11 actors who have played both superhero and super-serious roles

Every actor worth their salt will say that they like stepping out of their comfort zone: case in point, these stars. You’ll find them in their more serious roles on Showmax and Netflix.

The 40-something actor is best known for playing Dr Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk, in the Avengers movies, but he’s also doing double duty in this drama series, which you can stream on Showmax or DStv Catch Up. He’s playing twin brothers Dominick and Thomas. The show follows protective “older” bro Dominick as he recalls the tragedy surrounding his brother’s mental illness that led to Thomas cutting off his own hand.

Mark’s Avengers co-star plays assassin Black Widow in the Marvel movies, but she has a much more serious role in Marriage Story on Netflix. She plays Nicole Barber, a wife who is struggling with her divorce alongside her hubby (played by Adam Driver). It’s a tearjerker and truly moving, with emotion and compassion as these adults try to work through their differences.

James Franco makes being bad look good in dramas like The Deuce (on Showmax) and superhero movies like Spider-Man. In the former, he plays twin brothers who’re working for the mob and get involved in the booming porn business in 70s and 80s New York. And in the latter, he played vengeful villain Harry Osborn aka the Green Goblin II. They’re vastly different characters that made viewers despise James equally.

Jamie Foxx is multi-talented and goes from the victim to the villain in the blink of an eye. For Collateral on Amazon Prime, he plays a cabbie who’s driving around the city with a hitman on his backseat who’s “hired” him to get from job to job. Innocent and with a gun to his head. As for his villainous role, Jamie played Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a nervous office worker who’s transformed into a creature able to control electricity. Electrifying viewing from an electrifying actor.

Ice vixen January Jones knows how to work it in dramas and in superhero worlds. In the period drama Mad Men on Amazon Prime, she played frosty troubled wife Betty Draper who hides secrets from her friends and hubby under a perfect veneer. In X-Men First Class she played Emma Frost, who had secrets of her own. On the outside she looked like an Icelandic beauty queen, on the inside she’s a mutant with telepathic abilities. January is forever the ice queen – and, fittingly, she also plays the rigid mother in Netflix’s figure-skating drama Spinning Out.

Michael B Jordan brings the power with his acting — whether his character is superpowered or disempowered. In Fruitvale Station on Showmax, he plays a black man who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day, unaware that he’s about to live the last day of his life thanks to discrimination and police brutality. In Black Panther, he’s epic as power-hungry super soldier Killmonger, who wants nothing more than to reclaim what’s rightfully his: the throne of Wakanda. And he’s going to do that using the tried and tested “Trial by Combat” method.

Will plays tough Miami cop Mike Lowrey opposite his more serious partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) in Bad Boys II, and you can see him growing up in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (which is also on Netflix). And for something slightly less human, Will is in Men In Black (on Showmax) and Bright (on Netflix), playing humans who’re having to adapt to our alien friends and neighbours – like his Orc cop partner in Bright.

Okay, so there’s a huge amount of fantasy going on with True Blood – it has fairies and vampires, shape-shifters and other things that go bump in the night. But Anna’s character Sookie Stackhouse seems as plain Jane as they come (on the outside – she’s secretly half-fairy). She’s a lot more normal than in her role as power-sapping mutant Rogue in the very first X-Men movies. Bet you didn’t remember that! For something a bit more serious, Anna plays two-faced housekeeper Nancy in the period drama Alias Grace (on Netflix)

While playing Marvel superhero Captain America, Chris Evans got a break between movies to play street musician Nick in Before We Go. His claim to fame? He’s an ordinary guy, nothing special. His talent is being a shoulder to cry on and one night he meets a woman who missed her bus and he walks her to her next stop. The pair bond in the most amazing manner and end up falling in love. All together now, awwwwwww!

Before the world of financial crime came along with her character Lara in Billions (on Showmax), Malin Akerman played superhero Silk Spectre II on comic-turned-epic superhero movie Watchmen. While the characters seem worlds apart, they have similarities – neither puts up with BS from the men in their lives and they’re both ruthless when it comes to getting their way. (Stream the HBO series Watchmen on Showmax.)

Kooky Benedict Cumberbatch is outstanding as consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (stream the series on Netflix). He has the perfect oddball manner of doing, well, everything. Even his physical appearance is somewhat odd, which makes him perfect for the role thanks to his delivery. As for his superhero styling, Benny did a flawless job as Dr Strange in the Marvel Avengers movies, bringing the universe-warping surgeon-turned-superhero to life in a way that made fans jump with glee, even as Benedict brought his Sherlock seriousness to the role with him.

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