8) Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton has a special place in comic book movie fans’ hearts as it is him we have to thank for rescuing Batman from the campy excesses of the Adam West incarnation from the 1960s TV show. In Tim Burton’s Batman movies, Keaton was a brilliantly brooding and stoic Dark Knight. So influential is his turn as Batman that he ended up spoofing it in 2014’s Oscar-winning drama Birdman, about an actor most known for playing a superhero.
Keaton will again be swapping his cowl for a pair of wings next year when he plays Spidey’s latest nemesis The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, opposite Tom Holland. The actor might never have escaped the image of him as a man dressed as a flying creature, but at least he gets to play the villain this time around.
7) Josh Brolin
Though he was considered to play Batman in the DC Extended Universe, the only superhero role Josh Brolin has taken on to date is the lead in 2010’s comic book western Jonah Hex. Unfortunately, though Brolin was a good fit for the character, the movie itself was a sloppy mess.
He’s destined to be a much better supervillain, then, as Brolin has been playing Thanos – the big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – since 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He’ll finally get his due in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel, the first of which turns up in 2018.
6) Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke’s two roles in comic book movies occupy completely opposing places in terms of critical reception and fan approval.
His turn as the fearsome-looking yet principled Marv in 2008’s Sin City earned him much awards and acclaim. It’s also responsible for triggering a career renaissance for Rourke after years out of the limelight.
On the other hand, he appeared as Ivan Vanko AKA Whiplash, one of two villains in 2010’s Iron Man. Though the mixed reception to the film and its status as one of the lesser entries into the MCU cannot be solely rested at Rourke’s feet, his wayward performance in the movie certainly didn’t help.
