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- 30 'Star Wars' actors who have also played Marvel characters
30 'Star Wars' actors who have also played Marvel characters
Kirsten Acuna
- Plenty of actors have appeared in both "Star Wars" projects and Marvel TV shows and movies.
- There are the obvious ones like Natalie Portman and Samuel L. Jackson.
- Then there are stars you may have forgot crossed into both fandoms, including Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o, and Ben Mendelsohn.
- Insider rounded up actors who appear in "Star Wars" and Marvel shows, movies, and upcoming projects.
- We've included characters from both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Marvel movies, including the "X-Men" properties.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Ben Schwartz helped bring BB-8's voice to life with Bill Hader and was a stormtrooper in "The Force Awakens." He'll appear in an upcoming animated Marvel show.
Schwartz told GQ "The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams asked him to help find a voice for BB-8. The "Parks and Rec" actor also shared a photo of himself as a Stormtrooper on Twitter in 2018.
The actor is voicing 12-year-old Lou on Hulu's upcoming Marvel show "M.O.D.O.K." He's the son of the show's main villain, M.O.D.O.K.
"Star Wars" fan Rosario Dawson is reportedly playing a live-action version of Ahsoka Tano. She previously appeared as the connecting tissue between every Netflix Marvel show.
Slashfilm first reported that Dawson will play a live-action version of Ahsoka Tano in the second season of "The Mandalorian." The character first appeared in "Star Wars: Clone Wars" and "Star Wars: Rebels." In the past, Dawson has said how much she'd love to play the role to Entertainment Tonight.
Dawson played nurse Claire Temple on "Daredevil" and "Luke Cage."
Cailey Fleming played a young Rey in "The Force Awakens" and is reportedly joining the upcoming "Loki" show.
You may not have realized "The Walking Dead" actress played the young version of Rey who yells out on Jakku in "The Force Awakens."
According to IMDB, she's currently listed to appear on Disney Plus' upcoming "Loki" series as a young version of Sylvie/Enchantress. Sylvie goes on to become part of the Young Avengers in an iteration of the comics.
Richard E. Grant appeared in "The Rise of Skywalker" and was reportedly cast on Disney Plus' upcoming "Loki" series.
Pryde was killed during an explosion in "TROS." In March, Variety reported Grant was cast in an undisclosed role in "Loki." He'll reportedly appear on one episode of the Disney Plus series.
Stellan Skarsgård played Jane's colleague Professor Erik Selvig in the "Thor" franchise and will appear in an upcoming "Star Wars" show.
Skarsgård is going from Marvel to "Star Wars." Variety reported Skarsgård is joining the "Rogue One" Cassian Andor spinoff in an undisclosed role.
Terence Stamp appeared in "The Phantom Menace" before he trained Elektra in the 2005 film.
Stamp had a minor role in the "Star Wars" prequel as Chancellor Valorum, who held power before Chancellor Palpatine rose to power. He later played Stick in "Elektra," training Jennifer Garner's character.
Peter Serafinowicz voiced Darth Maul in "The Phantom Menace" and was briefly seen in "Guardians of the Galaxy."
While Park played the physical embodiment of the character on-screen, behind the scenes, Serafinowicz spoke the character's few words of dialogue in "The Phantom Menace." Serafinowicz recorded lines for Maul in "Solo," but Lucasfilm wound up using actor Sam Witwer who voiced Maul in the animated series.
You can also spot Serafinowicz as Garthan Saal, a high-ranking member of the Nova Corps, in "GotG." He's the character who memorably states that the Guardians are a bunch of "a-holes."
Ray Park is well known as playing Darth Maul in "The Phantom Menace." He also played Toad in the first "X-Men" movie.
Darth Maul's moves are made possible on-screen because of Park. He returned to perform motion capture for Maul's fight scenes in 2020's animated "Clone Wars" Disney Plus series.
Right before he was Maul, Park could be seen alongside the other X-Men.
Donnie Yen was a vampire in "Blade II" years before he was a warrior in "Rogue One."
Yen made everyone believe in the power of the Force as Chirrut Îmwe. Previously, he was Snowman, a vampire who initially was trained to hunt down Blade before becoming one of his allies.
Jessica Henwick appeared in "The Force Awakens" and Marvel's "Iron Fist" Netflix series.
Henwick played a Resistance pilot named Jess Pava in "The Force Awakens." She later played martial arts expert Colleen Wing who helped train Danny Rand in Netflix's "Iron Fist" series.
Ken Leung appeared briefly in "The Force Awakens" and ABC's "Inhumans" show.
The "Lost" actor appeared in the new trilogy as Admiral Statura. He was also in the short-lived "Inhumans" series as Karnak.
Rose Byrne was a handmaiden in "The Phantom Menace." Years later, Byrne was in the "X-Men" franchise.
You may not have realized the "Neighbors" star was a handmaiden to Padmé Amidala in "The Phantom Menace" named Dormé. Bryne also appeared in "X-Men: First Class" and "X-Men: Apocalypse" as CIA agent Moira MacTaggert.
Jon Favreau has been a huge part of the "Star Wars" and Marvel universes.
Not only did Favreau create and executive produce "The Mandalorian," he also voiced the character Rio Durant in "Solo." Favreau also directed "Iron Man" and has played Tony Stark's trusted chauffeur and friend since the 2008 film.
You may not recognize Spencer Wildling by name, but he was Darth Vader in "Rogue One" and a memorable "Guardians of the Galaxy" character.
Although James Earl Jones reprised his role as Darth Vader's voice in the film, Wilding played the character on screen as he cut down down the rebels.
Two years earlier, he played the "mean guard" (the actual name in the film's credits) who took Peter Quill's Walkman and started listening to it.
Richard Armitage had a small role in "The Phantom Menace" before appearing as a Hydra assassin in the first "Captain America" movie.
You may not have recognized the "Hobbit" actor in "The Phantom Menace." He appeared briefly as a pilot. He later played Heinz Kruger in 2011's "Captain America: The First Avenger."
Benicio del Toro played quirky characters in the "Star Wars" and Marvel universes.
Benicio del Toro showed up as the mysterious thief in "The Last Jedi" who betrayed Finn and Rose. Previously, the actor appeared in the MCU as Taneleer Tivan (The Collector), a man obsessed with collecting rare objects and species in the galaxy.
Hannah John-Kamen upgraded from a minor role in "The Force Awakens" to playing the "Ant-Man and the Wasp" villain.
You can spot John-Kamen as a First Order bridge officer briefly in "The Force Awakens." She later played Ava/Ghost in 2018's "Ant-Man" sequel.
Oscar Isaac was a resistance hero in the new "Star Wars" trilogy and an "X-Men" villain.
Isaac became a "Star Wars" fan favorite as pilot Poe Dameron. It probably made most forget his role as 2016 "X-Men" villain Apocalypse.
Forest Whitaker was in "Rogue One," a "Star Wars" cartoon, and "Black Panther."
Whitaker played resistance fighter Saw Gerrera in "Solo," "Star Wars: Rebels," and also voiced the character in the video game "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order."
In 2019, he appeared in "Black Panther" as Zuri, council to the king of Wakanda.
Andy Serkis was a villain in the new "Star Wars" trilogy and in the MCU.
Serkis played the mysterious Snoke character in "The Last Jedi" and the vibranium-obsessed Ulysses Klaue in both "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and, later, "Black Panther."
Woody Harrelson played a mentor to Han Solo and is going to play an iconic Spider-Man villain in the "Venom" sequel.
Tobias Beckett gave Han Solo his iconic blaster in the 2016 film.
Harrelson showed up at the end of "Venom" teasing his role as Cletus Kasady. In "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," he's expected to play the symbiote villain, Carnage.
Donald Glover played a young Lando Calrissian and also played an important minor role in "Spider-Man: Homecoming."
Glover's version of Lando showed off the character's array of fabulous capes and costumes.
Before he played a young Lando, he briefly appeared in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" as Aaron Davis, the uncle of Miles Morales. In the comics, Aaron goes on to become The Prowler and also a character named Iron Spider.
Ming-Na Wen appeared on the first season of "The Mandalorian" and has been on ABC's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." since it premiered.
The actress appeared briefly on the first season of "The Mandalorian" as Fennec Shand. Wen has played Agent Melinda May on "Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." since the show debuted in 2013.
Wen is one of the few actors to have roles in "Star Wars," the MCU, and be a Disney princess. She voiced Mulan in the 1998 animated movie.
After his turn as a "Rogue One" villain, Ben Mendelsohn showed up in "Captain Marvel" as a skrull named Talos.
Mendelsohn was ruthless as "Star Wars" villain Orson Krennic.
He usually plays a lot of villains, so it was a nice surprise to see his Skrull character, Talos, turn out to be one of the good guys in "Captain Marvel." The actor reprised his skrull role briefly in "Spider-Man: Far From Home."
Mads Mikkelsen played Jyn Erso's father in "Rogue One" and the "Doctor Strange" villain, Kaecillus, in the same year.
Galen Erso turned out to be the reason why the Death Star had a major design flaw.
Samuel L. Jackson not only played Mace Windu in the "Star Wars" prequels, but was the man who brought together the Avengers.
Jackson famously requested a purple lightsaber to play Mace Windu in "Star Wars." You can watch Jackson ask "Star Wars" creator George Lucas about it here.
More recently, the actor has become known for his role as Nick Fury who assembled Tony Stark, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Hulk to form the Avengers. Fury was last seen in "Spider-Man: Far From Home" to get Spidey's help and his voice can be heard in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."
Before Felicity Jones played Jyn Erso in "Rogue One," she was in a "Spider-Man" movie.
You may have forgotten that Jones appeared in the last round of "Spider-Man" films with Andrew Garfield. Jones played Felicia Hardy in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," who goes on to become a thief named Black Cat.
Lupita Nyong'o played the mysterious Maz Kanata in the new "Star Wars" trilogy before starring in "Black Panther."
You may not have realized that Nyong'o was the voice behind the wise smuggler, but the actress performed motion capture for her performance.
Nyong'o later appeared in "Black Panther" as Nakia, a member of Wakanda's intelligence agency. Nakia was also a former flame of T'Challa/Black Panther.
Paul Bettany played a villain in "Solo" and dual roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Jarvis and the Vision.
After playing Tony Stark's artificial intelligence for years, Bettany thought he was done with the MCU after a producer told him he'd never work in Hollywood again. Then he received a call asking if he wanted to play Vision.
Though he "died" in "Avengers: Infinity War," Bettany will reprise his role as Vision on Disney Plus' "WandaVision" series. The show looks like it will introduce Wanda and Vision's children into the mix.
After his MCU roles, Bettany was cast in 2016's "Solo: A Star Wars Story" as villain Dryden Vos after director Ron Howard took over the movie. "Solo" was originally supposed to have a different villain, but Michael K. Williams couldn't return for reshoots.
Let's start with an easy one. Natalie Portman played Padmé Amidala in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy and Jane Foster in the "Thor" movies.
After playing Anakin Skywalker's love interest in the "Star Wars" films, Portman headed to another galaxy far, far away as Thor's romantic interest in the character's first two Marvel movies.
At 2019's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel announced Portman will reprise her role as Foster to play a female version of Thor in the franchise's upcoming fourth film. "Thor: Love and Thunder" is currently set for a February 2022 release.
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