Not everyone gets famous from superhero movies. In fact, before the MCU made stars of the dust on unread resumes, superhero movies were the bins where the dust was deposited. Superheroes used to be played by the likes of Thomas Jane, Brandon Routh, Michael Jai White, Ioan Gruffudd, Ray Stevenson, and Matt Salinger. There still were big names, of course, but many used to be big or had yet to become big. As such, those pre-MCU and DCEU supe-bins are littered with roles we forgot were played by famous actors. Here are some of the most shocking examples.
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Tomar-Re, the CG alien teacher of Hal Jordan in 2011's Green Lantern, is played by Oscar-winning Shakespearean actor Geoffrey Rush. The same year he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his role in The King's Speech, he was in one of the most lackluster superhero movies of all time.
He accepted the role in good spirits, telling Screen Rant that after having voiced an owl in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and a pelican in Finding Nemo, he wanted to up the ante with bird/fish/lizard-looking Tomar-Re. After the film bombed critically and commercially, he most likely tempered his enthusiasm for the part.
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The year before she made her bones as Bones on Bones, Emily Deschanel played a receptionist in Spider-Man 2. She appears when Peter leaves a closet to deliver pizzas to an attorneys' office. Hot off of appearances in serious period pieces Cold Mountain and The Alamo, this Marvel movie is clearly cut from a different cloth. For example, Deschanel is wearing a very 2004 outfit and is using a very 2004 headset. And she is there to do nothing more than deadpan at Peter Parker's ineptitude.
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With acting credits well into the triple digits, Will Arnett has unsurprisingly shown up in a comic book property more than once in his illustrious career. Well-known for his comedic take on the Dark Knight in three different Lego films, he also appeared as Lieutenant Grass in 2010's Jonah Hex.
This Josh Brolin-led disaster is more of a comic book movie than a superhero movie, but it still feels like it counts. Arnett is a prolific comedic actor, but he has a decidedly uncomedic role in Jonah Hex, playing the Union soldier who hires the titular bounty hunter in this DC Comics film. Although he's supposed to be serious, it's hard not to laugh at Arnett - or Jonah Hex in general. The movie's a certified joke.
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Ever heard of Lenny Luthor? We didn't think so. But we imagine you've heard of Jon Cryer, who played Lenny Luthor - unsurprisingly Lex Luthor's nephew - in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
Being in his early 20s at the time, Jon was probably thrilled with the opportunity. Of course, the movie tanked at the box office, and Lenny Luthor was forgotten. Cryer got total redemption, though, when he was cast as good old Uncle Lex in Supergirl, a role that extended to the rest of the Arrowverse.
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Jason Isaacs was already famous when he made his forgotten superhero film appearance. Dragonheart, Armageddon, The Patriot, Black Hawk Down, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Peter Pan were stretching his resume while he pretended to be slain by Jennifer Garner for an uncredited cameo in 2005's Elektra.
It makes us wonder… why? We've yet to find an answer, but we did find an Instagram post where Isaacs called Elektra “nobody's finest hour" but acknowledged that he had “some fun minutes on the way.”
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Who knew that the biggest rebel in Ghost Rider is actually Rebel Wilson? Yes, demon motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gets upstaged by Wilson as a goth girl who is saved by Ghost Rider and hilariously describes the encounter in a TV news interview.
Modern audiences will certainly get a kick out of this quick cameo from 2007 when the film was initially released. Barely anyone knew who she was at that point. In fact, this was just Wilson's second appearance in a feature film.
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