All the ‘SNL’ Stars in the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes
Add Beck Bennett to the list of Saturday Night Live stars populating superhero movies. James Gunn recently announced that Bennett would appear in his new Superman film as Steve Lombard, a loudmouthed sportswriter who lives to torment Clark Kent.
Bennett is just the latest SNL star to find his way into the Marvel and DC cinematic universes, too. Here are other SNL vets who suited up for super action…
Robert Downey Jr.
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The undisputed king of this list, Downey spent a tortured year as an SNL cast member when he was only 21. “I learned so much in that year about what I wasn’t,” he told the Off-Camera Show’s Sam Jones. “I was not somebody who was going to do impressions. I was somebody who was very ill-suited for rapid-fire sketch comedy.”
Downey rebounded from his SNL failures (and other ‘80s and ‘90s misadventures) before becoming the most popular actor in the MCU. He earned somewhere in the area of $400 million for his many appearances as Iron Man.
Kristen Wiig
Wonder Woman 1984 was a convoluted mess, but most believed Wiig’s turn as Cheetah was one of the movie’s highlights.
“I always love bad guys that you’re rooting for a little bit, where you understand why they’re bad,” Wiig told The New York Times. “The thing that I loved about her is that there’s always Barbara in there. Even when she fully becomes Cheetah, you can see Barbara in there, and Diana can see Barbara in there.”
Pete Davidson
Another comic actor who debuted on SNL at a ridiculously young age (only 20!), Davidson made one of his first big-budget movie appearances as Blackguard in DC’s Suicide Squad.
The bad news for Davidson fans? His face gets blown off less than 10 minutes into the film.
Garrett Morris
Original SNL cast member Morris shows up for a cameo in Marvel’s Ant-Man.
The inside joke? Morris played Ant-Man in an SNL sketch from 1979, getting grief from the other heroes for his lame abilities. “What are your superpowers again?” teases the Flash. “You talk to the ants?”
It’s more than that, says Ant-Man: “I shrink to the size of an ant while retaining my human strength.”
“That’s really impressive. Size of an ant with human strength? You must be able to clean house on those other ants.”
Also of note: Bill Murray found his way both in this sketch and the dreadful Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as well.
So Many Super Voices
A superteam of SNL alums have provided voices for animated and audio superhero adventures, including:
- Laraine Newman (Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League Unlimited)
- Gilbert Gottfried (Superman: The Animated Series)
- Jon Lovitz (Justice League Action)
- Michael McKean (The New Batman Adventures, Justice League)
- Rachel Dratch (Teen Titans Go!)
- Vanessa Bayer and Kate McKinnon (League of Super-Pets)
- Seth Meyers, Chris Parnell, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Tim Meadows, Jason Sudeikis, Bobby Moynihan, Melissa Villaseñor and Heidi Gardner (Batman: The Audio Adventures)