Yes, Marvel fans, you may be an expert on superheroes, their powers, their connections to each other, their movies, their movies’ connections to each other, but what about the most important aspect of those movies?
The CGI– er, I mean the actors who play those superheroes?
Are you ready to learn about them?
1. Mark Ruffalo’s first job.
We all have good, bad, or interesting first jobs, but Hulk might have us beat.
His first job was in a Clearasil commercial when he was about 20 years old.
He was so excited about landing the gig…
That…well you know when they say “don’t quit your day job?”
Well, he actually went out and quit his day job at Freedom Guitar in LA after one gig!
2. The first Robert Downey Jr. smoked up.
For most people, it was in their teens (or, in some clean-cut cases, it was never) but Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man himself, smoked dope for the first time at 6 years old!
You see, Robert Downey Jr’s father was Robert Downey Sr, the filmmaker and the purveyor of the ’60s counterculture.
So while tons of parents were keeping their kids away from drugs, RDS was giving reefer to his young son RDJ.
3. Robert Downey Jr’s battle.
After being exposed to drugs at a young age, Robert Downey Jr grew up and had a very public battle with drugs and alcohol in the early 2000s.
Thank goodness he bounced back.
4. Tom Hiddleston auditioned for Thor.
Before he was the second best Marvel villain, Tom Hiddleston actually auditioned for the other son of Odin, Thor.
We’re pretty happy he ended up being Loki. Tom Hiddleston as Thor just…doesn’t really work.
5. Scarlett Johansson is a twin!
She is actually three minutes older than her twin brother, Hunter Johansson.
He is also an actor (on occasion) and went on Entertainment Tonight a couple of times for a couple of years.
6. Chris Hemsworth was a contestant on *Dancing With the Stars Australia*.
Oh yes, before he was prancing around with a hammer , he was prancing around with Australian celebrities.
And guess what… This little stint on the show almost cost him the role of Thor!
Kevin Feige told him:
“We all saw your audition. We were passing it around the office and everyone was, you know, really into it. And then a few of the girls started googling your name and up came this dancing video and I thought, ‘Oh no. Thor dancing? I don’t know, the fans are gonna eat us alive.’”
7. Robert Downey Jr was on *SNL*.
He was a cast member for only a year and…well, people have not been kind to him.
He’s considered to be one of the worst SNL cast members of all time.
8. Chris Evans is a tap dancer.
And apparently, he likes to get hammered as well.
Above is a video of a drunken Chris Evans talking about how he is a tap dancer during a live interview.
9. Larson has been acting since she was 9.
She started out doing fake TV commercials on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , then, 20 years later, she was Captain Marvel .
Her first big acting gig was 21 Jump Street .
10. Benedict Cumberbatch was once kidnapped at gunpoint.
Back in 2005 , he was doing a BBC show in South Africa called To the Ends of the Earth .
He and his friends were stopped at gunpoint, driven to the middle of nowhere, then dumped outside the car.
Weird, right?
11. Ruffalo’s brain tumor.
Back in 2001 , Mark Ruffalo found out he had a brain tumor.
They were able to remove it, sure, but in the process, he lost all hearing in one of his ears.
12. Chris Evans’ first acting gig was for a film called *Biodiversity Wild About Life!*
I have no idea how but I know that I must find a way to watch this!
It looks like those outdated educational shorts they used to make us watch in high school.
Chris was also in a Marilyn Manson music video.
The song was called “Tainted Love.” It’s a cover of an old song by a band called Soft Cell .
Manson’s version was featured in Not Another Teen Movie , which Evans starred in.
13. RDJ’s first acting role was in a film directed by his father.
Robert was only 5 years old at the time. He was also, evidently, one heck of a cute little kid.
Just take a look at the blond hair, isn’t little Iron Man adorable?
14. Brie Larson was a Disney kid.
A young Brie Larson played Courtney Enders in the Disney Channel original Right On Track .
Brie commented, “Let the record show that I have been committed to transformations for my craft since 2003 . Right on Track is def streaming on Disney+ so enjoy that. #tbt”
16. Brie Larson also appeared in *13 Going On 30* as a member of the Six Chicks.
Can you spot her in this photo? Take a look at the girl on the far right of the frame, wearing the blue shirt.
That’s our Captain Marvel !
15. Mark Ruffalo wrestled all throughout middle school and high school.
Supposedly he wasn’t half bad either! Mark only quit the wrestling team in order to pursue his acting dream.
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I guess you could say things turned out all right for Mark, wouldn’t you agree?
16. Chris Evans is completely obsessed with musicals.
Chris said in an interview:
“When I first came out here, early 2000s, there were rumblings about Spielberg maybe doing West Side Story . That’s one of my favorite musicals. I did it when I was in high school.”
17. Brie Larson toured with Jesse McCartney on his Beautiful Soul tour.
At first, I thought that Brie Larson was just trolling Haim with this tweet.
The Captain Marvel star wasn’t joking. She even released an EP titled ” Finally Out of P.E. .”
18. Scarlett Johansson also had a singing career and even released an album.
Make that two albums! Scarlett recorded an album of Tom Waits cover songs called Anywhere I Lay My Head .
She also has a collaboration project with Pete Yorn.
21. Chris Hemsworth’s first job was incredibly strange.
While appearing on an episode of The Tonight Show , Chris revealed that his entry into the workforce was unlike anything anyone had ever heard of.
Thor used to have to clean breast pumps for a pharmacy. What’s even worse, they were rentals!
20. RDJ practices martial arts in his spare time. Specifically, Wing Chun.
“[Wing Chun] gives you a sense of comfort and self-defense. It improves your focus . It just does so many things. It makes you feel you’re a part of something you respect.”
21. Robert Downey Jr. recorded a jazz album.
It’s actually pretty good, too! Downey is certainly no Miles Davis but he doesn’t sing half bad for a superhero.
Give it a listen and judge for yourself!
22. Scarlett Johansson was married to another superhero actor from the MCU.
OK – so the jury is still out on whether or not Deadpool is actually going to be included in the MCU.
Which might be a good thing, considering Scarlett was once married to Ryan Renolds .
23. English isn’t Brie Larson’s first language.
Did you know that Brie Larson is bilingual? She grew up speaking French in her home:
“French was my first language . And it’s something that as I got older and I started learning more English, I started losing more and more of my French speaking. “
24. Jeremy Renner got his start in Hollywood working as a makeup artist.
“I could do makeup because I did theater … I [could] paint and I could draw, so I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll do makeup on girls all day… It bought me a lot of free time to go audition when I needed to because I only had to work a few hours a week.”
27. Tom Holland found out he was playing Spider-Man through an internet post.
In true Tom Holland fashion, the Spider-Man: Homecoming star apparently found out just like the rest of us: online.
According to Tom, Marvel didn’t even call him before making the announcement.
26. Mark Ruffalo has a learning disability.
Mark is one of several celebrities who are dyslexic. As a result, Mark has a much more difficult time with things like reading and comprehension.
He has always been an advocate for the cause and seeks to spread awareness.
