Comic book movies often scramble for the same big-name actors, with both Marvel and DC movies sometimes booking the same actor as close together as the same year. Both the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and adaptations of DC Comics rely heavily on recognizable stars to carry their films through sheer force of personality, with many familiar faces making their way through both universes. In some rare instances, both Marvel and DC manage to cast the same actor in different movie roles within the span of one year, filling their filming schedule.
It's rare that actors who star in both Marvel and DC movies in the same year play a major character, with the amount of time needed to be on-set for even one such role, let alone two, being likely too great to schedule. Because of this, most actors that have found time to do so are usually slightly lesser known character actors that appear in supporting roles. However, rarely will a household name somehow find the time to appease comic book fans across the aisle with two separate performances in the big two's movies debuting in the same year.
8 Randall Park
2018
Randall Park is a name growing in popularity in the last ten years. Park got his big break in a cameo in The Office, in which he helped Jim gaslight Dwight into believing he had always been Asian-American. Since then, he won over TV audiences with the 2015 sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, playing the friendly father and restaurateur Loius Huang. This newfound popularity helped him book two comic book roles simultaneously in 2018, appearing in both the first Aquaman movie and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Ant-Man and the Wasp.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Park plays the affable FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, a well-meaning minor antagonist tasked with ensuring that Scot Lang doesn't break the boundaries of his parole. Meanwhile, Aquaman posits him as Dr. Stephen Shin, a marine biologist whose obsession with Atlantis causes him to regretfully help the villain Black Manta in attacking the undersea society. Park performed in both roles well enough that he was asked back to both universes, reprising both characters in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and WandaVision.
7 Ryan Reynolds
2011
For as successful as beloved funny man Ryan Reynolds' superhero career has been following the success of the Deadpool trilogy, Reynolds' first few approaches to the genre seemed to end in disaster every time. In 2004, Reynolds debuted in the Marvel universe as a sort of proto-Deadpool character in Blade: Trinity, much to the famous dislike of star Wesley Snipes. 2011 saw him re-enter the genre in both Marvel and DC worlds, playing Hal Jordan in Green Lantern and Deadpool for the first time in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Sadly, both films were terrible misfires for Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds himself has gone on to publicly admonish Green Lantern many times, referring to the superhero movie as one of the biggest regrets of his career. While Hal Jordan remained a one-off role, Reynolds was at least able to redeem his X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of Wade Wilson in the solo Deadpool movies, earning Fox and later the MCU massive accolades. Of course, some of the series' fourth-wall-breaking humor is at the expense of both films, cheekily acknowledging Reynolds' comic book movie track record.
6 James Marsden
2006
James Marsden has been a Hollywood staple since the early 2000s, providing a third point of the tumultuous love triangle in The Notebook and embodying a typical prince charming in Enchanted. These days he's best known as "Donut Lord" in the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, but he's also quite accomplished as a superhero actor. His best known role in the comic book movie space is as the original version of Cyclops in the Fox X-Men movies, playing the mutant strike team's steadfast leader clad in a monocular visor.
However, Marsden also featured in the lesser-known DC film in the same year as X-Men: The Last Stand with Superman Returns, in which he plays Richard White, the nephew of Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White and fiancé of Lois Lane following Superman's absence. Between Cyclops, Richard White, and The Notebook, Marsden in the early 2000s found himself unfortunately (and specifically) typecast as the handsome, "safe", but always second-choice romance option of the female lead. At least he gets to hold down a solid on-screen marriage in Sonic the Hedgehog.
5 Tara Strong
2023
One of the most prolific voice actors of all time, Tara Strong needs little introduction for anyone remotely familiar with the medium of animation. Famous for cartoons like Fairly OddParents, The Powerpuff Girls, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Strong soon made a name for herself in DC animation as well. Strong appears as Harley Quinn in a wide variety of different projects, including the Rocksteady Arkham video game series, but has also filled in a wide variety of other roles for the company, including one that happened to coincide with one of her rare MCU appearances.
While Tara Strong is best known in the MCU for voicing Miss Minutes, the spunky A.I. in the form of a cartoon clock utilized by the TVA of Loki fame, she also took over for Miley Cyrus as the voice of the robot Ravager Mainframe in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The overlapped with the release of a little-known superhero pet movie, Scooby Doo! and Krypto Too!, which saw everyone's favorite mystery-solving great dane team up with Superman's beloved animal companion. Here, Strong lent her talented voice to Lois Lane.
4 David Harbour
2025
Relatively late into his acting career, David Harbour became a household name thanks to his gruff, yet lovable persona as the small-town Sheriff Hopper in Netflix's Stranger Things. This led him to several comic book movie opportunities, including as the Russian Captain America knock-off Red Guardian in Black Widow and as the titular paranormal investigator in 2019's disastrously-received Hellboy. In the coming year, David Harbour will be double-dipping in both the MCU and DCU, balancing two superhero roles at once.
David Harbour is set to reprise his role as Red Guardian in the upcoming MCU movie Thunderbolts*, set to release in 2025. Technically, this will also coincide with the final episodes of the DCU's first animated series, Creature Commandos, which will release in January. Harbour lends his husky voice to the cast of oddball monsters as Frankenstein's monster, who, in this continuity, simply takes the last name of his creator on for himself.
3 David Dastmalchian
2023
A dedicated character actor, David Dastmalchian is one of the few well-known Hollywood performers who can be said to have slowly accrued fame thanks to a number of supporting roles in comic book movies. Dastmalchian appeared as Thomas Schiff in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, collaborating with the lauded director again recently with Oppenheimer. He also lent his dry sense of humor to the cast of the first two Ant-Man movies as Kurt, an illicit hacker and friend of Scott Lang's.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, however, David Dastmalchain was instead recruited as a brand-new character, Veb, a bizarre denizen of the Quantum Realm who is able to bridge the gap of communication between the dimension's races with his bodily fluids. Dastmalchian also provided his vocal talents to the DC animated film Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham only a month later that same year, playing a macabre version of Mr. Freeze that inhabits the film's 1920s vision of Gotham City.
2 Jennifer Holland
2023
Though she isn't a big-name actress outside of her superhero movie contributions, Jennifer Holland quietly became one of the most impressively decorated performers in the DCEU thanks to her role as Emilia Harcourt. Harcourt first appears in The Suicide Squad as a subordinate of Task Force X leader Amanda Waller, eventually betraying her boss after learning of her treachery. Holland made further appearances as the character in Black Adam, Peacemaker, and, most recently, a mid-credits scene in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
The same year as the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Jennifer Holland also appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the minor character, Kwol. Kwol is an employee of OrgoCorp, where she works as the administrator of their company headquarters, the Orgoscope, where she has an encounter with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Considering how minor both appearances were, it's easy to see how Jennifer Holland squeezed them both into the same working year.
1 Djimon Hounsou
2019
Another background player who has become well-known for his minor superhero role, Djimon Hounsou is a familiar face in the comic book movie circuit. Hounsou initially came into fame thanks to his role in 2006's Blood Diamond, but quickly endeared himself to comic book movie audiences as Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy, making an excellent scene partner for Peter Quill in his very first Marvel Cinematic Universe scene. However, it wouldn't be until 2019 that Djimon Hounsou would enjoy dual roles in both Marvel and DC projects.
As a prequel, Captain Marvel saw the return of Korath the Pursuer in his early days as a soldier for the Kree Empire, facing off against and eventually losing to Carol Danvers. The same year, Hounsou also received the honor of starring in Shazam! as the titular wizard who grants Billy Batson his powers, presiding over the mysterious magical realm he finds himself in. Hopefully, future comic book movies can find additional roles for the talented Beninese actor.
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