These actors are all fan favourites in their own right, regardless of longevity, but which one lasted the longest in the world of comic book movies?
Today we’re looking at the top five longest-tenured actors as a single character in a comic book film. Some of these actors had long gaps between movies, giving them the edge over people such as Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans, who may have appeared in more films but over a shorter period of time.
This list will strictly cover whoever has the most time between their first film portraying the character and their newest film.
Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) – 16 years, 7 months, 20 days
Hugh Jackman is a huge fan favorite as James ‘Logan’ Howlett, appearing in the most films out of any character on this list at a staggering nine movies. However, with 17 years passing between his first, X-Men (2000), and his latest, Logan (2017), Jackman comes in at fifth on this list of all-time greats.
Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) – 19 years, 7 months, 14 days
Tobey Maguire now has four appearances as the wall-crawling Spider-Man with his latest appearance in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. With his first appearance coming back in 2002’s hit title simply Spider-Man, the man many people see as the OG Spidey comes in at 19 years.
Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) – 19 years, 7 months, 14 days
Willem Dafoe is the same as Tobey in this regard, except he has only featured in two films as Norman Osborn: Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Dafoe is also the first comic book adversary to feature on the list and a fan favorite at that.
Patrick Stewart (Professor X) – 16 years, 7 months, 20 days/21 years, 10 months, 8 days
Patrick Stewart made his first appearance as Charles Xavier back in 2000’s hit X-Men. This was a movie that helped begin the era of comic book films in a big way, along with other early 2000s franchises such as Spider-Man and Blade.
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Stewart currently has six appearances as Professor X in a feature film, the newest being 2017’s Logan, giving him a 17-year run as the character. However, it is basically all but confirmed that the leader of the X-Men will be showing up once again in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which would extend his run to 22 years. For that, we will put him above the below characters for now.
Michael Keaton (Batman) – 33 years, 4 months, 12 days
Keaton is an actor who’s not a stranger to superhero movies— playing Batman, Birdman in the titular role of Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming
While Keaton currently only has two films under his belt as Batman, in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), he is currently set to return to the role in The Flash (2022) and Batgirl (2022). This would put 33 years between his first film and the upcoming films, making him the longest-tenured superhero ever.
