Updated February 10, 2023 36.5k votes 6.7k voters 764.2k views
Voting Rules
Vote up the actors whose performances far exceed what you expect from the MCU.
Have you ever been sitting in a movie theater, watching the latest Marvel film, thinking to yourself, "Wow, that actor is too good for the MCU"? Same here. The MCU is certainly deserving of great actors, but many of its films introduce some top notch casting choices that make you do a double take, even if they do deliver amazing performances that add to the films. Nevertheless, sometimes the actors seem overqualified for their roles.
Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Anthony Hopkins is one of the great screen and stage actors of the past 50 years. With five Academy Award nominations and five Emmy Award nominations to his name, Hopkins is as talented as he is diverse.
When Kenneth Branagh and the rest of the production team behind Thor were looking to cast an actor as Odin, Hopkins was an ideal choice. It just turned out the Welsh actor wasn't given much to do throughout the first three Thor films. Is he great? Yes. Is he just a little bit wasted in the role? Unfortunately, yes.
John C. Reilly has headlined comedy pictures as diverse as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Wreck-It Ralph, and he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Chicago. He also starred in Guardians of the Galaxy as the exceedingly minor character Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey.
Reilly isn't given much to do outside of quip back-and-forth with Star-Lord and provide a bit of an emotional payoff at the end of the film when he reunites with his family after the Guardians save Xandar from destruction.
Tilda Swinton is the kind of actor who takes her craft extremely seriously. How seriously? When you create a "performance art piece" where you pretend to sleep for hours on end while encased in glass in an art gallery, and perform that "art piece" numerous times over the years, it is pretty dang serious.
Swinton's role as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange clearly needed an actor with some gravitas, but bringing in a performer this serious was a bit of a curveball for Marvel. It certainly paid off though.
Marvel really pulled off a casting feat when it brought in Tony Leung to play the ruthless Wenwu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Not only did they get one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation to join the MCU, but they also got him to play his first major role in a Hollywood film.
Calling Leung a Hollywood newcomer totally underplays his impact on the international film scene. Leung is the Hong Kong cinema equivalent of Leonardo DiCaprio, not just because he originally played the role in Infernal Affairs that went to DiCaprio when the film was remade as The Departed. Leung brings an emotionally charged element to the millennia-old Wenwu that comes through both when he lays waste to his enemies and when he's grieving the loss of his true love.
Peter Dinklage has been garnering critical plaudits since 2003's The Station Agent, but he didn't become a household name until his star-making turn in Game of Thrones as Tyrion Lannister. A four-time Emmy Award winner for supporting actor in a drama series, Dinklage knows how to make the most of any screen time he is given.
Alas, his cameo as Eitri in Avengers: Infinity War was more of a "Hey! That's Peter Dinklage" moment than anything else. They probably didn't have to pay someone as famous as Dinklage to play Eitri, but when you have that Marvel Studios money... you can basically do whatever you want.
You don't earn two Academy Award nominations by accident. Djimon Hounsou is a fantastic actor, and yet, he is essentially wasted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Korath the Pursuer. His bit part as Korath has given him little screen time in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel.
You'd think that Hounsou, after starring in Amistad,Gladiator,Blood Diamond, and In America, would warrant just a little bit more time in the limelight. Maybe this is just his comic book movie fate, as he had bit parts in both Shazam! and Aquaman as well.
