12 Stars You Forgot Were in Marvel Movies
Sarah Rodriguez
Updated on February 22, 2026
If the star of a Marvel movie can forget they're in one, then it's no surprise that the average viewer would forget about some of the actors who have appeared in the dozens of films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In 2019, Gwyneth Paltrow made headlines for forgetting she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming. And while that was a funny mistake, the truth of the matter is there are a lot of these movies and a ton of actors have been involved, from starring roles to quick cameos and everything in between. Read on to find out about 12 stars you probably completely forgot were in Marvel movies.
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1 Garcelle Beauvais
Actor and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais has a role in Spider-Man: Homecoming. She plays Doris Toomes, the mother of Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) crush Liz (Laura Harrier) and the wife of the villain Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton).
2 Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell is best known for starring in Modern Family, but right before the show premiered, he was also in a Marvel movie. Burrell plays Leonard Samson in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. The character is a psychiatrist who dates Bruce Banner/Hulk's (Edward Norton) ex-girlfriend Betty (Liv Tyler).
3 Miley Cyrus
No one will judge you if you missed this one completely. Pop star and actor Miley Cyrus has a very small voice role in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. She voices a robot named Mainframe in a mid-credits scene and only had to say the line, "I miss you guys so much."
4 Kate Mara
Kate Mara starred in the superhero movie Fantastic Four (not part of the MCU) in 2015, but five years before that she had a small role in Iron Man 2. Mara plays a U.S. Marshal—who introduces herself only as "Marshal"—who has to deliver Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) a court summons.
5 Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci appeared in the first Captain America movie, Captain America: The First Avenger as Abraham Erskine. The character is the German scientist who creates Super Soldier Serum.
6 Glenn Close
Did you remember that Glenn Close was in a superhero movie? She plays a character named Irani Rael in Guardians of the Galaxy. Irani is the leader of the military of the Nova Empire, one of the areas of outer space that the main characters visit.
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7 Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard appears in Captain America: Civil War as Miriam Sharpe, a U.S. State Department employee. Miriam is also the mother of an American solider who was killed in the Battle of Sokovia—which was shown in one of the previous movies, Avengers: Age of Ultron—and she confronts Tony Stark about it, eventually leading to the rift within the Avengers.
8 Matt Damon
Matt Damon has a small part in Thor: Ragnarok as a character who is playing another character. There's a scene in the movie in which Asgardian citizens perform a play about the events in the previous movie, Thor: The Dark World, for the entertainment of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), who's actually the shape-shifting Loki in disguise. Damon plays the actor who is playing Loki; the actual Loki is played by Tom Hiddleston. The actor playing Thor? Chris Hemsworth's brother, Luke Hemsworth.
9 Trevor Noah
You won't remember seeing Trevor Noah in Black Panther, but you would have heard him. The Daily Show host voices Griot, the artificial intelligence on one of the ships that's flown around in Wakanda.
10 Ken Jeong
Ken Jeong has a cameo in Avengers: Endgame as a security guard. He releases Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) from a storage facility he finds himself trapped inside. The movie (and a few other MCU flicks) is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who also directed Jeong in some episodes of his comedy series, Community.
11 Yvette Nicole Brown
Jeong's Community co-star Yvette Nicole Brown also appears in Avengers: Endgame. She plays a woman in a scene set in the 1970s, who clocks a time traveling Iron Man and Captain America (Chris Evans) acting suspicious in an elevator.
12 Joan Rivers
Lastly, Joan Rivers played herself in the MCU movie Iron Man 3. She was featured on her show Fashion Police giving a critique of War Machine's (Don Cheadle) new Iron Patriot armor.
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Lia Beck Lia Beck is a writer living in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to Best Life, she has written for Refinery29, Bustle, Hello Giggles, InStyle, and more.Read moreFiled UnderCelebrities • Entertainment • NewsRead This NextEvery Marvel Movie, From Worst Reviewed to Best
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