For awhile now, I’ve been keeping casual tabs on how many actors who’ve worked on Marvel Comics projects—movies, TV, animation, etc.—have also released or performed in musical works. Recently, after tallying things up, I find the list is almost surprisingly long.
In no particular order:
•Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) has released three albums.
•Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) a number of singles.
•Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) has quite a career performing in stage musicals.
•Mark Collie appeared as a villain in the first (theatrical) Punisher movie…and had a musical number.
•David Hasselhoff (Nick Fury (I)), of course, has had a long and distinguished musical career. In Germany.
•Chloe Bennet (“Skye,” in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) has actually released a few songs. In Mandarin, at that.
•Gwendoline Yeo (A number of voice roles—including repeat performances as Lady Deathstrike and Domino) has also released…smooth jazz fusion pieces. She plays the guzheng. 'Even had a one-woman show on NPR.
Now, I’m sure a few of you are saying: “Well, given the decades these properties have appeared onscreen and the variety of genres the works actually cover, it’s almost inevitable that at least some of the artists onscreen would also have branched out into music.” To which I say…well I bet you’re a hell of a lot of fun at parties, aren’t ya?
I kid, I kid. But still, I wonder—who am I forgetting? There have to be at least a couple of more examples.
My rule? Any actor who’s had a speaking role in a video adaptation of a Marvel Comics property counts, except for musicians playing themselves (if any). That they were playing a character who originated in a comic is highly preferred, but not strictly required.
Sam Elliott, from The Hulk, sang in a cartoon musical called Barnyard. I don’t believe the song was ever released as a single, but there might be a soundtrack floating around.
Jamie Bell, Ben Grimm in the new FF movie, sang “Jingle Bells” in Billy Elliot. He has another singing credit for something else, but clearly I’m reaching here.
Alan Cumming, Nightcrawler from the second X-Men movie, has been in a bunch of musicals, notably Cabaret (he played the Emcee) and Annie (he played Rooster and sang “Easy Street”) and TV versions of both. I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more music types in this movie,but he and Hugh Jackman are old-school triple-threat hoofers.
FWIW, Patrick Stewart did backup vocals on one track of Brent Spiner’s Here Comes Ol’ Yellow Eyes.
I had no idea that Robert Downey Jr. could sing (let alone that he had made any recordings) until I saw this performance. I was surprised by how good he was.
I imagine Sally Field had much the same reaction to getting the opportunity to work with Tom Hanks again; she played his girlfriend in Punchline, but his mom in Forrest Gump…
Speaking of the Spiderman Franchise, Denis Leary (Captain Stacy) recorded a little tune called “Asshole”…