Sophie Best
No, this isn’t one of those eye-rollingly palpable feature articles where a young woman, not at all toply-versed in superhero movie lore, lists off a bunch of names everyone knows were in superhero movies – like, say, Richard Pryor in “Superman III” or Courteney Cox in “Masters of the Universe” (I don’t know if that would even be considered a superhero movie; it was a cartoon series, before anything else wasn’t it?!). No, I actually bothered to do some detective work here – – – since Saturday nights in L.A aren’t too exciting at the Best loft.
Larry Hagman
“Superman : The Movie” (1978)
The actor, best known for wearing a ten-gallon cowboy hat on TV (as J.R Ewing on “Dallas”), had a small role as a ‘Major’ in the first, original – and some say, best – “Superman” picture.
“Well, I suggest a chest massage… if that doesn’t work, erm, mouth-to-mouth!”
Drew Barrymore
“Batman Forever” (1995)
The cast of Joel Schumacher’s 1995 film is actually quite amazing.
Playing one of the smallest roles in the film is then comeback-kid Barrymore (“E.T”), as villain’s moll ‘Sugar’ (Debi Mazar is ‘Spice’).
Barry Otto
“The Punisher” (1989)
Australian actor Otto (father of Miranda) had the small role of ‘Shakes’ in the first of three “Punisher” movies. This one was made in Australia, hence the casting of Aussies.
Jack Palance
“Batman” (1989)
The Academy Award Winning actor, best known for playing villains (until “City Slickers”), played mob boss Carl Grissom in Tim Burton’s spectacular comic-book movie.
Ellen Pompeo
“Daredevil” (2003)
One of the many TV stars in Mark Steven Johnston’s Man-Without-Fear movie, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Pompeo plays Karen Page. Also look for Leland Orser and Paul Ben-Victor.
Daniel Dae Kim
“Hulk” (2003)
The actor best known for playing Jin Kwon on TV’s “Lost” played an ‘aide’ in the critically-panned feature film version of Marvel’s ‘Incredible Hulk’.
Ellen Page
“X-Men : The Last Stand” (2006)
Though a big star now, when “Juno” star Ellen Page played Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde in Brett Ratner’s third “X-Men” movie she was a relative unknown.
Peter Billingsley
“Iron Man” (2008)
The former child star, best known for playing the lead role in “A Christmas Story”, is a big-time producer these days. Being that he was an executive producer on “Iron Man”, and knew how to act, it made sense he play the small role of William Ginter Riva.
Anthony Michael Hall
“The Dark Knight” (200)
The ’80s icon and star of TV’s “The Dead Zone” had a small role as a television news reporter named Mike Engel in Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel.
Joe Manganiello
“Spider-Man” (2002)
Before playing the sexy, brooding werewolf-man on “True Blood”, Manganiello played the not-so-muscly and not-so-hairy Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi’s first Spidey film (and briefly reprised the role in the third movie.) Manganiello would later audition for the role of Superman in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel”.
