i've heard a few guy actors say "doing a marvel movie" is basically a way to get paid to get cut--but not being allowed to have any fun with your friends for months at a time to stay cut of course--while also pocketing some stacks, potentially with a recurring role/franchise. it also creates the opportunity to cross genres. like, nobody was going to cast chris pratt from parks and rec as an action guy. now he can be in all the reactionary special ops movies he wants. same with jim from the office.

a lot of actors, even big ones, seem more than happy to do something commercially successful, if not critically acclaimed, so they can take a chance on some indie art house thing down the road, especially if it's something that needs financing. i read this interesting interview with viggo mortensen about how he basically hit the jackpot with the LOTR movies, as it meant he could be very picky and choose a lot of borderline arthouse flicks for the rest of his career. i mean, look at how many huge ass names are in the MCU. i remember when michael douglas got in the mix with ant man, it was like, "this is a gravy train."

look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_film_actors