Superhero movie actors who have been nominated for an Oscar
Among the entire roster of superhero movie actors, we can find a large number of Oscar nominees, so the quality of the films is not surprising.
The actors in superhero movies, both women and men, often high – quality interpreters, as they not only need to show action scenes but attract the audience to the story through their work. It requires strong realism, and an impact unlike any other. So it is not surprising that among its ranks there have been dozens of Oscar winners and nominees, both in Marvel and DC, for a long time.
Here we tell you which are those superhero movie actors who have been acclaimed for their performances until they are nominated for an academy award. Here we only mention the mainstream, not the hero films that are a bit unknown.
Christian bale
Characters: Batman / Bruce Wayne and Gorr the God Butcher
Nomination: Best Actor for American Hustle in 2014, Best Supporting Actor for The Big Short in 2016 and Best Actor for Vice in 2019. Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter in 2011.
Superhero Movies : Batman Begins (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
Heath ledger
Character: Joker , penultimate character he played before dying.
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Brokeback Mountain in 2006. Winner for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight in 2009.
Superhero Movie: The Dark Knight (2008).
Tom hardy
Character: Bane
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for The Revenant in 2016.
Superhero Movie: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Robert Downey Jr.
Character: Iron Man / Tony Stark
Nomination: Best Actor for Chaplin in 1993 and Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder in 2009.
Superhero Movies: Iron Man (2008), its sequels and other Avengers films.
Mark Ruffalo
Character: Hulk / Bruce Banner
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for The Kids Are All Right in 2011, Foxcatcher in 2015, and Spotlight in 2016.
Superhero Movies: Avengers (2012), its sequels and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
Brie larson
Character: Captain Marvel
Nomination: Winner for Best Actress for Room in 2016.
Superhero Movies: Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Scarlett Johansson
Character: Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff
Nomination: Best Actress for Marriage Story and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit in 2020.
Superhero Movies: Iron Man 2 (2010), Avengers (2012) and their sequels.
Chadwick boseman
Character: Black Panther / T’Challa
Nomination: Best Actor for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2011.
Superhero Movies: Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Learn more about Chadwick Boseman’s work with his best films .
Lupita Nyong’o
Character: Nakia
Nomination: Winner for Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave in 2014.
Superhero Movies: Black Panther (2018).
Benedict Cumberbatch
Character: Doctor Stephen Strange
Nomination: Best Actor for The Imitation Game in 2015.
Superhero Movies: Doctor Strange (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Jeremy renner
Character: Hawkeye / Clint Barton
Nomination: Best Actor for The Hurt Locker in 2010 and Best Supporting Actor in The Town in 2011.
Superhero Movies: Avengers (2012) and its sequels.
Samuel L. Jackson
Character: Nick Fury
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Pulp Fiction in 1995.
Superhero Movies: Iron Man (2008) and much of the MCU.
Josh brolin
Character: Thanos and Cable
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Milk in 2009.
Superhero movies: Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Gwyneth paltrow
Character: Pepper Potts
Nomination: Winner for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love in 1999.
Superhero Movies: Iron Man (2008) and its sequels.
Edward Norton
Character: Hulk / Bruce Banner
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Primal Fear in 1997, Best Actor for American History X in 1999, and Best Supporting Actor for Birdman in 2015.
Superhero Movies: The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Taika waititi
Character: Korg
Nomination: Best Short Film for Two Cars, One Night in 2005, and Winner for Best Adapted Screenplay by Jojo Rabbit in 2020, which was also nominated for Best Picture.
Superhero Movies: Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
Jake gyllenhaal
Character: Mysterio
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Brokeback Mountain in 2006.
Superhero Movie: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
Terrance howard
Character: War Machine / Rhodey Rhoades
Nomination: Best Actor for Hustle & Flow in 2006.
Superhero Movie: Iron Man (2008).
Bradley Cooper
Character: Rocket Raccoon
Nomination: Nominated for Best Actor for Silver Linings Playbooy in 2013, for Best Supporting Actor for American Hustle in 2014 and Best Actor for A Star is Born in 2019.
Superhero movie: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), its sequel, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Ben affleck
Character: Batman / Bruce Wayne
Nomination: Oscar Winner for Best Screenplay in 1998, and Best Picture Winner in 2013 for Argo.
Superhero movie: Batman v Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017, 2021).
Michael Keaton
Characters: Batman / Bruce Wayne and Vulture / Adrian Toomes
Nomination: Best Actor for Birdman in 2015.
Superhero Movies: Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
Jack Nicholson
Character: Joker
Nomination:
- Best Supporting Actor for Easy Rider, 1970
- Best Actor for Five Easy Pieces, 1971
- Best Actor for The Last Deatil, 1974
- Best Actor for Chinatown, 1975
- Best Supporting Actor for Reds, 1982
- Best Actor for Prizzi’s Honor, 1986
- Best Actor for Ironweed, 1988
- Best Supporting Actor for A Few Good Men, 1993
- Best Actor for About Schmidt, 2003
- Winner for Best Actor for One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest, 1976
- Winner for Best Supporting Actor for Terms of Endearment, 1984
- Winner for Best Actor for As Good as it Gets, 1998
Superhero Movie: Batman (1989)
Will Smith
Character: Deadshot / Floyd Lawton
Nomination: Best Actor for Ali in 2002, and Best Actor for The Pursuit of Happiness in 2007.
Superhero Movie: Suicide Squad (2016).
Margot robbie
Character: Harley Quinn
Nomination: Best Actress for I, Tonya in 2018 and Best Supporting Actress for Bombshell in 2020.
Superhero movie: Suicide Squad (2016) and Birds of Prey (2020).
Viola Davis
Character: Amanda Waller
Nomination: Best Supporting Actress for Doubt in 2009. Best Actress for The Help in 2012 and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2021. Winner for Best Supporting Actress for Fences in 2017.
Superhero Movie: Suicide Squad (2016).
Jared Leto
Character: Joker
Nomination: Winner for Best Supporting Actor by Dallas Buyers Club in 2014.
Superhero movie: Suicide Squad (2016) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
Joaquin phoenix
Character: Joker
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator in 2001, and Best Actor for Walk the Line in 2006, for The Master in 2013 and for Joker in 2020 for which he received the award.
Movie of “superheroes”: Joker (2019).
Did you know that Warner offered Joaquin Phoenix $ 50 million for two Joker sequels ?
Jesse eisenberg
Character: Alexander Luthor
Nomination: Best Actor for The Social Network in 2011.
Superhero Movies: Batman v Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017, 2021).
Don cheadle
Character: War Machine / Rhodey Rhodes
Nomination: Best Actor for Hotel Rwanda in 2005.
Superhero Movies: Iron Man (2008), its sequels and other Avengers films.
The Oscars 2021 are approaching so we share all the details about the awards .