Somehow, Stan Lee is technically the highest-grossing actor in the world

Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Tom Hanks; could you please stand aside and doff your caps to the highest-grossing actor of all time… Mr Stan Lee.

Yes, the Marvel co-founder is – once you add up all the vast amounts of cash the films he has appeared in have made – the top dog at the box office.

In all, the 39 movies he has appeared in – almost all of them as cameos for just seconds at a time in the Marvel movies – have made a staggering $19.6 billion.

And the likes of the aforementioned Hanks, Clooney and Cruise barely even make the top 20.

In fact, the top 10 highest-grossing actors include many names you’d never guess in a 100 years.

Due to his tireless work in front of the camera, Samuel L. Jackson sits at number two, with $17.6 billion made by his 124 movies.

But below him at number three, it’s Frank Welker. And who the hell is that?

Mr Welker (below) is a prolific voice artist, who has leant his dulcet tones to 109 movies, including box office smashes like the ‘Transformers’ franchise – he’s voiced everyone from Megatron to Galvatron – as well as films like ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and a host of other credits from ‘Scooby Doo’ to ‘Curious George’ (he plays the monkey himself).

His films have made just over $15 billion in all.

At four, there’s Bob Bergen, equally unknown in front of the camera, but with voice credits in movies like ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, ‘Minions’, ‘Sing’, ‘Up’ and ‘Monsters University’, movies earning $14.4 billion.

And thanks largely to the ‘Harry Potter’ movies, Brit star Warwick Davis is at number five, with $13.4 billion made by his movies, but then there’s his regular spots in the ‘Star Wars’ universe too.

By comparison, Tom Hanks is down at number 17 ($9.9 billion), Cruise at 20 ($9.7 billion), while Clooney doesn’t even make the top 100.

The data is compiled by movie site The Numbers, and while it’s not accounted for inflation, it’s still a fascinating snapshot of the modern movie industry, and how the big names don’t always mean the biggest returns.

You can check out the entire list here…

Oh, and you can see Stan next in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, out now across the UK.

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