7) Ellen Page
Juno star Ellen Page isn’t primarily known for her superhero roles, but nonetheless she’s notched up two of them in her career.
First of all, she joined the X-Men universe in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand as Kitty Pryde. Despite playing one of the most popular X-Men characters in the comics, Page was basically reduced to being part of an anaemic love triangle with Iceman and Rogue. She later reprised the role in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, where she was a plot device – developing the handy new power to send Wolverine back into the past.
Meanwhile, in future Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn’s Super, Page played comic book obsessive Libby who takes on the identity of Boltie – the slightly psychotic sidekick of vigilante the Crimson Bolt.
6) Nicolas Cage
A lifelong fan of comic books, Nicolas Cage (whose stage name comes from Marvel hero Luke Cage) nearly played the biggest superhero of them all in mooted 1990s movie Superman Lives, but unfortunately for him the film never got out of development hell.
Instead, he had to wait until 2007 to play cursed stunt driver Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider and its 2012 sequel Spirit of Vengeance. Sadly, they are both pretty awful films with Cage himself being miscast. On the upside, in between those two, Cage featured in 2010’s Kick-Ass, as the Batman-parodying Big Daddy.
Unlike Ghost Rider, Cage was on fine form as Hit Girl’s demanding yet weirdly sweet father. In fact, one of the things its subpar sequel lacked was more from the actor.
