just look at her. Damn you Ryan Reynolds and you genetically engineered abs.
Jessica Alba: 3CBMs
Sin City - Nancy
Fantastic Four 1&2 – Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
Oh, don’t get me started. No boobies in Sin City and no acting in Fantastic Four. Yeah, I said it.
Michael Fassbender: 3CBMs
300 – Stelios
Jonah Hex – Burke
X-Men: First Class – Erik Lensherr/Magneto
I like the guy. No matter how we may speculate about whether XFC is needed or not, at least we already know he looks cool in the helmet. “STELIOS!” Maybe he could jump over the crowd at the XFC premire and spear Brett Ratner for X3.
Brian Cox: 2CBMs
X2 – William Stryker
Red – Ivan Simanov
The original Hannibal Lecter; he’s made a career of playing bureaucrats gone bad, but he does it so damn well.
Eva Mendes: 2CBMs
Ghost Rider – Roxanne Simpson
The Spirit - Sand Saref
How can someone with so much going for her in the looks department have so little going for them in the acting department still get work? What am I talking about? Its Hollywood. You just stand there and look pretty, honey. There ya go. Now pout. Perfect.
Michael Jai White: 2CBMs
Spawn – Al Simmons/Spawn
The Dark Knight – Gamble
If ever there was a guy that can look bad just standing there its White.
James Cromwell: 2CBMs
Spider-Man 3 – Captain Stacy
Surrogates - Dr. Lionel Canter
That’ll do Jim. That’ll do.
Sam Elliot: 2CBMs
Hulk- General “Thunderbolt” Ross
Ghost Rider – Caretaker
My personal pick for Pa Kent in the Superman reboot, Elliot is just the shit. He plays Same Elliot in every role, but he’s just so dame cool doing it. The dude abides.
Donal Logue: 2CBMs
Blade -Quinn
Ghost Rider – Mack
“We’re gonna be naughty. Naughty vampire gods.”
Natalie Portman: 2CBMs
V for Vendetta – Evey Hammond
Thor – Jane Foster
Beauty: yep. Brains: yep. Acting ability: yep. Made me question my own morality in regards to pedophilia after seeing her in The Professional: yep.
William Hurt: 2CBMs
A History of Violence – Richie Cusack
The Incredible Hulk - General “Thunderbolt” Ross
Hair, no hair, he reminds me of the fun coked up uncle I never had in one film and the scary dad I never wanted in another. That is acting. Oh, and The Big Chill is still one of my favorite flicks, and I hate hippies go figure.
Ray Stevenson: 2CBMs
Punisher: War Zone – Frank Castle/The Punisher
Thor – Volstagg
Titus Pullo was the shit. Warzone was shit, but through no fault of Ray’s acting. I can’t wait to see him as the big guy of the Warriors Three.
Idris Elba: 2CBMs
The Losers – William Roque
Thor – Hiemdall
I have been digging this guy in other genres for years, here’s hoping he has a few more CBMs in his future.
Mark Strong: 2CBMs
Kick-Ass - Frank D'Amico
Green Lantern - Sinestro
The modern day Jason Isaacs; the consummate Brit baddie who has yet to play a Brit in a CBM, maybe he’ll get to keep his accent for Sinestro.
Carla Gugino: 2CBMs
Sin City – Lucille
Watchmen – Sally Jupiter/Silk Specter I
Welcome to Cougartown, boys. Ms. Gugino always sends my heart a flutter.
Mickey Rourke: 2CBMs
Sin City – Marv
Iron Man – Ivan Vanko/Whiplash
This guy has come back and proven to a new generation why he was the Hollywood bad boy before Sean Penn, all the talent none of the annoying preachiness and a delightful dash of what the [frick]….?
Jim Carrey: 2CBMs
The Mask – /The Mask
Batman Forever – Edward Nygma/Riddler
Do these really count as CBMs? We’ve got one of the most annoying roles on the planet and a Joel Shumaucher Batman. Not the world’s best resume as far as CBMs go.
Michael Clarke Duncan: 2CBMs
Daredevil – Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin
Sin City – Manute
The man mountain with the voice of a bull frog. I can’t decide if I most enjoy watching this guy or listening to him.
Rutger Hauer: 2CBMs
Sin City – Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark
Batman Begins – William Earle
I still say his best work was Blind Fury… I kid, I kid.
Luke Goss: 2 CBMs
Blade 2 – Jared Nomak
Hell Boy 2 – Prince Nuada
Decent actor, damn good looking guy according to Mrs. Nero, maybe one day he’ll get to act in a CBM without looking…um…dead.
Ray Park: 2CBMs
X-Men – Toad
GI Joe: The rise of Cobra – Snake Eyes
What happens when a toad makes a God awful GI Joe movie? He gets a sequel with everyone else. BUT WHY I ASK?! WHY?!!
So there you have it. I’m sure I didn’t catch every actor that’s played multiple CBM roles, but that is what I have you good people for. If you think of any others throw them in. Was there really a point to me doing this? No, I just thought it’d be a good laugh and discussion piece while I suffer from total writer’s block on my Superman FanFic: Sons of Krypton. Hope you guys enjoy.