Summary
- Star Trek actors have also played superheroes, showing their versatility and talent in both franchises.
- Patrick Stewart portrayed the iconic Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Xavier, emphasizing equality and peaceful relations in both roles.
- Famke Janssen played Kamala in Star Trek and Jean Grey in X-Men, both characters facing complex romantic relationships and internal struggles.
Two pillars of the geek community are Star Trek and superheroes. Both Star Trek and superhero franchises have endured for decades on big and small screens, but they are radically different in their narratives, characters, and tones. One wouldn't think they mix in any way. As often happens in the entertainment industry, though, they get the same people working on them.
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Several Star Trek actors have also played superheroes. Their prominence in each field varies. They may play a minor part in one franchise and be one of the stars in another. However, their respective roles are still fun to look back on. Moreover, it's a testament to their talents. They were able to live in both worlds and remain convincing in each.
7 Patrick Stewart
Jean Luc-Picard / Professor Charles Xavier
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- X-Men Movies
Easily the most famous example, Patrick Stewart stepped onscreen as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The captain of the new USS Enterprise led his crew on countless adventures across the Final Frontier. He employed methodical reasoning and diplomacy in tackling problems, embodying the franchise's spirit of peaceful relations and a better tomorrow. To this day, fans argue over who's the best captain: Kirk or Picard.
Stewart later inhabited a similarly saintly figure in the X-Men films. Here, he played Professor Charles Xavier, the team's founder. This telepathic individual strives to achieve acceptance of his fellow mutants. He gave them a home and guided them in the use of their powers. Together, they combat more hostile mutants to ensure peace and sway public perception. Like Picard, Xavier favored equality over superiority.
6 Famke Janssen
Kamala / Jean Grey
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- X-Men Movies
This path mirrored Stewart's in many ways. Famke Janssen boasts an early role in The Next Generation as Kamala, a Kriosian metamorph. She had an arranged marriage yet fell in love with Picard. Her empathic abilities and alien physiology helped them form a deep, spiritual connection. However, this also meant she emulated his sense of duty. Therefore, she went ahead with the marriage for her people's sake. That complicated love life followed her into the other franchise.
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In X-Men, Janssen appeared as Jean Grey, a telepath who emerges as one of Xavier's brightest students. She had a relationship with the straight-laced Scott Summers/Cyclops, but she found herself drawn to the rugged personality of Logan/Wolverine. Sadly, both of these romances crumbled in the wake of the Phoenix. This dormant persona reemerged after she nearly died, and it threatened to tear down everyone and everything she loved. It's basically what would happen if such mental power ran rampant.
5 Rebecca Romijn
Una Chin-Riley / Mystique
- Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds
- X-Men Movies
Yet another X-Men veteran, Rebecca Romijn made an unforgettable entrance as Mystique. The shapeshifting femme fatale was a master of infiltration and hand-to-hand combat. She used these gifts to aid Magneto in his sinister schemes. Growing up on the wrong side of human prejudice, she reaped vengeance on them to create a land of mutant dominance. That said, she wasn't entirely evil, as common goals occasionally put her on the same side as the X-Men. The prequel films even showed that she was once a member. At the end of the day, she always believed in fighting for a better future.
That's also her objective in Star Trek. Romiijn plays Una Chin-Riley (Number One) in Discovery and Strange New Worlds. Serving under Captain Pike as first officer of the Enterprise, she joined in the mission to explore uncharted space and establish peaceful relations with new life forms. On a more personal note, she combatted the stigma surrounding herself. Chin-Riley was genetically enhanced before birth--a practice which is prohibited due to the ethical ramifications and unfair advantages. Thus, she fought against laws preventing her from serving, echoing the discrimination of her X-Men character.
4 Anson Mount
Christopher Pike / Black Bolt
- Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds
- Inhumans and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Her captain was also a multi-genre actor. Anson Mount came onto Discovery during its second season as Christopher Pike before leading his own mission in Strange New Worlds. Not only did he tackle moral and ethical dilemmas across the galaxy, but he also grappled with visions of his impending fate. These were far from the only complex conflicts the actor has tackled, though.
Mount also played Black Bolt in the MCU's first failed attempt at a TV show, Inhumans. However, Mount later returned to the MCU for his first movie appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where his appearance was brief but memorable.
3 Jason Isaacs
Gabriel Lorca / Red Son Superman
- Star Trek: Discovery
- Superman: Red Son
The Discovery's former captain was also in a DC Comics Superman Elseworlds story. Jason Isaacs played Gabriel Lorca in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. From the start, he's notably more aggressive than other Starfleet captains, prizing strength above any laws or codes of conduct. Unbeknownst to everyone, this was actually Lorca's villainous counterpart from the Mirror Universe. His actions were part of a grab for power, and he manipulated the Discovery crew to suit that end. How appropriate that his superhero star shared those revisionist roots.
Isaacs voiced Superman in an animated adaptation of the Red Son comic. It presented a story where Superman lands in Soviet Russia instead of Kansas. He grew up believing in communist ideals, which made him an enemy of other global powers. He had the best intentions, but he wondered whether to assert his ideas over others. The question became more difficult when his ideology fell out of fashion. Lorca never bothered with such restraint.
2 Tom Hardy
Shinzon / Eddie Brock & Venom
- Star Trek: Nemesis
- Venom Movies
This actor also made his mark playing Picard, at least in a sense. Tom Hardy stormed onscreen as Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis. The Romulans created him as a clone of Picard but later left him to die as a slave in their mines. He eventually led a coup against his creators and set Earth as his next target.
Hardy played another freak of science in the Venom movies. Namely, he stars as Eddie Brock, a journalist who is down on his luck before coming in contact with an alien symbiote. Its first instinct was to use him as a puppet and feed on humans, but Brock befriended the extraterrestrial slime. Thus, they carved out a peaceful life on Earth as goofy roommates. Defending the downtrodden from both alien threats and common thugs, they became a self-styled "Lethal Protector." True, Venom was originally a Spider-Man villain. Like Shinzon, though, he carved out his own career.
1 Cress Williams
Talak'talan / Black Lightning / Steel
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen
In this case, the actor's superhero career vastly outweighed his time in Star Trek. Cress Williams had a minor guest spot on Deep Space Nine. He played a Jem'Hadar soldier named Talak'talan in the episode introducing the genetically engineered fighting force. Taking Benjamin Sisko and Quark as hostages, he warned them against further Federation encroachment on Dominion space. The ominous conglomerate remained the overarching threat for the rest of the show, but Williams only appeared in one episode.
In contrast, he has two superheroes under his belt. The first was the title character in Black Lightning. In the series, husband and father Jefferson Pierce came out of retirement and resumed his altruistic activities. Using his electrical powers, he combatted the dangerous new gangs plaguing his neighborhood and threatening his family.
Around the same time, Williams made another foray into DC. He voiced John Henry Irons in the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen movies. To fill the void left by everyone's favorite Kryptonian, he put his mechanical and metalworking knowledge to use. Irons crafts his own suit and carries on Superman's legacy as Steel. He may have been derivative, but he's more distinctive than any Jem'Hadar.