Actors Who Have Played Multiple Superheroes

As Avengers: Doomsday quite conclusively shows us, the membranes between different comic-book universe are perpetually weakening. Pretty soon it’s gonna be dogs and cats living together — or at least characters from Marvel and DC starting to populate each other’s movies.

While copyright law might make a true Marvel/DC crossover a bit of a long shot, actors have begun crossing over from one fictional universe to another with increasing frequency. A couple actors have played three or more characters combined between Marvel and DC fictional spaces. (One particular director who has hopscotched between the two companies multiple times has really helped in that regard.)

When the Marvel Cinematic Universe really started cooking, the comic-book giant used to lock down actors with long contracts for four, six, eight, or more appearances. (Samuel L. Jackson supposedly signed on for nine appearances as super-spy Nick Fury when he first agreed to terms with Marvel.) If those kinds of contracts are still being offered, they sure seem like a rarity — or at least they’re not exclusive contracts at this point, because increasingly as soon as an actor fulfills their duties to the House of Ideas, they make a break for the Distinguished Competition, or vice versa.

All the back and forth can definitely create a little confusion, especially when an actor represents a beacon of virtue in some movies and an intergalactic space monster in another. But hey: They always say there are two wolves inside each person, always fighting. In this case, those wolves just happen to look like the world’s most brilliant scientist and also a clean-shaven, mind-controlling maniac who wants to take over the world.

Here are 15 actors who have recently played both Marvel and DC superheroes (and supervillains) to great effect:

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