10 Actors Who Appeared In Star Trek AND The MCU

Before he was lifting hammers and bemoaning 'the worst brother,' one of Chris Hemsworth's first film parts had a rather important role in Star Trek: he died so that James T. Kirk could live. When one considers the legacy that character has left behind, there's very little argument that George Kirk did the right thing aboard the USS Kelvin.

Hemsworth, fresh-faced and not long removed from the rolling waves of Summer Bay, served as first officer under Captain Robau (played by another MCU guest star, Faran Tahir) when Nero and the Narada arrived to ruin everyone's day. The ship was quickly crippled, the captain was dead, and Kirk the senior was in command. Acting to save his wife (played by Jennifer Morrison, who voiced the Wasp in The Super Hero Squad Show) and son, he piloted the Kelvin on a collision course with Nero's ship.

Plans for a fourth Kelvin-era film have been in limbo for years, though Hemsworth was approached to reprise the role in what would presumably be a time-travel story. He has kept busy in the interim, appearing as Thor in more than ten appearances to date, several of which with Star Trek Beyond's Idris Elba.

He is set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday along with Tom Hiddleston, returning as Loki.

Famke Janssen exploded onto screens as Jean Grey in the first X-Men, back in 2000. From there, she appeared in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Wolverine, and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. She has become the definitive cinematic version of the character, though not to disregard Sophie Turner's version in X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Before she began levitating things with her mind, and dissolving Sir Patrick Stewart (for a while), she was Kamala. Introduced in The Next Generation episode The Perfect Mate, this Kriosian empathic metamorph traveled aboard the Enterprise-D while effectively being sold into a political marriage.

As part of the first theatrical X-Men team, she helped to define the character for a new generation of viewers, many of whom were familiar with the animated version from X-Men: The Animated Series. As Kamala, though stuck as she was in this political position, Janssen brought humour, pathos, and a depth to the role that wasn't necessarily there on the page. Her surprise appearance at the end of X-Men: Days Of Future Past offered a nice coda to her character's arc with Wolverine, though with James Marsden slated to return in Avengers: Doomsday as Cyclops, there is a very good chance Janssen could fly like a Phoenix one more time.

Kelsey Grammer has made three appearances as the furry genius of the X-Men, Beast, to date. He first appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand, before a quick cameo at the end of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, and then returned to the blue, albeit with a bit of digital help this time, in The Marvels. This means that before he appears in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, he has already taken a twirl on the MCU's dancefloor.

Grammer will be known to Star Trek fans as the captain of the USS Bozeman, Morgan Bateson. He was slightly more fresh-faced back in Cause And Effect, all dolled up in his Monster Maroon, unaware of the fact that his ship and crew had been caught in a temporal loop for decades.

Bateson didn't retire, despite absolutely meeting the mandatory years of service. Both he and the Bozeman continued to serve in Starfleet. The Bozeman was name-dropped several more times, as well as making a plot-twisting course correction in Star Trek: Generations. Bateson himself was part of Tuvok's team to clear Captain Freeman's name in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Grammer's cameo in The Marvels was one of several steps to teasing the arrival of the X-Men in the MCU. It looks as though Doomsday will finally see them truly at home.

Another Oscar-winning Star Trek actor for this list, Michelle Yeoh has appeared in two MCU movies to date. She first appeared as Aleta Ogord/Starhawk in Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2, though her role was brief. She had a more substantial part in Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings in 2021 as Ying Nan.

Yeoh has a long, successful career regardless of her appearances in either the MCU or Star Trek, though she has thrown herself wholeheartedly into the role of Captain/Emperor Philipa Georgiou. Star Trek: Discovery was one of her first television roles, though this led directly to her producing and starring in Star Trek: Section 31.

Though the streaming movie has met with some fairly divided opinions (and earned our longest ever episode of Ups & Downs), Yeoh's performances in Discovery and beyond have been met with far more positive reviews. Her MCU performances. particularly with the meatier role in Shang-Chi, has helped display her range and martial arts skills. Though she is not confirmed for Doomsday as of writing, Simu Liu is coming back - so this could open the door to yet another Star Trek star taking on Robert Downey Jr.'s Dr. Doom. 

Under that widow's peak and very warm-looking cape, there lies Benedict Cumberbatch, who, in 2016, took up the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme. He appeared in both Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness, as well as Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. He also voiced the character in What If...?

Before any of this, he was crushing heads and breaking cities in Star Trek Into Darkness. Despite Cumberbatch's gravitas and presence, he was certainly a choice to play Khan Noonian-Singh in J.J. Abrams' second Star Trek feature, though his performance was more than solid throughout. 

With a voice deeper than the Enterprise-E's secret chasm, Cumberbatch's Khan proved more than a match for Kirk, swiftly twisting every situation to suit him best. Before his inevitable reveal as the uber-bad guy the audience knew him to be, his scene in the brig made us question whether maybe, just maybe, this version of Khan might have the moral high-ground.

Then he smushes Admiral Marcus's head and we're back to rooting for him to lose. 

Though at the time of writing Cumberbatch has not been confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, it is unlikely that a film destined to hop universes won't wrangle him in along the way.

Alfre Woodard has played two different characters in Marvel properties, and with Daredevil etc. joining the MCU, she technically has appeared in this universe twice. She first appeared in Captain America: Civil War as Miriam Sharpe. It is she who convinces Tony Stark to support oversight for superhumans. Later that year, she appeared in the Netflix series Luke Cage as Mariah Stokes-Dillard.

For Star Trek fans, Woodard will always be best remembered as the no-nonsense, first ray-gun holding Lily Sloane from Star Trek: First Contact. She brings a sense of modern humanity to the crew of the Enterprise-E, even as she openly admits to knowing 'jack' about the 24th Century.

Woodard recently reprised the role of Sloane, albeit an alternate version, in Star Trek: Lower Decks' penultimate episode Fissure Quest. 

Sir Patrick Stewart needs no introduction, having now appeared in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Picard, one Short Trek, several films and, in images and discussion, Discovery as Jean-Luc Picard. In 2000, he took a seat as the head of the most prestigious school for Mutants - Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. 

Brian Singer's X-Men was one of Fox's first forays into translating Marvel comics to the big screen, following Universal and New Line Cinema's prior attempts with Howard The Duck and Blade. Stewart appeared in X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, and Logan - all under the Fox label.

He made the jump to the MCU in Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness, finally styled like the version audiences would be familiar with from the '90s animated series. Though his role was brief, it served its nostalgia-evoking purpose and clearly inspired Marvel Studios to invite him back for Avengers: Doomsday. It remains to be seen how extensive his role in this upcoming film will be. We can only hope that he fares slightly better this time around.

Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Academy Awards, though sadly it wasn't for her MCU or Star Trek roles. She first appeared in Star Trek, portraying a thoroughly modernised version of Nyota Uhura. She brought a confidence and freedom to the role that Nichelle Nichols, who, of course, originated the role, while oozing the former, was never afforded the latter. 

In Star Trek and Saldaña's portrayals, Uhura became the main character she was always destined to become. Her interactions with Chris Pine's Kirk and particularly Zachary Quinto's Spock helped boost the energy and efficacy of the film overall, as did her appearances in the two sequels.

In the MCU, she plays Gamora, daughter of Thanos, and an occasionally deceased member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Having appeared in all three Guardians films, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, she has now appeared in some of the highest-grossing films ever made. Though she has not, at the time of writing, been confirmed to appear in Doomsday, it is unlikely that the MCU would pass over this star. That new statuette is probably going to be quite the bargaining tool going forward.

Anson Mount is now famous for commanding the USS Enterprise before a certain James T. Kirk, debuting in Star Trek: Discovery's second-season episode Brother. From there, he's starred in the rest of that season, several Short Treks, and led the enormously successful Strange New Worlds, alongside Rebecca Romijn. Before any of this, however, he was learning to keep his mouth shut.

Mount starred as Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, in the short-lived Marvel property of the same name. That series met with mixed to negative reviews, leading to its cancellation, though this wasn't the end of his MCU connections. Mount reprised the role for a brief cameo in Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness.

Since that film's release, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has filmed its third season and is, at the time of writing, filming its fourth. Like his co-star, Anson Mount could be in for a very busy 2026 if the MCU comes knocking again. This time, however, we hope he fares a little better if a certain Scarlet Witch is nearby.

Rebecca Romijn donned the blue paint and scales to portray Mystique in X-Men. In that first film, she was a striking figure, commanding the screen with very little dialogue. The morph effect in the helicopter is a stand-out scene in the film, revealing Romijn's impish grin to Senator Kelly and the audience at large.

Before rising through the ranks to become Number One of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds, Romijn appeared in three more X-Men films: X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class. Her confirmation to appear in Avengers: Doomsday marks a gap of fifteen years between films, though it will be her debut appearance in the current slate of MCU films.

2026 looks set to be a busy year for her. The third season of Strange New Worlds is due for release sometime in 2025, while the fourth season will presumably premiere next year. Add to that a role in a film that will almost certainly rake in a fair amount of money at the box office, and things are looking bright for Una Chin-Riley and the woman who plays her.