With Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third phase was concluded in grand fashion. With more than a billion dollars in box office receipts, Endgame caps almost a decade of filmmaking that started with 2008’s Iron Man. We’ve followed these characters for so long that it seems like their actors have played them forever. Has Robert Downey Jr. ever been anyone other than Tony Stark? Will anyone ever top Chris Evans’, Captain America? Probably not.
But the truth is these actors have all had careers – and lives – before becoming icons in Marvel’s universe. They’re synonymous with heroes, villains, and in some cases even gods, but at one time, every single one of them was just an average joe or jill. Perhaps nothing can put their roles as Earth’s mightiest heroes into perspective better than seeing where they began – their school years, and photos. This is Marvel, the high school years.
01. Gwyneth Paltrow – Pepper Potts
In the 14,000,605 futures that Doctor Strange witnessed, there wasn’t even one in which Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t grow up to become an actress. The daughter of actress Blythe Danner and producer/director Bruce Paltrow, her godfather was Steven Spielberg.
The woman who would go on to play Tony Stark’s love interest (and rescuer) Pepper Potts in the Iron Man and Avengers films grew up in Santa Monica but attended high school in New York City’s Spence School, an all-girls private school. This photo is from 1990, her senior year there.
02. Brie Larson – Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel, probably the most powerful character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is played by Brie Larson. There was little indication Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (her real name) would grow up to become a galactic superhero, though. Describing herself as a “straight-laced and square” kid, she was homeschooled for most of her childhood.
She started studying drama at only 6 years old, and in fact became the youngest person ever admitted to the ultra-exclusive American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, which produced such legends as Nicolas Cage, Chris Pine, Milo Ventimiglia, and many others. When she broke into acting, she figured Desaulniers was probably a mouthful, so she changed her last name to Larson – after her favorite American Girl doll.
03. Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man
As the son of actress Elsie Downey and 1960s avant-garde actor/director Robert Downey, Robert Downey Jr. seemed to have had acting in his blood. He grew up in Greenwich Village and made his acting debut at age five, playing a puppy in one of his father’s movies. By age ten he was living in England and studying classical ballet.
After his parents’ divorce, he moved to California, where he attended Santa Monica High School. This photo was taken in 1982, his junior year, and the same year he dropped out to pursue acting full-time. After struggling with substance abuse for much of his life, RDJ is clean, and the cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron Man.
04. Elizabeth Olsen – Wanda Maximoff
Elizabeth Olsen is a relatively recent addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but she’s a very important one. Playing the reality shifting Wanda Maximoff, Olsen has played a major role in Avengers: Age of Ultron and then Captain America: Civil War and Avenger: Infinity War. Just because she’s an MCU newcomer, however, doesn’t mean she’s new to this whole acting thing.
In fact, acting is a family affair, as she’s the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She began acting, in fact, by scoring bit parts in her sisters’ films. Olsen got her education, from kindergarten all the way to the twelfth grade, at Los Angeles’ Campbell Hall School, a private school attended by the likes of Dakota Fanning.
05. Krysten Ritter – Jessica Jones
If you traveled back in time and asked Krysten Ritter what she might be when she grew up, she probably wouldn’t have said model and actress. But life is funny that way. She grew up on a farm just outside Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, and described herself as a “scrappy kid from a beef farm” who was “tall, awkward, and really, really skinny.”
She graduated from Northwest Area High School in 2000, and was probably the last person you’d ever think would play a character as tough and powerful as Jessica Jones. But she did, for two seasons.
06. Jennifer Lawrence – Mystique
While not technically part of the MCU, Jennifer Lawrence played a huge role in Fox’s X-Men films as shapeshifter Mystique. Being painted blue from head to toe, if you were wondering, would take eight hours. Lawrence attended Kammerer Middle School in Louisville, Kentucky, where she was voted “Most Talkative” in seventh grade.
This 2005 photo’s from eighth grade, as she was homeschooled by her mom after junior high when her acting career took off. The same mom warned her she’d be sent back to Kentucky if she didn’t focus on schoolwork. Lawrence graduated early with a high GPA.
07. Chris Hemsworth – Thor
Much like Robert Downey Jr., we simply can’t imagine anyone other than Chris Hemsworth playing the Norse god of thunder Thor. While Thor grew up in fabled Asgard, Hemsworth was born in Melbourne, Australia, but grew up in the Australian Outback with “crocodile and buffalo” all around him.
He went to Heathmont College in the city of the same name, and the only thing he loved more than acting growing up was surfing. And though he’s definitely younger in this photo, in all its frosted tips glory, it’s easy to see how he’ll one day play a god.
08. Zoe Saldana – Gamora
Zoe Saldana’s personal history is a bit all over the place. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, she grew up in Queens, New York. When she was ten, however, her father passed away and her family moved to the Dominican Republic, where the future Gamora studied dancing at a prestigious academy.
Then, halfway through high school, her family moved back to New York, where she attended Newtown High School in Elmhurst, New York. This photo is from 1997, her senior year there. That’s almost reminiscent of the daughter of Thanos, who grew up on multiple planets fighting for her father.
09. Jessica Chastain – Smith
We don’t know much about “Smith,” the villain Jessica Chastain will be playing in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. We just know she’s a shapeshifter. Fittingly, we don’t know much about the actress’ early life, as she doesn’t like talking about it.
Having been born to teen parents, she was a “terrible student.” Attending El Camino High School in Sacramento, California, this photo is from her senior year there in 1995. Sadly, she wouldn’t graduate due to too many absences. Thankfully, it all worked out for her in the end – but we probably can’t say the same for Smith.
10. Cobie Smulders – Agent Maria Hill
You probably know Canadian actress Jacoba “Cobie” Smulders from her role as Robin on How I Met Your Mother, but she also played fearless S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in six films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Smulders attended Lord Byng Secondary School in her hometown of Vancouver, this photo is from 1998, her sophomore year there. Before she went around saving the world as Nick Fury’s right-hand woman, Smulders did some modeling before transitioning full-time into her true passion – acting.
11. Emma Stone – Gwen Stacy
Emma Stone is 30 but somehow seems like she hasn’t aged a day since high school. Born in Scottsdale, Arizona, she said she never liked school, but got straight As because she was “bossy.” Acting since she was 11, there was never a doubt in her mind as to what she wanted to do when she grew up.
She attended all-girls Catholic school Xavier College Preparatory as a freshman, only to drop out to become an actress – and hasn’t looked back since. She portrayed Peter Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel.
12. Olivia Munn – Psylocke
Olivia Munn has had one role in a Marvel-related movie (so far), playing telekinetic mutant Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse. Born to an American father and a Vietnamese mother in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, her parents divorced when she was two.
Her mom remarried to a member of the United States Air Force, and they moved around quite a bit. She grew up mainly on Yokota Air Base near Tokyo, Japan, and did some modeling. Moving back to the States as a teen, she attended Oklahoma City’s Putnam City North High School for her junior and senior years.
13. Chris Pratt – Star-Lord
Today we know him as Peter Quill, or Star-Lord, in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers movies, but for the longest time Chris Pratt had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. Born in Virginia, Minnesota, his family moved to Lake Stevens, Washington.
As you can see, he was quite chunky even then. He attended Lake Stevens High School and was on the wrestling team, even placing fifth in a high school state wrestling tournament. He graduated in 1997, which is when this photo was taken, and we’re happy he found his calling.
14. Bradley Cooper – Rocket
Bradley Cooper, of A Star, Is Born fame, was in a Marvel movie? Yep. You might not have realized it, but he is the voice of Rocket in two Guardians of the Galaxy movies and a handful of Avengers films. Motion capture for the character, by the way, was provided by Sean Gunn.
Born in Philadelphia, he said he was neither “the smartest person” nor “the coolest kid,” if you can believe that. He attended Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, where he was in the Latin and business clubs, and this is his 1993 senior photo.
15. January Jones – Emma Frost
January Jones’ biggest role to date was probably playing Betty, Don Draper’s wife, on all seven seasons of Mad Men. However, she has very memorably played Emma Frost, one of the most powerful mutant telepaths in the world, in X-Men: First Class, where she could also turn her skin into a diamond.
They are a girl’s best friends, after all! While it’s no surprise she modeled before becoming an actress, this native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota had humble beginnings. She attended her hometown’s Roosevelt High School and graduated in 1996.
16. Kirsten Dunst – Mary Jane
Kirsten Dunst played Mary Jane Watson in 2002’s Spider-Man and its two sequels and seemed the perfect high school crush for Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. A memorable early role came in the 2000s Bring It On, where she played a high school cheerleader.
This role was far from a stretch, as Dunst actually was a high school cheerleader! Born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, she started acting at three years old in television commercials and made her feature film debut at age six. She attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, along with Rami Malek.
17. Chris Evans – Captain America
Chris Evans’ high school career somewhat mirrored his best-known role, playing Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like Captain America, Evans seems to have a mixture of brains and brawn. Born in Boston, he grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.
Proving that he was more than just a pretty face, while he did wrestle and play lacrosse, he also participated in his school’s theater department. This photo is from 1999, his senior year of high school. That very same year, Hasbro chose to use his likeness for their party game Mystery Date, which all of his Marvel co-stars have already given him a hard time about.
18. Scarlett Johansson – Black Widow
A native of Manhattan, the girl who would end up becoming formidable assassin Black Widow started going to a public school, PS 41, in Greenwich Village. Her acting career soon took off, however, so she transferred to the Professional Children’s School, an exclusive prep school made up mainly of aspiring child actors and dancers whose alumni include Uma Thurman.
Her dedication paid off, as she landed her breakout role in Lost in Translation shortly after graduating. Johansson plays Natasha Romanova, AKA Black Widow, in eight Marvel films (including cameos), and is set to star in a standalone Black Widow film.
19. Tom Hiddleston – Loki
Though he’s most well-known for playing the devious trickster Loki, Tom Hiddleston was actually on the shortlist to play Thor! He lost to Chris Hemsworth but ended up landing an arguably better part.
The English actor was born in Westminster, in central London, and attended Eton College, an all-boys boarding school founded by King Henry VI in 1440. Hiddleston actually studied at this ultra-exclusive English institution that’s synonymous with privilege at the same time as fellow actor Eddie Redmayne and some guy named Prince William.
20. Marisa Tomei – Aunt May
Marisa Tomei is the best version of Peter Parker’s Aunt May, and we WILL fight you on this. Of course, by the time she got to the Marvel Cinematic Universe she was already a legendary actress, and an Oscar winner for My Cousin Vinny.
The signs were all there too, as this native of Brooklyn grew up loving theater and going to tons of Broadway shows with her parents. She attended Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School and graduated in 1982. She made her feature film debut only two years later.
21. Natalie Portman – Jane Foster
Natalie Hershlag, who we know today as Natalie Portman – and Thor’s love interest Jane Foster – had the farthest thing from a Hollywood upbringing. Born in Jerusalem, Israel, she moved to Washington D.C. when she was three.
Later relocating to Long Island, New York, Portman attended Syosset High School in Syosset, New York. This photo is from 1999, her senior year when she was already a veteran actress. Making her feature film debut at 13 in Léon: The Professional, she actually ditched Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’s premiere so she could study for finals.
22. Jennifer Garner – Elektra
It’s been so long, and the movie was kind of awful, that it’s easy to forget Jennifer Garner once played a Marvel character. As otherwise forgettable as the 2003 Daredevil was, in which Garner played assassin Elektra, she became friends with Ben Affleck onset and later married him.
She reprised the role again in Elektra, but that movie wasn’t any better. Born in Houston, Texas, she grew up in Charleston, West Virginia in an “almost Amish” family, and George Washington High School, where she played the saxophone she affectionately nicknamed Sally in the marching band.
23. Anna Paquin – Rogue
Anna Paquin, who played power-absorbing mutant Rogue in the original X-Men movie and three of its sequels, had a bit of an unusual childhood. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she moved to Wellington, New Zealand when she was four and then again to Los Angeles when she was 13.
However, she moved to the United States an Oscar winner, having won the award at age 11 for her performance in The Piano, making her the second-youngest person ever to win. She attended the Windward School in Santa Monica, California, and this picture is from 1999, her junior year.
24. Halle Berry – Storm
Oscar-winner Halle Berry has the distinction of having played superheroes from both Marvel and DC, which she shares with Ben Affleck and Ryan Reynolds. Berry played Catwoman in the not-so-great 2004 film of the same name, and weather-controlling mutant Storm in X-Men and three sequels.
Born Maria Halle Berry in Cleveland, Ohio, her parents legally changed her name to Halle Maria Berry when she was five. Berry attended Bedford High School in Bedford, Ohio, where she was a cheerleader, honor student, school newspaper editor, and prom queen. This photo’s from 1984, her senior year.
25. Samuel L. Jackson – Nick Fury
Today, he’s known as Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who kickstarted that whole Avengers thing. In almost every movie he’s ever appeared in, Sam Jackson has played a cool, take-no-prisoners kind of guy. If we rewind his life a little bit, it’ll make total sense.
He was actually involved in the Black Power movement back in the sixties and was an usher in Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. Before that, though, he was just a dorky senior at Riverside High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He even played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra!
26. Morena Baccarin – Vanessa
Morena Baccarin, who played Deadpool’s love interest Vanessa in the two Deadpool films, was actually born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. However, she moved to Greenwich Village, New York, when she was seven when her dad – a journalist – had to work there.
Other than her role in Deadpool, she’s probably best remembered as Jessica Brody, wife of terrorist Nicholas Brody in Homeland. As fate would have it, she attended New York City’s Lab School for Collaborative Studies along with her future co-star Claire Danes! The two knew each other back then, and are best of friends now.
27. Paul Rudd – Ant-Man
Scott Lang, better known as Ant-Man, is without a doubt the smallest superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, able to shrink down to subatomic size. The actor who portrays him, however, Paul Rudd, grew up sporting some pretty huge hair.
Born in Passaic, New Jersey, to parents who immigrated from London, Rudd’s family later moved to Kansas and California. The Anchorman and Knocked Up star graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, Kansas, in 1987, and went on to attend several drama schools on both sides of the Atlantic.
28. Gina Carano – Angel Dust
You probably know Gina Carano from her time in mixed martial arts, competing in the Strikeforce and EliteXC promotions and only losing once! It should come as no surprise, then, that Deadpool director Tim Miller personally called her to offer the part of Angel Dust, a mutant with superhuman strength and speed.
It’s also not surprising considering her real-life pedigree. Born in Dallas, Texas, she’s the daughter of former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Glenn Carano. She attended Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she led the girls’ basketball team to a state title.
29. Peter Dinklage – Bolivar Trask
When you think of Peter Dinklage, you probably think of Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, a role he’ll probably be associated with forever. However, this Morristown, New Jersey, native played villainous military scientist Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past, who creates the mutant-hunting Sentinels.
According to Dinklage, Trask has “striven all his life for a certain respect and attention,” much like Tyrion. Despite his four-foot-five frame, Dinklage has never lacked either, attending his hometown’s Delbarton School, a Catholic boys’ prep school, where he first honed his craft. This photo’s from 1987, his senior year.