Marvel Studios has brought record-breaking, action-packed movies to the masses for years, and we can’t get enough. Now, the latest installment, Avengers: Infinity War, has got us excited for a whole new reason—the terrific cast! These superstars don’t just play superheroes on the big screen—they do kickass things for animals, too. Find out why we love the movie’s compassionate cast.
Benedict Cumberbatch
There’s nothing strange about Cumberbatch’s diet: The Doctor Strange actor is vegan. He also has that whole high-fashion vegan thing down.
Chris Evans
Evans stars as Captain America—the iconic superhero with big muscles *swoon* ?—and he’s just as compassionate IRL, too. The talented actor has the best friendship with his rescued dog, and he shared the sweetest tweet about the first time they met:
This is the moment we met. He was trying so hard to stay seated even though he desperately wanted to get out. I knew right away that he was coming home with me, so I took this video to always remember our first hello. Rescue dogs are the best dogs!! #NationalPetDay pic.twitter.com/XjWxPWGDPu
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) April 11, 2018
Chadwick Boseman
The Black Panther actor wasn’t shy about mentioning his increased energy levels after switching to a “more vegetarian” diet while training:
“At first, I was eating a lot of meat, and then I felt like it was too much for the amount of energy we needed to extend every day. So my diet became more vegetarian as we went along.”
Chris Hemsworth
The Aussie hunk switched things up when training for the latest Avengers installment: He went vegan! Turns out that Thor loves bean and veggie burgers. His trainer told Today Extra that Hemsworth went vegan to get ripped for the movie and that he was able to maintain his muscles with a meat-free diet. Who knew? Maybe Thor’s love interest—played by longtime vegan Natalie Portman in earlier Thor films—inspired him. ??❤
“That was a big experiment—we tried to see if he could keep the muscle being vegan and it actually surprised me as well because we’re all in this mentality of ‘gotta eat animal protein, protein, protein’ but you can get a lot of protein from beans.”
—Hemsworth’s personal trainer
Mark Ruffalo
Ruffalo may play a hothead who sees only green, but he’s all about eating more greens in his personal life. He took to Twitter to share his thoughts about meat consumption. Basically, he wants people to eat less of it.
Beef production takes up a huge amount of your carbon footprint. We can take fewer bites of beef, why not cut down? https://t.co/UUWLnFf0Sk
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) November 3, 2017
He also loves cats, so he’s pretty much the most wonderful human being ever.
That’s the way it should be! Compassion for cats all day, everyday ❤?
— PETA (@peta) April 12, 2017
Zoe Saldana
Saldana plays Gamora, a fiery woman with a heart of gold. It turns out that the reality isn’t too far from the fiction. The actor is passionate about steering her family toward eating vegetarian. In Shape magazine, she shared her feelings about the meat industry: “[S]ociety has a very violent, dysfunctional, and wrong relationship with how we cultivate and produce meat.” Couldn’t agree more.
Peter Dinklage
Longtime vegetarian Peter Dinklage cares about animals. A lot. He’s worked with peta2 to expose the truth about factory farms and the consequences of buying meat, eggs, and dairy “products.” He’s also urged Game of Thrones fans not to buy huskies—who look similar to direwolves—and to adopt dogs from shelters instead.
Bradley Cooper
Cooper lends his voice for Rocket Raccoon, a scrappy character who’s a total softie underneath it all. The talented actor himself has a soft spot for his two rescued dogs.
Benicio del Toro
Del Toro, aka “The Collector,” penned an open letter to the governor of Puerto Rico urging him to stop construction plans for Bioculture’s massive monkey-breeding facility, which captured monkeys and sold thousands of their babies for use in painful, deadly experiments.
Winston Duke
Remember in Black Panther when Duke’s character, M’Baku, explains that his tribe is vegetarian? Turns out that the actor’s dream amusement park includes a vegetarian café.
What kind of roles would @Avengers: Infinity War stars @AnthonyMackie, @Winston_Duke and Sebastian Stan want to play if they were part of a theme park ride? #AvengersInfinityWar pic.twitter.com/shArQRCSrv
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) April 24, 2018
And guess what he did when he came across fans who told him that they’re vegetarian? Gave them a high five, of course!
Dave Bautista
The brawny actor shared with Men’s Journal that he bulked up for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on a vegetarian (“mostly vegan”) diet, proving that you can def get ripped with plant protein.
Danai Gurira
This talented actor loves vegan goodies like cashew cheese and coconut milk yogurt. Plus, her character, Okoye, is a powerful and honorable warrior—what’s not to love about that?
Thanks @CoryBooker, didn't realize it was #WorldVeganDay! My fav vegan finds of late: cashew cheese and coconut milk yogurt. So good! https://t.co/cTgFQr8qPC
— Danai Gurira (@DanaiGurira) November 2, 2016
*****
Feeling Inspired?
Go vegan! For yummy recipes, tips, and more, check out our “Guide to Going Vegan.”