PEOPLE's Sexiest Men Alive Who Have Played Superheroes

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Chris Evans as Captain America

2022's Sexiest Man Alive Chris Evans is well known for playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following Avengers: Endgame, his character eventually passes on the mantle (aka Captain America shield) to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson.

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Chris Evans as the Human Torch

FANTASTIC FOUR, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, 2005 — 20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

Before playing Captain America, Evans played another Marvel character! He starred as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a character later played by another Sexiest Man Alive.

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Paul Rudd as Ant-Man

2021's Sexiest Man Alive Paul Rudd joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015 when he filled the — at times very small — shoes of Ant-Man, appearing in Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), the TV series What If...? (2021) and the in-progress Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (which is slated to come out in 2023).

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Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch

Fantastic Four Michael B. Jordan — Ben Rothstein/20th Century Fox/Marvel/Kobal/Shutterstock

2020's Sexiest Man Alive Michael B. Jordan is the human embodiment of the fire emoji, so it's fitting that he played the Human Torch in 2015's Fantastic Four.

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Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger

Michael B. Jordan Black Panther — Michael B. Jordan in *Black Panther*. Marvel/© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

He also played a villain who fights superhero Black Panther. But he's in the MCU and looks good in costume, so we'll include his stint as Killmonger anyway.

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Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was named Sexiest Man Alive in 2016, and years later, he suited up for the DC Comics film Black Adam, in which he plays the title character.

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Ben Affleck as Daredevil

Affleck first donned a super suit when he played the titular hero in 2003's Daredevil. The year before, he was named PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive.

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Ben Affleck as Batman

Ben Affleck Batman Justice League — Ben Affleck as Batman in *Justice League*. DC Entertainment/Warner Bros/Shutterstock

Then, there was Bat-fleck. The actor first played Batman in the 2016 DC film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and has appeared in a handful of DC films since.

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George Clooney as Batman

Affleck wasn't the first Sexiest Man Alive to wear the Bat Suit! On top of being a two-time Sexiest Man Alive, George Clooney also played the caped crusader in 1997's Batman & Robin.

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Chris Hemsworth as Thor

The Aussie actor, who earned the title of Sexiest Man Alive in 2014, wields a hammer like no other as Thor in the Marvel universe.

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Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds joins Zazie Beetz back on set filming action scenes for Deadpool 2 — MEGA

Although Deadpool usually wears a mask, we're glad Ryan Reynolds — who was 2010's Sexiest Man Alive — took it off for this photo.

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Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

2008's Sexiest Man Alive Hugh Jackman got physically ripped and also literally ripped (you know, by those giant claws) as Wolverine in the X-Men franchise.

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Idris Elba as Heimdall

Elba, PEOPLE's 2018 Sexiest Man Alive, first played the all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian Heimdall in the first Thor movie, and followed it up by appearing in Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War. Although technically not one of the Avengers, he certainly had superpowers and, in our books, that qualifies him for the list.