While the list of A-listers who have joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe is long and diverse, another list that’s worth looking into is the wild group of actors, performers and others who have said yes to doing cameos. So, in celebration of those folks, here are the 32 best cameos in the MCU.
Harry Styles As Eros In The Eternals
Big names pop up in the MCU all the time, however, they’re almost always well-known actors. While Harry Styles has had a few acting roles, it’s not his primary profession, so yes, it was shocking when the singer showed up as Eros, Thanos’ brother, in the post-credits scene of The Eternals. However, since the film’s release in 2021, Styles’ future in the MCU has remained unknown, leaving his role as simply a cameo and nothing more.
Blake Lively As Lady Deadpool In Deadpool & Wolverine
Leading into Deadpool & Wolverine’s release, the speculation about who would play Lady Deadpool was running rampant. However, it wasn’t all too shocking when it was revealed that Ryan Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively was playing the female variant of her partner’s merc with the mouth.
Sam Neill As Odin’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok
While the Thor: Ragnarok cast is stacked with legends like Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum and more, Taika Waititi also assembled quite the ensemble of cameos to play a troupe of actors in Asgard who put on a play about Thor and his family. This included Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill, who portrayed Anthony Hopkins’ King of Asgard, Odin.
Stan Lee As Various Characters
While future MCU projects sadly won’t have any in-person Stan Lee cameos, we can always re-watch the Marvel movies in order to see the legendary comic writer. Before his death in 2018, Stan Lee made cameos in just about every Marvel project, whether it was from Marvel Studios, Fox or Sony.
Some fan-favorite cameos from him included his role as a security guard in Captain America: The Winter Solider, a New York resident being interviewed on the news in The Avengers and an astronaut telling a story to the Watchers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, among many, many, many others.
Matt Damon As Loki’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok
In the play Loki orchestrated in Thor: Ragnarok that tells the (not so true) story of him and his family, Matt Damon was cast to play the role of Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief. Which honestly, is inspired casting. Damon also popped in the non-MCU Deadpool 2.
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Kevin Bacon As Himself In Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Bringing a joke from Guardians of the Galaxy full circle almost eight years later, Peter’s hero Kevin Bacon finally appears. However, it’s kind of against his will, because Drax and Mantis decide to go to Earth and steal the Footloose actor to give to Chris Pratt’s character as a gift of holiday cheer.
Miley Cyrus As Mainframe In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we see a group of Ravagers approach The Guardians. One of them is a robot head named Mainframe, and it's voiced by Miley Cyrus.
Trevor Noah As Griot In Black Panther
Much like how Paul Bettany voiced J.A.R.V.I.S., Trevor Noah voiced Griot, Shuri’s artificial intelligence she uses at her lab in Wakanda in Black Panther.
Melissa McCarthy As Hela’s Actress In Thor: Love and Thunder
Adding to the mix of A-listers playing actors who are playing Thor characters (try saying that five times fast), Melissa McCarthy took on the role of Cate Blanchett’s Hela – the goddess of death – in Thor: Love and Thunder. She joined the theatrical company that already featured Sam Neill, Matt Damon and Luke Hemsworth to reenact the events of Thor: Ragnarok in Taika Waititi’s second movie about the God of Thunder.
Kenneth Branagh As Asgardian Distress Call In Avengers: Infinity War
You probably know that Kenneth Branagh directed the first Thor movie. However, what you might not know is he provided a meaningful Easter egg for Avengers: Infinity War. He voiced the Asgardian Distress Call that was played after Thanos attacked their ship.
Luke Hemsworth As Thor’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok
Who else could play Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in an Asgardian play about the adventures of the God of Thunder and his family? Truly, picking Luke Hemsworth to play his real-life brother’s character was fantastic! The added bonus that makes all this even better is their other brother, Liam Hemsworth also auditioned to play the god back in the day.
Bruce Campbell As Pizza Poppa In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw director Sam Raimi’s return to the superhero genre. With him came his The Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, who played Pizza Poppa in the Doctor Strange movie.
Bill Maher As Himself In Iron Man 3
During a montage of news clips in Iron Man 3, Bill Maher pops up as they’re talking about War Machine’s rebrand into The Iron Patriot.
Charlie Cox As Daredevil In Spider-Man: No Way Home
If you saw Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters on opening night, you likely heard applause when Charlie Cox made his big-screen MCU debut as Matt Murdock. While he played Daredevil for three seasons on his Netflix show, and he has returned as the character since this cameo where he was giving Peter Parker legal advice, this was the first time we’d seen Cox back in action in years.
Tom Morello As Gaurd In Iron Man
Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello made one of the first cameos in the MCU when he popped up for a quick second in Iron Man. In the movie, he played a guard in the Ten Rings camp that Tony Stark was being held at.
Joan Rivers As Herself In Iron Man 3
Along with Bill Maher and a bunch of other TV personalities, Joan Rivers popped up to rib on War Machine’s rebranding in Iron Man 3.
Harry Dean Stanton As Security Guard In The Avengers
In The Avengers, there’s a security guard who finds Bruce Banner after he crashes into the Earth as Hulk. That guard is played by Harry Dean Stanton, who is best known for his roles in classic films like Alien, The Green Mile, Paris Texas and Repo Man.
Justin Theroux As Police Officer In Iron Man 2
Not only did Justin Theroux write Iron Man 2, but he also had the smallest blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it cameo, per CBR. He played one of the police officers who arrested Justin Hammer and escorted Pepper Potts off the premises toward the end of the film.
Rob Zombie As Ravager Navigator In Guardians of the Galaxy
In many of James Gunn’s movies, Rob Zombie makes a cameo. After doing that for Slither and Super, he lent his voice to his friend's first Marvel movie by voicing a Ravager Navigator in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Megan Thee Stallion As Herself In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
We can thank Jameela Jamil for Megan Thee Stallion’s incredible cameo in She-Hulk. The rapper appeared in an episode of the Disney+ show during a courtroom scene, and then she popped up one more time to twerk with the titular attorney.
David Hasselhoff As Himself In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
When Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill was a kid he’d pretend that David Hasselhoff was his dad. So, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Hasselhoff was part of one of the songs on the soundtrack – “Guardians Inferno” – and it plays during the end credits. And at the very end of those credits, you can see his face pop up as he says the final words of the song. Talk about an epic cameo.
Brett Goldstein As Hercules In Thor: Love and Thunder
In the post-credit scene for Thor: Love and Thunder, Brett Goldstein appeared as Hercules. In his brief scene, he was shown speaking with Russell Crowe’s Zeus. It was thrilling to see the Ted Lasso star show up as the son of Zeus, however, it’s been years since that happened, and he hasn’t shown up again.
Ken Jeong As Security Guard In Avengers: Endgame
Before the Russo Brothers were making big fancy Marvel movies, they worked on Community. So, it’s always fun to see actors from that show pop up in the MCU. For example in Avengers: Endgame, Ken Jeong appeared for a quick cameo as a security guard who is watching over the storage unit that Ant-Man’s van is in.
Nathan Fillion As Monstrous Inmate In Guardians of the Galaxy And Headpool In Deadpool And Wolverine
You can see Nathan Fillion (looking like himself) as a major member of the supporting cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as he plays Master Karja. However, before that, he had a cameo in James Gunn’s first Guardians movie, because he voiced “Monstrous Inmate.” After that, he voiced Headpool during the Deadpool variant fight in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Brad Pitt As The Vanisher In Deadpool 2
Now, I fully realize Deadpool 2 wasn’t technically in the MCU, but Deadpool and Wolverine is, so this counts. One of the most fun cameos maybe ever came when Brad Pitt appeared for a split second in the Ryan Reynolds-led sequel to play The Vanisher right as he gets electrocuted.
Joe Russo As Grieving Man In Avengers: Endgame
Joe and Anthony Russo are best known as the guys behind the camera who led some of the best Marvel movies, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and, of course, Avengers: Endgame. So, in this big finale for the MCU’s Infinity Saga, Joe Russo made a cameo as part of Steve Rogers' support group.
Yvette Nicole Brown As S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent In Avengers: Endgame
The Russo Brothers didn’t forget their roots, and included multiple members of the Community cast in their Marvel movies. This included Yvette Nicole Brown, who played a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers run into when they go back in time to steal Pym Particles.
David Bradley As Tower Keeper In Captain America: The First Avenger
David Bradley is a legendary British character actor, and you’ll likely recognize him for his role as Filch in the Harry Potter cast or as The Doctor in various episodes of Doctor Who. He also notably played a small role as the Tower Keeper protecting the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger.
The Russo Brothers adore their Community cast, so in their first Marvel movie, they gave Danny Pudi, Abed himself, a little cameo. For a brief minute, you can see him as Com Tech #1 during the beloved Captain America sequel.
Garrett Morris As Car Driver In Ant-Man
While Ant-Man himself is played by a comedy legend, that actor being Paul Rudd, there’s another hilarious icon in this cast. Yep, original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris (who actually dressed up as the superhero on the sketch comedy show back in the day) appeared in this movie as a man driving a car that Ant-Man fell onto, and it’s fantastic!
Matthew McConaughey As Cowboypool In Deadpool and Wolverine
When all the variants of Deadpool appeared to fight Deadpool and Wolverine, one of them was Cowboypool. Fittingly, the Western Merc with the Mouth was voiced by Matthew McConaughey.
Henry Cavill As Cavillrine In Deadpool and Wolverine
When Wade Wilson was looking for a Wolverine to bring back to his universe, he came across one version of Logan who was played by Henry Cavill. After seeing fanart of the former Superman as the X-Man, it was clear he was a good fit for the part, and it was incredible to see Deadpool and Wolverine act on the fans’ wishes.
As you can see the range of these cameos is wide, and frankly legendary. And we’re sure that as Marvel continues to release movies and TV shows, the iconic cameos will keep coming.
Riley Utley
Weekend Editor
Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite showsTed LassoandThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift toFire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.
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