It’s been a long road for me and the Marvel movies. A comics fan since childhood, I was thrilled when Marvel became the dominant cultural force in the early 2010’s. As a teen, I was overjoyed to track the complexities of what became known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which spanned features, TV shows, and short films. But as the movies seemed to swallow up culture, and their parent company began snatching up IP like Thanos with the Infinity Stones, my enthusiasm waned.

The larger Marvel universe quickly became a hindrance on the films rather than a strength, and the franchise’s box office dominance made it exceedingly difficult for other movies to succeed. Nearly twenty years after my ten year old mind was blown by “I am Iron Man,” and thirteen years after I walked out of the original Avengers on air, I’ve joined an ever-larger cultural club rooting for the MCU’s downfall. I’m already hearing excited rumblings that Avengers: Doomsday will bomb, and I know it will be the first Avengers movie that I do not see in theaters. I believe that this is good for both me and movie culture, but it’s made me reflect on a time when I was such a big fan of the movies that I would follow the cast to other films.

If there's one thing Marvel has been consistently good at, it's casting, and any young cinephile could do a lot worse than browsing the filmographies of its stars. If that sounds like you, here are some good places to start:

Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)

Four years after a public struggle with substance abuse that lead him to be fired from a hit show, and three years before Iron Man and Tropic Thunder would rocket him back to the A-list, Robert Downey Jr. began his comeback in this whip-smart and irreverent neo-noir. In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Downey plays a low-level criminal who stumbles into a role as a Hollywood actor, and becomes wrapped up in a lurid LA mystery. Downey is accompanied by his private detective mentor Perry (Val Kilmer), the first openly-gay action hero I ever saw in a movie.

Twists, turns, and comic surprises ensue, courtesy of writer-director Shane Black, (Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys). Not every element of the film’s politics have aged well, but at the very least Black is interested in (and disgusted by), the rampant sexual abuse under the surface of pre #metoo Hollywood. Thankfully that never happens anymore.

Anyway, Downey is absolutely wonderful here, honing the weaponized charm that would soon bring him back to superstardom. Since he’s playing a low-status criminal and not a billionaire, his smarm always stays on the right side of endearing. It’s no wonder he brought Black back to direct Iron Man 3.

Honorable mentions: His Oscar winning turn in Oppenheimer, obviously. His funny supporting roles in comedies like Wonder Boys and Weird Science. Plus one more movie that’s better than Kiss Kiss but I’m saving for Ruffalo.

I must humbly admit I have not seen: Chaplin and Short Cuts :(

Chris Evans (Captain America)

It’s been rough going for Chris Evans since 2019, but I remain a defender. Emerging in the 2000’s in a series of roles as an arrogant asshole, Evans proved an unexpectedly perfect fit for the MCU’s extremely earnest take on Captain America. Post-Marvel though, he's struggled to find his lane, and sadly all of his best films predate the '20’s.

Case in point is his best movie, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s underrated space thriller Sunshine. Evans plays Mace, one member of an international crew on a voyage to revive the Earth’s dying sun. Evans is joined by, no hyperbole, one of my favourite casts ever assembled, including Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rose Byrne. Shockingly, Evans might outdo them all here (though maybe not my boy Cliff Curtis), giving a nuanced and compelling performance as a principled guy who hates that he has to be the pragmatic one.

I always enjoy seeing Evans in a movie, but he’s never fully lived up to the promise that he shows here. The movie absolutely rocks too, and anyone who hates the ending I hereby declare to be a literalist dork.

Honorable mentions: Evans' starring role in Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer, his entertaining spoiled rich boy in Knives Out, his broadly comic and very funny action star parody in Scott Pilgrim vs the World, his extremely game goofiness in Not Another Teen Movie, and his starring role in the fun b-movie Cellular.

I have not seen: Actually I’ve seen most of Evans' major movies for whatever reason. I dunno…Puncture?

Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

I’ll happily argue that Chris Hemsworth is a more versatile and talented actor than he’s given credit for. It’s just a shame that he rarely steps out of his megabudget franchise comfort zone. So maybe it’s fitting that his best performance is in a prequel to a reboot.

In George Miller’s underrated and underseen Furiosa, Hemsworth joins a proud tradition of emperor god king performances in the Mad Max saga.

I’m not sure how I feel about his prosthetic nose, though I heard someone (maybe on Blank Check) argue that it liberates Hemsworth from the prison of his good looks. With this freedom, he’s able to cut loose in a performance of what’s essentially an evil clown. As the war lord Dementus, Hemsworth gives a deceptively complex and consistently evolving performance as someone just smart enough to recognize his own impotence. It’s a turn that is comic and operatic but also strangely human, even vulnerable. Dementus is a complete bastard, but our understanding of him from the first frame of the film to the last is a seismic shift that Hemsworth pulls off without you really noticing.

This should have been the first step towards a new stage in Hemsworth’s career, but Furiosa was a major flop that was also underappreciated by critics. I suspect Chris is headed back to the Marvel/Netflix greenscreen factory.

Honorable mentions: He’s fun in Drew Goddard’s deconstructionist horror movie Cabin in the Woods, and though both the movie and performance are shakier, he’s worth seeing in Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale as well. I first noticed him in the rock-solid thriller A Perfect Getaway, in which he has a small role as a frightening backpacker.

I have not seen: Blackhat I guess. Extraction? Spiderhead???

Mark Ruffalo (Hulk)

Mark Ruffalo is a great actor for a number of reasons, but one thing I really admire about him is his choice of projects.

Ever since he arrived on the scene around the turn of the century, you could count on Ruffalo appearing in a good movie almost every year. In fact, he’s in three or four of the best American movies of the 2000’s.

This may be because he doesn’t have a dedicated franchise of his own, but Ruffalo is one of the few core Avengers to appear in good projects throughout his time in the MCU. He’s also the only one who’s bothered to say anything about Palestine. This means he’s also the only one who has a chance of seeing heaven. But I digress!

Ruffalo’s 2000’s run is full of movies I could have picked here, but the crown jewel has to be David Fincher’s Zodiac. An early lead role for Ruffalo, he plays real-life detective Dave Toschi, who pursued the Zodiac killer for decades. Ruffalo’s understated everyman quality is perfect for Toschi, who was heroic not because he was a genius detective but simply because he cared more and for longer than everyone else. The movie is nothing short of a horror masterpiece, and it’s Fincher’s best film - which is really saying something.

Robert Downey Jr. also appears as a reporter suffering from substance abuse issues, and as you might expect, he’s fantastic.

Honorable mentions: How much time do you have? I’m a big fan of Ruffalo's sleazy, sexy detective from Jane Campion’s In the Cut. He has supporting roles in 2000’s classics like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Collateral. Even movies that I’d put in B-tier Ruffalo include a number of acclaimed and beloved films:

Spotlight! Foxcatcher! Poor Things! Shutter Island! 13 Going on 30! All of these are someone's favourite movie of his.

I have not seen: Due to the quality and quantity of his output, there are a number of celebrated Ruffalo movies I have not seen. Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me, and Margaret come to mind. I’ve also heard good things about Dark Waters.

Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow)

Another actor who is slightly better than she gets credit for, ScarJo’s reputation has been marred by her whitewashed turn in Ghost in the Shell and her subsequent dumbass defenses. Far be it from me to make flippant moral judgements so instead I’ll focus on the work. It’s good! It almost always is!

I considered putting Johansson’s sensitive vocal performance from Her in this spot, but that felt like cheating. Instead I’ll highlight an indie movie that has been unjustly lost to time. Why isn’t Ghost World repped by arty teenaged girls in the same way that misfit stories like Lady Bird and Perks of Being a Wallflower are? Well, it’s partially that it’s a lot older, and a lot thornier.

Like many indie movies of the time, Ghost World poked at a number of controversial topics, and its handling of them was a little problematic for the Tumblr era. It’s also written and directed by dudes, taking their best stab at what teen girls are like. I think they do a good job, but what do I know? I can only say that I’ve always been drawn to the movie’s angry & lost teenaged protagonists.

I’m not going to pretend this is anywhere near Johansson’s best performance (I’ll drop some contenders in the honorable mentions), but it’s a movie that remains special to me, and she’s very good in it.

Honorable mentions: Her, which I might have picked if I was braver. Johansson's breakout role in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, her meta aware and quietly emotional turn in Asteroid City, and her much meme’d but very effective work in Marriage Story.

She’s also appeared in a number of cameos (or underwritten roles), in movies by great auteurs: Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, The Coen Brothers' Hail Caesar, and this year’s The Phoenician Scheme from Wes Anderson. Fuck it, I’ll throw in The Spongebob SquarePants Movie too.

I have not seen: Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, which I suspect is the “correct” answer to this question. There’s also Jojo Rabbit and Vicky Christina Barcelona, but I have a feeling I would not like those lol.

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Well, that's the first half of my list. Would you beleive that I planned this as one article and then wrote too much? There's a first time for everything.

Part two coming soon!