A-listers and other known actors in superhero films

[Airwings]

I start the list with the most of the stars who appeared in the genre before it got to the heights of today. They all had more or less of a career before playing the role, and it didn't become their breakthrough.
What are your opinion on this? Does a known face destroy the character per se, or maybe it can add a certain glow to it?

Marlon Brando
Susannah York
Terence Stamp
Gene Hackman
Max von Sydow (if Flash Gordon counts)
Richard Pryor
Faye Dunaway
Mia Farrow
Peter O'Toole
Jack Nicholson
Kim Basinger
Jack Palance
Christopher Walken
Danny DeVito
Michelle Pfeiffer
Val Kilmer
Tommy Lee Jones
Jim Carrey
Nicole Kidman
Treat Williams

This was only up until 1996. Feel free to add your own from 1997 and onwards.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Alec Baldwin
Sylvester Stallone
Rob Schneider
Diane Lane
Tim Curry
George Clooney
Chris O'Donnel
Uma Thurman
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Will Smith
Wesley Snipes
Patrick Stewart
Ian McKellen
Halle Berry
James Marseden
Rosemary Harris
Cliff Robertson
J.K Simmons
Alfred Molina
John Travolta
Robert Downey jr
Jeff Bridges
Gwenyth Paltrow
Samuel L. Jackson
Edward Norton

 

[Rowsdower!]

Hey, don't forget about Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Good call.
We can't name them all, that will kill the thread too soon.

 

[kedrell]

Paul Sorvino
Alan Arkin
Jennifer Connelly
Timothy Dalton
Kris Kristofferson
Stephen Dorff
Eric Bana
Nick Nolte
Sam Elliot
Charlize Theron
Michael Clark Duncan
Ben Affleck
Jennifer Garner
Joe Pantoliano
Colin Farrell
Norman Reedus
Ron Perlman
Jessica Biel
Ryan Reynolds
Blake Lively
Tim Robbins
Angela Bassett
Peter Sarsgaard
Mark Strong
Geoffrey Rush
Temuera Morrison

 

[Airwings]

Famke Janssen
Anna Paquin
Tobey Maguire
Kirsten Dunst
Willem Dafoe
Brian Cox
Alan Cumming
Christian Bale
Gary Oldman
Morgan Freeman
Michael Caine
Rutger Hauer
Liam Neeson
Katie Holmes
Tom Wilkinson
Cillian Murphy
Kelsey Grammer
Vinnie Jones
Cameron Bright
Peter Fonda
Eva Mendes
Liv Tyler
William Hurt
Tim Roth
Tim Blake Nelson
Paul Bettany
Heath Ledger
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Aaron Eckhart
Eric Roberts
Anthony Michael Hall
Scarlett Johansson
Liev Schreiber
Dominic Monaghan
Danny Houston
Aaron Johnson
Anthony Hopkins
Rene Russo
Stanley Tucci
Ciarán Hinds
Christopher Lambert
Michael Fassbender
James McAvoy
Kevin Bacon
Nicholas Hoult
Oliver Platt
Mark Ruffalo
Tom Hardy
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Anne Hathaway
Matthew Modine
Marion Cotillard

Holy fried beans, that's a long list. Now I reached 2012

 

[Shinizokonai]

My short answer: I think it can be hit or miss. A role in a superhero movie is typically not quite as hefty as what most of these actors are used to working with. But if they at least have a decently well-written part, they will do excellent. Case in point: Alfred Molina's Dr. Octopus, Heath Ledger's Joker, RDJ's Iron Man... and yes, Michael Clarke Duncan's Kingpin. The most interesting ones tend to be the villains, curiously enough.

'Miss' is when they hire good actors for bit parts that don't even have all that much to do with their comic book counterparts. X-Men is especially guilty of this, and I'm mostly looking at Kitty Pryde.