10 DC Actors Who Were More Successful After Their Role

Many DC actors have gone on to successful careers after playing DC Comics heroes or villains. DC movies and TV shows have been around for nearly as long as the DC Universe (and multiverse) itself, which has enabled many different versions of DC characters to be brought to life on the big and small screens. Actors who have played DC characters have frequently made a big impact in their roles, but also not strictly there.

Some DC actors have gone through career ups and downs after playing their respective characters, only to make big comebacks down the road. For others, the pay-off has been more immediate, with their portrayals of the strongest DC characters not only becoming widely acclaimed, but leading the actors and actresses playing them to other equally successful non-superhero roles. Here are 10 DC movies and TV actors who experienced great career success after taking their roles.

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10 Brandon Routh

Brandon Routh became Christopher Reeve’s successor as the Man of Steel in 2006’s Superman Returns, but the movie’s only moderate financial performance led to Routh’s Superman only flying into cinema screens once. Despite this, Routh later returned into the DC fold in the new role of Ray Palmer a.k.a. the Atom in the Arrowverse, with Routh becoming a key player on Legends of Tomorrow. Later, Brandon Routh returned as Superman in DC’s multiverse mini-series Crisis On Infinite Earths, with Crisis belatedly vindicating Routh’s Superman. Additionally, Routh also played Todd Ingram in the cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with Routh returning for Netflix’s animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

9 Helen Slater

Helen Slater made her debut as Kara Zor-El in 1984’s Supergirl, but despite the movie’s financial failure and poor reputation, Slater went onto a thriving career. Slater’s various movie and TV credits include City Slickers, Lassie, Seinfeld, Will & Grace, and Grey’s Anatomy, while she also never strayed far from DC in her career either. Slater voiced Talia al Ghul on Batman: The Animated Series, and later played Superman’s Kryptonian mother Lara Lor-Van on Smallville and Kara Zor-El’s human mother Eliza Danvers on Supergirl.

8 Jon Cryer

Jon Cryer first entered the DC fold in one of the most ill-received DC movies of all time, 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, in which Cryer played Lex Luthor’s nephew Lenny. Despite the movie’s disastrous failure, Cryer would go on to great success in his later career, with Cryer breaking out in the role of Alan Harper on the acclaimed sit-com Two and a Half Men. Additionally, Cryer later made a DC comeback in the role of Lex Luthor himself on the CW’s Supergirl, with Cryer even having a memorable meeting with Tom Welling’s Clark Kent in the multiverse story of Crisis On Infinite Earths.

7 Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton’s early career somewhat typecast him as a comedic actor with his roles in Mr. Mom and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, but he delivered the most iconic performance of his career as the Caped Crusader in Burton’s 1989 hit Batman, with Keaton reprising the role in 1992’s Batman Returns. Following his acclaimed meta performance in 2014’s Birdman, Keaton returned to the spotlight with his role as Adrian Toomes a.k.a. the Vulture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming. Additionally, Michael Keaton also returned as his version of Batman in the DC multiverse movie The Flash, with Keaton also returning as Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2.

6 Jeffrey Dean Morgan

2009’s Watchmen finally brought the eponymous graphic novel to the big-screen, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing the sociopathic superhero known as Edward Blake a.k.a. The Comedian. Morgan subsequently moved into his signature role as Negan on AMC’s hit zombie series The Walking Dead, with Negan becoming one of the franchise’s breakout characters. Morgan also made a brief return to DC with his appearance as Thomas Wayne in the opening prologue of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with Morgan also continuing as Negan on The Walking Dead spin-off show The Walking Dead: Dead City.

5 Christian Bale

Christian Bale had achieved a moderate degree of mainstream success with movies in his early career like Reign of Fire and Equilibrium, but his portrayal of Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy made Bale into a household name. Outside of his Batman performances, Bale also portrayed John Connor in 2009’s Terminator: Salvation, with Bale also winning an Academy Award for his performance in 2010’s The Fighter. Bale also delivered a captivating performance and transformation as former Vice President Dick Cheney in 2018’s Vice, with Bale also earning acclaim for his performance as Ken Miles in James Mangold’s Ford v. Ferrari.

4 Jensen Ackles

The Superman prequel series Smallville helped launch the careers of many up-and-coming actors, including Jensen Ackles with his portrayal of Clark Kent’s football coach Jason Teague. Ackles later moved into what would become his arguable signature role of Dean Winchester on the CW’s Supernatural. Meanwhile, Ackles has frequently returned to DC for animated movies like Batman: Under the Red Hood as the voice of Jason Todd and Batman: The Long Halloween as the Dark Knight himself. Additionally, Ackles later achieved further superhero success with his role as Soldier Boy on Amazon’s The Boys and its spin-off show Gen V.

3 Gal Gadot

Gal Gadot first gained recognition for her portrayal of Gisele Yashar in the Fast & Furious franchise, but her performance as Wonder Woman in the DCEU was what made her into a Hollywood A-lister. Outside of her performances as Wonder Woman, Gadot’s career hits have also included the action-comedy Red Notice, the animated movie Ralph Breaks the Internet, and the Netflix spy action movie Heart of Stone. Owing to Gal Gadot’s breakout portrayal of Wonder Woman – and the fact that that Fast & Furious franchise never lets any of its protagonists stay dead – Gadot also returned to the Fast Saga in 2023’s Fast X.

2 Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill hovered around the role of Superman for multiple projects – namely for Superman: Flyby and 2006’s Superman Returns – before finally donning the red cape in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Cavill reprised the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and Black Adam, and his performances as Superman helped propel his career higher. Cavill had a major hit in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, with Cavill also portraying Geralt of Rivia in the first three seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher. With Cavill also becoming leading man of Chad Stahelski’s Highlander reboot, Henry Cavill’s inspiring portrayal of Superman was clearly the foundation for his career success.

1 Ryan Reynolds

Few superhero movie stars have had as wild a career trajectory as Ryan Reynolds, who first made the leap from comedies to superhero fare as Hannibal King in 2004’s Blade: Trinity. Reynolds later landed his dream role of Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the muted version of Deadpool seen in the movie was anything but a dream come true. Reynolds later took on the role of the DC hero Hal Jordan in 2011’s Green Lantern, which became another superhero movie disappointment for him.

Reynolds’s comic book movie fortunes finally shifted when he returned as a far truer to the comics version of the Merc with a Mouth in 2016’s Deadpool, which became a smash hit. While Deadpool became Reynolds signature character in the subsequent Deadpool franchise, Reynolds also moved into other hits like Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Free Guy, and Red Notice. Funnily enough, Zack Snyder also revealed that he had considered bringing Reynolds back as Green Lantern during the completion of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, showing that not even Deadpool can fully erase Reynolds’s role as a DC actor from superhero movie history.