It’s kind of interesting how a single supporting actor can kind of steal the show without really trying to but it also goes to show that not every leading actor is going to be able to keep the attention on them at every given moment. The ability of a supporting actor to steal the show isn’t unheard of, but it’s usually seen as one actor upstaging another and the truth is that this just isn’t so a lot of the time. If the lead actor is good enough at what they’re doing then it should be pretty difficult for anyone to steal their thunder. Of course in some movies with more than a few big names appearing on screen, it’s easy to think that the lead actor is going to get lost in the mix eventually. Some do, some don’t, it’s all a matter of how convincing the lead actor can be and how forceful their act is when it comes to the overall movie. Of course, it doesn’t help when, in some cases, a supporting actor is given a lot more hype than the lead for one reason or another.
Here are a few supporting actors that managed to steal the show.
5. Chadwick Boseman – Captain America: Civil War
To be fair, the emergence of the Black Panther in the MCU was a big deal and the hype he was given didn’t exactly force him ahead of anyone, but he was all anyone could talk about anyway. And on top of that, if anyone remembers the trailers, T’Challa was the main focus of a lot of them since bringing him into the MCU was considered to be overdue and a lot of people have been adamant that he’s one of the greatest superheroes ever. Yeah, it’s pretty easy to be great when you’re given one of the biggest platforms of any hero in the brand, even if he hadn’t earned it with his own movie at that point.
4. Michael B. Jordan – Black Panther
There’s not much to say here since Chadwick Boseman played his character beautifully, which unfortunately meant that the much more forceful Killmonger had a chance to upstage him in a big way since T’Challa was more soft-spoken and not as given to bouts of emotion as his opponent was. But given these facts, it’s easy to see how Jordan’s character was given a lot more to work with and was able to overcome the supportive status that he was given in order to become someone that might have turned out to be a very convincing villain in later movies had he not been killed in the first one.
3. Tom Hiddleston – Thor
It’s fun to point out the vast differences between Norse mythology and the MCU since not much of what went into the comics is really how the legends were written. The part about Thor being blond is funny since he was a redhead in the legends. And there’s nothing about Thor and Loki being brothers in the legends, as Loki is closely tied to Odin, not Thor. But the idea of Loki being a trickster and only interested in his own designs and what he could get for himself, that much is accurate enough. But in the legends, Hela, or Hel, and Fenrir are his children, not Odin’s. However inaccurate the comics are, Tom still did a great job at portraying a god that’s all about and for himself.
2. Sam Rockwell – Iron Man 2
It kind of feels like having a villain upstage a hero wouldn’t be a good idea, but it does happen in this movie since Justin Hammer is an annoying and very irritating character, but he’s definitely easier to notice than Tony Star at some points, which is kind of hard to believe. Maybe it’s just because Hammer was able to get on over on Tony, as he believed, that allowed his screen time to increase. But at the very least, Sam Rockwell is a worthy actor to set side by side with Robert Downey Jr. since his own unpredictable nature and ability to remain versatile is one of his greatest strengths.
1. Michael Pena – Ant-Man
Whether people like to admit it or not, Luis is a big part of what people remember about Ant-Man since his stories are epic and his good humor is contagious enough to get anyone to laugh along and enjoy his presence. Obviously he kind of annoys those that believe that they’re his intellectual superiors, which they are, but he does prove to be useful throughout the movie and he does end up being Scott’s best friend both in the beginning and by the end of the movie since he’s the kind of guy you want to be quiet every now and then, but he’s also the guy that can be relied on, kind of, when he’s really needed.
Supporting actors don’t always take a back seat.
