Earlier this year, Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were each awarded Guinness World Records for the “longest career as a live action Marvel superhero” having played Wolverine and Professor Charles Xavier respectively for 17 years from 2000-2017. Jackman also held a record for the most times playing a superhero which, according to IGN, was just topped by Robert Downey Jr.:
But was it really though?
If you consider film appearances, Downey Jr. beats Hugh Jackman by a margin of one:
Jackman: X-Men: X2: X-Men United: X-Men: The Last Stand; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; X-Men: First Class; The Wolverine; X-Men: Days of Future Past; X-Men: Apocalypse; Logan (9 in total)
Downey Jr.: Iron Man; The Incredible Hulk; Iron Man 2; Marvel’s The Avengers; Iron Man 3; Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron; Captain America: Civil War; Spider-Man: Homecoming; Marvel Avengers: Infinity War; Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame (10 in total)
What either list doesn’t consider though is that both actors have participated in voicing their respective characters in video games. Robert Downey Jr. provided the voice for Tony Stark – but not Iron Man – in 2008’s Iron Man from Sega and Hugh Jackman played Wolverine in both X-Men: The Official Game and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the latter of which had three unique versions that featured Jackman’s voice: The Uncaged Edition for PlayStation 3; Xbox 360 and PC; A game simply titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine on PlayStation Portable and another unique version with that name for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii. It’s difficult to determine exactly if there are unique lines for each of these, but if you count video games, each actor is tied at eleven times playing the same character.
Which brings us back to Patrick Stewart.
In terms of films, Patrick Stewart played Charles Xavier seven times: the first X-Men trilogy of films; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; The Wolverine: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Logan. When you factor in video games, Stewart’s five appearances as Professor X: X2: Wolverine’s Revenge; X-Men: Next Dimension; X-Men Legends; X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse and X-Men: The Official Game brings his grand total to twelve, putting him above both Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Jr. for the most times an actor has played the same superhero character.
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