Author Peter McAllister wrote a book called Manthropology: The Science of Why the Modern Male Is Not the Man He Used to Be. It’s a fact-based, humorous look at why modern men are inferior to their historical counterparts in almost every way possible.

Crispin Andrews talked to Peter McAllister to find out just who could beat whom in today’s sports scene. Here’s what he found out:

10Usain Bolt vs. Ancient Australians

Usain Bolt ran 100 meters (328 ft) in 9.69 seconds to break the world record at the Beijing Olympics. That’s 42 kilometers per hour (26 mph) for the world’s fastest man. But 20,000-year-old fossilized tracks from Australia show that, back then, ordinary people could manage 37 kilometers per hour (23 mph)—running in soft mud, barefoot. With spikes, a running track, and training, they’d have managed speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour (28 mph).

These ancient Aussies had long limbs and robust leg bones that were 40 percent denser and stronger than those of modern humans. Being nomadic hunters who had to catch their own food, they had a need for speed. Kangaroos and emus were no slouches when running for their lives. Fossilized footprints are extremely rare, and the ones discovered are unlikely to have been left by prehistoric Australia’s fastest runner. The average modern human can run 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph), which is 18 kilometers per hour (11 mph) slower than Bolt. Let’s say that the ancient tracks were left by a runner of average speed. The Pleistocene Aussie equivalent of Usain Bolt would have reached speeds of 63 kilometers per hour (39 mph).

9Samuel Wanjiru vs. Native Americans

Kenyan runner Samuel Wanjiru broke the Olympic marathon record in Beijing in 2008, when he ran it in 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 32 seconds. Had a Mojave Native American from the late 19th century been in the field, Wanjiru would have most definitely been celebrating silver. Back then, the Mojave played a game called kickball. They’d run through the desert all day along the Colorado River, kicking a wooden ball in front of them.

By playing this game, an average Mojave expended 17,000 calories of effort in a single day, almost twice the amount lost by riders in the Tour de France. One Mojave man is said to have run 322 kilometers (200 mi) in 24 hours. Greek athlete Yiannis Kouros holds the world record for 24-hour running. In 1997, he managed only 304 kilometers (189 mi)—and he was running in spikes, on a track, and didn’t have to watch out for wolves and rattlesnakes.

8Kerri Walsh Jennings vs. Pleistocene Aborigines

The Pleistocene Aborigines would have also made great volleyball players. And not just for their Usain Bolt–like speed or their gangly physique that basketball players and fast cricket bowlers would have loved. No, these prehistoric Aussies would have had yet another advantage in a game of volleyball: long arms. On average, they had an extra 10 centimeters (4 in) at the wrist.

For a volleyball player, like Kerri Walsh Jennings, long arms are a must. Serve underhand, and those long arms create more speed to propel the ball over the net with power, accuracy, and grace. Longer arms place more force on the server’s elbow and shoulder joints. More force on the joints transfers to a faster serve. Serve overhand, and long arms produce faster speed, which reduces the amount of time the ball spends in the air. Long arms also mean a longer reach, which is crucial for returning opposition serves.

7Olympic Rowers vs. Athenian Oarsmen

If you think today’s Olympic rowers are the best there have ever been, think again. Olympic rowers might be able to move their boats through the water quicker than any previous Olympians. But 2,500 years ago, oarsmen who could beat any modern-day rower were a dime a dozen. In 427 B.C., an Athenian warship, called a “trireme,” managed the 340-kilometer (211 mi) voyage to Lesbos in 24 hours. When modern-day rowers had a go in a reconstructed trireme, they could only manage that speed for a few seconds. Over distance, their top speed was 9 kilometers per hour (5.6 mph).

According to one ancient writer, even a moderate Athenian crew could top that. At that time, Athens had 200 triremes and 34,000 oarsmen. After measuring their metabolic rates, scientists concluded that sustained speeds of 14 kilometers per hour (8.7 mph) were beyond the aerobic capacity of modern-day rowers. Athenian rowers, they deduced, must have had a greater built-in capacity for aerobic exercise.

6Wladimir Klitschko vs. Australopithecus

Wladimir Klitschko might look pretty mean—and he certainly is—but the multi-time world heavyweight boxing champion would have come out second best to our earliest ancestor. And that’s despite the fact that the tiny Australopithecus was, on average, a whole 60 centimeters (2’0″) shorter than Klitschko. It’s all about punch force. Chimpanzees have similar physiology to Australopithecus, and they have four times as much muscle strength as humans. They are known to deadlift 272 kilograms (600 lb), and one female chimp has been recorded pulling 572 kilograms (1,261 lb) with one hand. Get into the boxing ring with a chimp, and the chimp wouldn’t need to knock you out; it would just throw you over the top rope. Australopithecus were fast and agile, too. They would have gotten their best shots in while Marciano and Klitschko, lumbering heavyweights by comparison, staggered to defeat.

5Jan Zelezny vs. Ancient Greeks

Matthias de Zordo might sound like a B movie villain from the ’60s, but the 24-year-old German is, in fact, the former world javelin champion. Although his 86.27-meter (283 ft) throw was way short of Jan Zelezny’s 1996 world record of 98.48 meters (323.1 ft). But not even the great Czech, Zelezny, could have matched the ancient Greeks when it came to javelin throwing. The earliest Olympic champions threw over 150 meters (492 ft). Although, to be fair to their modern-day successors, they did use lighter javelins and had a leather throwing thong that added an extra 10–25 percent to the throw.

In the early 19th century, Australian aboriginal men of the Dalleburra tribe could throw their hardwood spears 110 meters (361 ft), unaided. British sports educator, Lieutenant Colonel F. A. M. Webster—himself a national championship–winning javelin thrower—reported that in the early 1900s, Turkana men of East Africa regularly outthrew him by meters using their traditional spears.

4Viktor Ruban vs. Mongol Archers

To win gold in Beijing, Ukrainian archer Viktor Ruban shot five of his 12 arrows into the bull’s-eye. And that’s from 70 meters (230 ft). Back when archery meant life or death, Genghis Khan’s warriors could hit a tiny red flag at 150 meters (492 ft). One of the Mongol horde’s best bowmen brought down a flying duck with a single arrow through its neck. Another is said to have been able to hit a target 536 meters (1,759 ft) away.

Carib archers of the 17th century could hit an English half crown coin at 76 meters (250 ft). Today, an average Olympic archer trains 40 hours a week. Mongol archers trained for 80 hours. They started at two years of age. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to reach elite level. By the time they turned 17, Mongol archers would have been practicing for 64,000 hours. Modern Olympic archers use high-tech, carbon-fiber recurve bows with sights and stabilizing weights. Mongol archers learned to shoot on horseback.

3Ilya Ilyin vs. Neanderthals

Kazakhstan isn’t just famous for inspiring British comedians to dress in dodgy green speedos and sing strange songs about potassium. Kazakh weightlifters are pretty good, too. Ilya Ilyin won gold in the 2014 World Championships. But no way would he have beaten a Neanderthal. With 20 percent more muscle mass than modern humans, male Neanderthals were 126–138 percent stronger than we are. Ilyin lifted 242 kilograms (534 lb) in the “clean and jerk.” His combined total was 432 kilograms (952 lb). With the same training, the strongest Neanderthal would have managed 309 kilograms (681 lb) and 554 kilograms (1,221 lb), respectively.

In the women’s competition, China’s Zhou Lulu broke the 75-kilogram (165 lb) world record with a combined score of 328 kilograms (723 lb). The strongest female Neanderthal would have lifted 475 kilograms (1,047 lb), beating the current world record in the heaviest men’s class. Neanderthal women were 145 percent stronger than today’s ladies and had 10 percent more body mass than the average European man. They had shorter arms, so they could have lifted even more.

2Javier Castellano vs. Mongol Riders

Javier Castellano has earned more money than any other jockey in 2014—over $25 million. In 2013, the Venezuelan earned over $26 million. Genghis Khan’s Mongol warriors didn’t earn that much, but they could have beaten any of today’s jockeys in a straight race. For the nomadic people who lived on the Mongolian steppes back then, riding was like walking. A fully fledged warrior could ride 130 kilometers (81 mi) in a single day, traveling over mountains and deserts. Genghis Khan used the riders to send messages around his empire. When his grandson, Khublai Khan, lost favor with the nomads, the Mongols lost their empire.

1Javier Sotomayor vs. Tutsi Men

High jumper Javier Sotomayor managed to clear a world record of 2.45 meters (8’0″) in 1993—pretty good for back then and too good for the world’s best since. But Sotomayor’s jump was nothing compared to the heights Rwandan Tutsi men were jumping daily during the 19th century. Olympic high jumpers battle for personal glory and team success. For the Tutsi, high jumping was more important than that.

In their culture, you were only considered a real man if you could jump your own height. And many of these guys were tall enough to make NBA scouts drool. Frequently, Tutsis jumped over 2 meters (6’7″). One is said to have managed 2.52 meters (8’3″)—and that’s without any training or technique coaching. Teach him the Fosbury Flop—the midair wiggle that’s supposed to add extra height to a jump—and he’d have managed over 3 meters (9’10”).

Crispin Andrews is a freelance writer from England. He writes about science, technology, popular culture history, sports, and the unexplained.

Stars are some of the most important heavenly bodies in our universe. We’ve already talked about some of the most captivating—and deadliest—planets that orbit the stars, but these luminous celestial bodies are intriguing in their own right.

We often think of stars as huge, hot, round masses of hydrogen and helium even though they are not always so. Astronomers have detected lots of stars that destroy our well-established notions. These discoveries are odd and ultimately fascinating.

10 The Egg-Shaped Star

What is cooler than a round star? Obviously, one that’s shaped like an egg.

Enter Vega (aka Alpha Lyrae or Alpha Lyr), an egg-shaped star located 25 light-years away from us. It is one of the most popular stars out there, and astronomers seem to study it more than they do our own Sun.

Vega has a weird shape because of its superfast rotational speed, which is 93 percent of its critical velocity (aka “critical rotation,” the maximum rotational speed when the star would break apart). Vega is so fast that it completes one rotation on its axis in just 12.5 hours. Our Sun completes the same in 27 days.

This has left Vega bulging 23 percent wider at its equator than at its poles. The abnormal shape has transferred so much energy away from the equator that it is 2,200 degrees Celsius (4,000 °F) cooler than the poles.^[1]

9 Two Massive Stars Merging Into One

Over a decade ago, astronomers discovered a massive star in the Camelopardalis (“Giraffe“) constellation 13,000 light-years from Earth. They called the system MY Camelopardalis.

Originally, amateurs had thought they were seeing a single massive star. But astronomers soon realized that they were looking at two massive stars closely orbiting each other. In fact, the partners complete orbits around each other in just 1.2 days.

The bigger star has a mass 38 times that of the Sun, while the smaller one has a mass 32 times that of our Sun. Astronomers later realized that the partners are going to slam into each other someday and create a ginormous stellar beast with a mass 60 times that of the Sun.^[2]

In fact, the atmospheres of the stars are already interacting. This will continue until the stellar cores finally fuse into one. Astronomers do not know precisely what will happen at that time. However, they speculate that the merger will create a large explosion that releases massive energy.

8 The Star With Spiral Arms

When we think of spiral arms, we envision galaxies like the Milky Way. However, star SAO 206462 is here to prove us wrong because it has two spiral arms. SAO 206462 is in the Lupus (“Wolf”) constellation about 460 light-years away from Earth. The star is surrounded by a very wide circumstellar disk made of dust and gas.^[3]

This broad disk is almost two times the width of Pluto’s orbit. Astronomers know that spiral arms can develop around a star when new planets are materializing inside its disk. In fact, they think that the two spiral arms were formed by two new planets developing inside the disk.

7 The Star With Water Clouds

We know that stars are insanely hot. For example, our Sun averages around 5,500 degrees Celsius (10,000 °F) in the photosphere. However, how about a star that is just 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F)? That is the boiling point of water, which is too cold for a star. But that is the temperature of CFBDSIR 1458+10B (pictured above on the right).

It is a brown dwarf 75 light-years away from Earth in the CFBDSIR 1458+10 binary system. A binary system has two stars that orbit each other.

The mass of a brown dwarf falls between that of a giant planet and a small star. It is too big to be called a planet but too weak to be considered a real star. Brown dwarfs are considered failed stars because they do not have enough mass for gravity to cause nuclear fusion, which is how stars produce light and heat.

Even at that, CFBDSIR 1458+10B is too cold for a brown dwarf. The temperatures of most known brown dwarfs are often between 177–327 degrees Celsius (350–620 °F), which is still considerably hotter than CFBDSIR 1458+10B’s 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F).

Astronomers believe that conditions on CFBDSIR 1458+10B are more like those of a large planet than those of a regular brown dwarf. They even think that this cold brown dwarf may have clouds that contain water.^[4]

6 The Star That Became A Diamond Planet

It is not often that we hear of a star becoming a planet, much less a planet covered in diamonds. But this unnamed star did just that.

Astronomers discovered the star-turned-planet when they received some pulsar signals in our Milky Way. Pulsar signals are radio waves and radiation released by fast-rotating neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of dead giant stars.

Astronomers discovered something was amiss when they found that the spin of the pulsar appeared to be affected by gravity. This type of spin could only happen if an exoplanet was orbiting the pulsar.

In fact, astronomers detected an exoplanet rapidly orbiting the pulsar at close range. The exoplanet also had a very large mass (like that of Jupiter) even though it was only five times bigger than Earth. At first, this didn’t make sense. An exoplanet orbiting that close to a high-gravity star shouldn’t have such a large mass that was so tightly packed.

Astronomers soon discovered that the exoplanet had once been a star that was part of a binary system. The pulsar had been the second star, and the two had orbited each other in those days. However, the stars eventually burned through their fuel and got so close that the bigger one yanked the matter from the smaller star.^[5]

The result was a cold planet that orbits a pulsar. However, there is beauty in the destruction. Astronomers believe that the fusion-less planet is comprised of crystalline carbon, the same material that makes up diamonds.

5 The Star Within A Star

A Thorne-Zytkow object (TZO) refers to a star that is inside another star. The object was named after physicist Kip Thorne and astronomer Anna Zytkow. Together, they proposed the existence of such a star in 1975. Thorne and Zytkow said that TZOs are formed when a neutron star gets consumed by a red supergiant star.

As previously mentioned, a neutron star is the collapsed core of a dead giant star. A red supergiant is an old star that is almost out of hydrogen—a major element it needs to create light and heat. Red supergiants are the largest stars in the universe and can reach up to 2,000 times the size (in diameter) of our Sun.

In 2014, astronomers believed that they had found a TZO, which they named HV 2112. The star was in a dwarf galaxy 199,000 light-years away from Earth. HV 2112 resembles a very bright red supergiant. However, it is considered a TZO because it contains large amounts of some elements that are not released by typical red supergiants.^[6]

4 The Roundest Star

We often think that planets and stars are round even though they are not. They are actually wider along their equators due to the centrifugal force that occurs when they rotate. Approximately 5,000 light-years away from Earth lies Kepler 11145123, a star that is the roundest natural object known to exist at this time.

Typically, the faster the rotation, the wider the star or planet is at the equator. Earth is not perfectly round. The Sun and star Kepler 11145123 aren’t, either. However, Kepler 11145123 comes close.

Earth is 21 kilometers (13 mi) wider at its equator than at its poles. Using that same relative measurement, the Sun is about 10 kilometers (6 mi) wider and Kepler 11145123 is only 6 kilometers (4 mi) wider. This is especially impressive because Kepler 11145123 is twice the size of the Sun.

Astronomers concede that their diameter estimate for Kepler 11145123 may be off by a couple of kilometers. That’s a small margin of error, though. On average, the diameter of Kepler 11145123 is 3.2 million kilometers (2 million mi).^[7]

3 A Star Smaller Than Jupiter

We often consider stars to be large heavenly bodies, even though that is not always so. They could be much smaller, say the size of Saturn. Compared to Earth, Saturn seems huge: Approximately 764 Earths would fit into Saturn.

However, that is still much smaller than the size of our Sun. About 1.3 million Earths would fit into the Sun. Saturn is also smaller than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Nevertheless, astronomers have discovered a star that is the size of Saturn. That star is EBLM J0555-57Ab, which is 600 light-years away from us.

EBLM J0555-57Ab would not have enough internal pressure for nuclear fusion to occur if it were smaller. As we mentioned earlier, nuclear fusion is how stars produce heat and light. This size is just right to meet the minimum mass requirements for nuclear fusion in a star. Anything smaller and it would have been a brown dwarf—one of those failed stars with insufficient mass for gravity to cause nuclear fusion.^[8]

2 The Double Double Star

The Epsilon Lyrae multiple star system is 160 light-years away from Earth. This fascinating system contains a bit of a surprise. It looks like a binary system where two stars are orbiting each other. But upon closer examination, each of those stars is a binary itself. In other words, each star is really two stars orbiting each other. Each pair also orbits the other pair. As a result, the system contains two binaries within a binary (aka “The Double Double”).

From Earth, each stellar pair seems so close together that we could confuse both stars in each set for a single star. This happens even though these individual stars are actually so far apart that they take around 1,000 years to complete a single orbit around the other in its stellar pair.

The binaries themselves are also far apart. The distance between the two sets is 10,000 times the range between the Earth and the Sun. The binaries require around 500,000 years to complete a single revolution around each other.

Interestingly, astronomers have discovered a fifth star that orbits one of the stellar pairs. These space scientists also believe that other undiscovered stars are orbiting in Epsilon Lyrae. In all, astronomers think the system involves 10 stars.^[9]

1 The Star With A Tail

When we think of tails in space, we usually envision comets. Mira (“Wonderful”) is here to prove us wrong. It is a binary star in the Cetus constellation 350 light-years away from Earth. One star is a red giant called Mira A, and the other is a white dwarf called Mira B. A red giant is a dying star, while a white dwarf is a dead star.

Astronomers detected the stars while checking out the universe in ultraviolet light. They found that some comet had left a tail that was 13 light-years long. That is 20,000 times the average distance between Pluto and the Sun. However, they soon discovered that the tail was actually coming from the red giant Mira A.

The tail is shedding several elements, including carbon and oxygen, which astronomers think could create new solar systems. Mira has been releasing these elements for over 30,000 years.^[10]

Showbiz is a particularly odd industry. It’s a multi-billion dollar business that mashes together the talents—and egos—of actors, writers, directors, musicians, digital artists, and corporate tycoons. The crème-de-la-crème of this melting pot gather in Hollywood, where money, fame, and awards raise the stakes of their performance to a global peak.

It’s no surprise in Hollywood, then, when personalities clash. And clash they do, at times spectacularly. Regardless of who is to blame and whether or not it’s deserved, some careers take major hits from these conflicts. No matter the star’s size and brightness, no Hollywood celebrity is immune to being shunned by their red-carpet peers.

When this happens, they enter the dreaded Hollywood Blacklist—a dark pit of obscurity and late mortgage payments on that third house in Maui. Oof, it just gives you chills. Here are ten Hollywood stars who have, for one reason or another, ended up blacklisted.

10 Charlie Chaplin

The origin of the unofficial Hollywood Blacklist is pretty dark. It began as a consequence of Mccarthyism- Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy’s efforts to route out suspected Communist spies and sympathizers in the United States in the 1940s and 50s. During this time, a task force called the House Un-American Activities Committee held hearings in which they accused hundreds of citizens of affiliation with the Communist party. This lead to mass blacklisting of accused parties, as movie studios stood to lose a lot of money if their movies starred suspected Communists or Communist sympathizers.

One such suspect was one of the biggest stars in the silent film era, Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin’s refusal to answer questions about his political views caused the FBI to label him a Bolshevik and potential security risk. His films were met with hostility and boycotts. After the London premiere of his film “Limelight,” he was informed that he would be denied re-entry into the U.S. Chaplin lived out the rest of his life in Switzerland and for the next decade, his films continued to be met with widespread boycotting in the U.S. When the political climate eventually shifted, so too did Chaplin’s popularity and at the time of his death, he was once again a beloved film icon.

9 Randy Quaid

While Chaplin was a victim of a hostile political landscape, Randy Quaid is a victim of himself. Attempting to summarize his and his wife’s extensive professional and legal battles is an endeavor in exhaustion, especially because the list grows every year. Quaid has had numerous warrants out for his arrest for a number of reasons: fled the U.S. for Canada to avoid court, fled Canada for the U.S. to avoid court, been sued by a host of different entities for various reasons. He’s also spread unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that a hit squad that specializes in actor assassinations is after him, having already killed Heath Ledger.

All of this has contributed to a negative public perception of him and kept him from many major acting roles. But one incident really takes most of the responsibility. In 2007, while filming “Lone Star Love,” all 26 of his cast-mates brought charges against him, saying that Quaid had “physically and verbally abused his fellow performers.” As a result, he was fined $81,000 and banned from major stage performances for life. In Quaid’s case, the world’s smallest violin is too big.

8 Sondra Locke

Sondra Locke was a promising young star, earning herself an Oscar nomination for her very first role in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” For the next two decades, she starred in numerous films and even directed several herself. In 1975, she began dating A-list actor and director Clint Eastwood. Though happy at first, her relationship with Eastwood would result in her professional undoing.

By the mid-80s, the pair had grown disdainful of each other and eventually separated. It was messy; she arrived home from shooting one day to find their locks had been changed and her stuff put in storage. As part of their divorce settlement, Eastwood agreed to set her up with a development deal with Warner Bros. Five years after their divorce, Locke had been rejected by Warner Bros. thirty times in a row, not seeing a single project come to light. She sued Eastwood, claiming he had paid Warner Bros. not to green-light any of her ideas. Eastwood settled with Locke out of court for an undisclosed sum, so there is a decent chance he had indeed had her blacklisted for years.

7 Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson used to be a big deal. Like The Rock big. “Mad Max,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Braveheart,” and “The Passion of the Christ” can attest to that. But in the mid-2000s, a series of vitriolic tirades brought him low enough to be nearly invisible. In 2006, Gibson was pulled over and arrested while speeding and drunk. He chose to make the situation exponentially worse by going on an antisemitic tirade to the arresting officer, who was himself Jewish. Things slowed down for Gibson after that, but it wasn’t until another incident in 2010 that it all ground to a halt. He was recorded leaving his then partner Oksana Grigorieva a voicemail in which he said that—wow, well, I can’t write that. The transcript is available online. It is not pretty. After that, his roles have dried up considerably. Though he has recently begun to find work again, to many people, he’s no longer Mad Max; he’s just mad.

6 Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan was one of the women of “Charmed” and was in “Scream” and “Jawbreaker.” She was young, she was talented, and it was reasonable to expect her career to only go up. And yet in the late 90s, it stalled suddenly. Now, McGowan has said a lot of controversial things over her career, but none of that is responsible for her blacklisting. What ultimately stalled her career for about two decades is far worse, and no fault of her own.

In 1997, she was raped by Harvey Weinstein. He gave her $100,000 to keep quiet about the incident, which to the general public she did, but still, she spoke out about it to industry insiders. This caused Weinstein to blacklist her, and his weight in the industry meant that the blacklisting lasted. The silver lining to this massive storm-cloud is that McGowan’s testimony was an early voice in the Me Too movement, which removed from power many industry figures who had committed sexual misconduct and abuses of power, including Weinstein. It’s a shame it took twenty years and over one hundred additional accusers for her to be believed, though.

5 Stacey Dash

Stacey Dash is mainly known for “Clueless,” both the movie and television show. Throughout the 90s and 2000s, her career was on par for a young nineties television star. Not many major starring roles, but at least she consistently worked. That is, until the 2010s when she traded her liberal views for conservative ones and became outspoken about them.

There is nothing inherently wrong with sharing conservative views. But many of her more extreme views rubbed the public—and potential employers—the wrong way. Among other things, she has called for an end to Black History Month, called teenage victims of sexual assault “bad girls who like to be naughty,” claimed climate change doesn’t exist, and claimed Planned Parenthood has a secret agenda for mass murder. Not the best platform if you would ever like to work with… other human beings. Unsurprisingly, Dash has not had much luck finding work in recent years.

4 Katherine Heigl

Remember Katherine Heigl? I remember a period where she was everywhere. Starring roles in “Roswell,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up,” and “27 Dresses” kept her on everyone’s T.V. sets for a long while. And then one day, she seemed to drop out of the spotlight. The truth is that Heigl has a tendency to burn her bridges after crossing them. She has an enduring reputation for being difficult to work with—failing to show up for call-times, refusing to leave her trailer, complaining about catering, and other behaviors that make her a less than desirable hire; to many, she’s just not worth it.

3 Roseanne Barr

Rosanne has always been outspoken, never shied from political content, and always kept up her tough, working-class persona. It was her charm, and the world loved her for it. “Rosanne” was one of the 90s sitcom mega-hits, and its legacy, combined with her stand-up career, earned her decades of notoriety and goodwill. Then her irreverent political jokes became offensive political ideology.

She baselessly called a school shooting survivor a nazi, did almost the exact same thing with businessman George Soros, and then ended her absurd trilogy by calling one of Barack Obama’s senior advisors Valerie Jarrett, a “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” As nonsensical as it is hateful and thoroughly deserving of its consequence. Her reboot of Rosanne was canceled within a day and she has laid low ever since.

2 Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen was a household name for decades because of his acting, first in serious roles like “Platoon” and “Wall Street,” and then for fantastic sitcom runs on “Spin City” and “Two and a Half Men.” And who doesn’t love “Major League”? Then, in the middle of “Two and a Half Men”‘s eighth season, Sheen managed to become an even bigger household name. This time, it was because a series of inexplicably eccentric interviews and stunts made him the single biggest meme-generator that year.

Sheen’s split from “Two and a Half Men” began with repeated battles with substance abuse forcing him and the studio to part ways. But then he traded in the ‘aww’ for ‘aw hell, that dude is nuts.’ Sheen famously claimed to be a warlock with tiger blood and Adonis DNA, and that he was “winning.” He then went on to clarify that he was a “total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.” Because sure, why not. You might almost feel bad for the guy if he didn’t have sexual assault allegations plaguing him of late and some questionable views. He doesn’t act much anymore.

1 Brendan Fraser

The best is last. The last four celebs who arguably blacklisted themselves had to bring the list down so this last star could raise it higher than it ever was. That star is, of course, Brendan Fraser. Throughout the 90s and 2000s, there was no one cooler. Fight me. With starring roles in fan-favorites “Encino Man,” “Airheads,” “George of the Jungle,” “Bedazzled,” and “The Mummy” Trilogy, Fraser was a defining figure for a young generation. Even his small guest spot on “Scrubs” as Dr. Cox’s friend Ben is to this day an extremely memorable cameo. But in 2003, his career took an immediate nosedive for the worst reason.

Fraser alleges that in 2003 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he was sexually assaulted by the then Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Phillip Berk. Further, he claims that because he resisted the unwanted advance, he was blacklisted from Hollywood. The incident occurred around the same time Fraser was going through some challenging personal crises, but he believes the incident was a major factor in his Hollywood decline. The good news is that a string of recent recurring T.V. stints, including a main role in D.C.’s “Doom Patrol,” have caused many to label his triumphant and overdue return as the “Brenaissance.”

There have been many links between organized crime and the entertainment industry over the years, especially during the Golden Age of Hollywood and the heyday of the nightclub circuit. While a lot of these associations were business related, some of the most exciting stories center on romantic relationships between gangsters and female movie stars, recording artists, and other celebrities.

The more popular these high-profile women were, the more shocking it was to learn they were dating or married to such infamous men. Here are 10 of the most celebrated stars who were also known to be gangster molls.

Related: 10 Famous Gangster Hideouts

10 Donna Reed

Despite her Oscar-winning performance as the sleazy Alma, aka Lorene, in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity, Donna Reed had one of the most wholesome personas of any actress during the mid-20th century, especially when she played the ideal homemaker, Donna Stone, in her self-titled TV series. That’s why it’s so surprising to learn that she dated mobster Johnny Roselli (sometimes spelled Rosselli) in the late 1940s.

The handsome, charming Roselli seems to have fit in well with the Hollywood crowd, also dating such stars as Lana Turner and Betty Hutton, among other actresses. Although he was known for his impressive diplomatic skills, being dubbed “The Henry Kissinger of the Mob,” Roselli was also involved in murders, according to author Douglas Thompson.^[1]

9 Gloria Vanderbilt

Heiress-turned-actress and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt had a drama-packed life from when she was a child to being the center of a famous custody trial through her four colorful marriages and various occupations. However, the prominent socialite experienced much turbulence, including the abuse Vanderbilt said she endured at the hands of her first husband, Pat DiCicco, whom she married at the age of 17. In addition to being a film producer and agent, DiCicco was also allegedly involved with the Lucky Luciano crime family. Nearly 13 years older than Vanderbilt, he had previously been married to actresses Thelma Todd and Linda Douglas.

Vanderbilt, who was visiting her mother at the time of the engagement, rushed into marriage because she didn’t want to go home to her aunt, the prominent society matron and artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who had won custody of her years earlier. So she quickly married DiCicco following her break-up with iconic millionaire business magnate Howard Hughes, who was employing DiCicco as a press agent at the time.

The extremely wealthy Whitney was so opposed to the marriage that she cut her niece out of her will. It was obvious to Vanderbilt from the start that the union was a mistake. However, this was worse than an incompatible match. The ill-tempered DiCicco turned out to be violent and emotionally abusive. After a few years, she landed in the arms of her second husband, 63-year-old conductor Leopold Stokowski—who had his own issues. She divorced Pat DiCicco in 1945, paying him a settlement of $350,000.^[2]

8 Dona Drake

With her performances in such classic films as Kansas City Confidential and The Girl from Jones Beach, the sultry Dona Drake was a familiar face in the 1940s and ’50s. In addition to acting, she was also a singer/dancer and bandleader. But one of her most interesting roles had nothing to do with show business. She was the girlfriend of gangster Louis “Pretty” Amberg, who, alongside his two brothers, tried to take charge of racketeering in Brooklyn.

Ambition turned out to be Amberg’s downfall. In 1935, his body was found in a burning car. Police questioned the starlet, who was in her early twenties at the time. Drake said she didn’t even know what line of work Amberg was in or what his real name was, claiming she only knew him as Mr. Cohn. Not only did Drake go on to have a successful career, but her personal life also flourished. She was married to Oscar-winning costume designer Travilla for 45 years.^[3]

7 June Lang

Johnny Roselli didn’t just date beautiful actresses; he married rising star June Lang in 1939. She may not have been as famous as some of his girlfriends, but the lovely blonde, blue-eyed June did have a successful career with such movies as Footlight Serenade and Stage Door Canteen, musicals that were made around the time of her marriage to Roselli. However, Lang’s connection to this mobster, dubbed “Handsome Johnny,” ultimately hurt her career.

When Roselli was not working in Hollywood and Las Vegas on behalf of the Chicago mob, he dabbled in film production, actually co-producing a few movies. June claimed she was unaware of his mob ties during their marriage. As improbable as this may sound on the surface, there’s a good chance that Lang really was in the dark about her husband’s primary line of work since his connection to organized crime was not widely known in Hollywood at the time. He also had a talent for being whatever anyone wanted him to be. It was supposedly the discovery of his criminal activity that prompted Lang to leave him. The couple divorced in 1943.^[4]

6 Lana Turner

The stormy love life of film icon Lana Turner included more than one gangster, but the blonde beauty’s most famous relationship was with Cohen crime family affiliate Johnny Stompanato, not so much for the tumultuous relationship itself but for the way things ended. Stompanato was killed in 1958 by Turner’s 14-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane, who stabbed the mobster to death when he and Turner were having a very heated argument, during which Crane feared for her mother’s life.

It seems that her anxiety was warranted, considering the extremely possessive Stompanato was known to be violent toward Turner. Not only had he assaulted her but Stompanato, who was insanely jealous, also threatened Turner’s co-star Sean Connery by pointing a gun at him when he suspected the two of having an affair.

On the night of the fatal stabbing, Turner was trying to break up with Stompanato. Initially, Turner tried to protect her daughter by telling authorities that she was the one who killed Stompanato. However, it soon became clear that Cheryl was responsible. The adolescent was exonerated following a coroner’s inquest that concluded the stabbing was a justifiable homicide due to domestic violence. Naturally, the case sparked a huge scandal, one of the biggest in Hollywood history.^[5]

5 Jayne Mansfield

Considering all the time Colombo underboss Sonny Franzese spent at legendary nightclubs like the Copacabana, it makes sense that he would have become acquainted with various celebrities. But it is a little surprising to learn that he was romantically involved with some of the most famous actresses of the 1950s and ’60s, including Marilyn Monroe and Diahann Carroll.

According to Crime Reads, iconic movie star Jayne Mansfield was “madly in love with” Franzese. The night they met at The Latin Quarter nightclub was a memorable one.

Franzese was stunned to see the voluptuous blonde looking down at him from the stage where she had unexpectedly appeared. Mansfield was married to famous bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay at the time. When she told him that her husband would be taking her home that night, Franzese threatened to beat him up if he came to the club. However, the relationship was not a serious one for the handsome mobster who was busy playing the field.^[6]

4 Jean Harlow

It’s easier to envision the brash, saucy Jean Harlow as a gangster’s moll than most of these actresses. The legendary platinum blonde siren dated infamous mobster Abner “Longie” Zwillman. He backed the young actress’s career in 1930 by loaning Columbia Picture’s mogul Harry Cohn $500,000 in exchange for giving Harlow a two-picture deal. The 19-year-old divorcee had mostly appeared in bit parts until then. The early 1930s films she starred in for Columbia and MGM skyrocketed her to fame.

In what could be seen as a case of art imitating life, Harlow was cast as gangsters’ girlfriends in a number of movies such as Public Enemy (1931). She would help to create the flashy, brazen, hard-edged image moviegoers had of gangster molls in the 1930s, one that would become a long-lasting stereotype. Married three times during her 26 years, Harlow’s love life was filled with drama. Following her relationship with Zwillman, who was dubbed the Al Capone of New Jersey, her 1932 marriage to producer Paul Bern ended when he committed suicide just two months after the wedding.^[7]

3 Billie Holiday

It’s no secret that legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday had a very troubled personal life. Between her well-documented addiction problems and her abusive childhood, as well as other adversities, it is amazing she was able to accomplish so much during her 44 years. Lady Day’s love life was another source of turbulence. Her third and last husband, Louis McKay, who she married in 1957, was a shady character, who abused Holiday, stole her money, and was described as a wannabe gangster. He did reportedly work as a mob enforcer and may have been involved in other criminal activities.

The couple was arrested together, at one point, for possession of narcotics. She was too afraid of McKay to report the physical violence he inflicted on her to the police. The last straw came when she found out he had lost her money in a risky business deal. She left McKay but was still married to him when she died a short time later, in 1959.^[8]

9 Phyllis McGuire

The McGuire Sisters was one of the most popular female singing groups of the 1950s. The trio of minister’s daughters also had one of the most straight-laced images until glamorous lead singer Phyllis McGuire began a scandalous romance with notorious Chicago mafia boss Sam Giancana.

Giancana was drawn to McGuire when he saw her performing with her sisters at The Desert Inn in 1959. He subsequently arranged to cancel the large debt she owed the casino. Even though McGuire testified before a grand jury in 1965 that she and Giancana were just friends, she later admitted they’d had a romantic relationship. Still, she explained in a televised interview that she did not know who he was when they first met.

In love but feeling pressure to end the romance since the bad publicity was heavily damaging the McGuire Sisters’ career and upsetting their parents, she was conflicted. Besides taking a toll on her professional life, McGuire was also caught up in an FBI investigation targeting Giancana. The agents even planted listening devices in her bedroom.

The couple was together for a number of years. But McGuire eventually became involved with oil-man Edward “Tiger Mike” Davis, and Giancana was shot to death by an undetermined assailant in 1975. Giancana and McGuire’s passionate relationship was depicted in the 1995 HBO movie Sugartime.^[9]

1 Marilyn Monroe

In light of Marilyn Monroe’s wild, sometimes scandalous lifestyle, it almost seems par for the course that she would have dated a gangster at some point. However, Monroe, who was rarely one to do things on a small scale, has been romantically linked to numerous high-profile criminals, including ladies man Sonny Franzese and reportedly Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana.

Marilyn was a very different type from the woman Giancana was most famously involved with, the clean-cut singer Phyllis McGuire. Something that has received a lot of attention is, according to many sources, Giancana was with Monroe on her last full night alive, during which he tried to talk her out of going public about her alleged affair with President John F. Kennedy.

Her romance with Franzese was part of a love triangle with her ex-husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, who was still in love with her. The memorable evening that Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at Madison Square Garden, DiMaggio was chasing Franzese around the arena in an attempt to confront him about the affair. Franzese was trying to avoid the meeting because he admired DiMaggio. As he later claimed, he was ashamed of himself for getting involved with Monroe.^[10]

Our first films were silent, making that era in filmmaking an artistic wild west. Many rules and regulations had yet to be created, mainly because a lot of the accidents that prompted them were still occurring.

In many silent films, lead actors performed their own stunts. Also, in these films, the stunts performed were batsh*t crazy. When you combine that with the stars’ personal lives, which seemed to be an epic mishmash of drama and scandal, you get an era full of stories that just get crazier and crazier.

That’s where this list comes in: bringing together ten stories about silent film stars that nonetheless scream crazy.

Related: 10 Shocking Facts About Silent-Era Hollywood

10 Stunt Pilot Ormer Locklear

Green screens, mechanical rigs, and special effects help actors and actresses with absolutely zero qualifications drift through high-speed chases, fly TIE fighters, and even battle the odd dragon or two. But back when movies were still new, and people’s imaginations were wild, you would just have to do it all yourself.

That brings us to Ormer Locklear—one of the most famous stunt pilots of his day and inventor of such feats as the “wing walk” (which is exactly what it sounds like and obviously absurdly dangerous). After achieving mainstay success as a daredevil superstar in The Great Air Robbery in 1919, Locklear’s hubris would catch up to him when he unsuccessfully pulled out of a nighttime dive for the 1920 film The Skywayman during its final day of shooting, killing both himself and his co-pilot. Sadly, neither of these films has survived to this day, although his legacy would remain.

9 The Falling House—Buster Keaton

Today, stunt doubles are a mainstay in the film industry. Buster Keaton is one of the prime examples of why stunt doubles are a necessity…and also why even stunt doubles have their limits.

Buster “The Great Stone Face” Keaton was known for some of the greatest acting chops in history; he would also become unparalleled in his physical prowess. Not only would he perform dangerous stunts, including car crashes, explosions, and fight scenes without doubles, he would actually double for other actors and do their crazy stunts too.

There weren’t any rules—this is art we’re talking about here! This would come to a head in 1928’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. when an actual freaking house was dropped on him, and he thankfully was placed in the exact spot to pass through a window instead of being, you know, crushed to death. Move over, Wicked Witch of the East, he made this look like child’s play.

8 Jean Harlow in “Kill and Be Killed”

In the 1930s, few silent film star actresses were better-known than Jean “Baby” Harlow. She would explode into stardom as a rich L.A. socialite after an unintentional meeting with Fox executives—while driving her friend to auditions, no less. This “Blonde Bombshell” found further success in “Platinum Blonde,” a 1931 hit that inspired women worldwide to bleach their hair to match…with weekly applications of harsh chemicals such as ammonia, Clorox bleach, and soap flakes. And that’s just the beginning of where things seem to take a dark turn.

Baby was said to have mob connections, had nude photos taken of her at age 17, and her second husband was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head shortly after their wedding. She was also plagued with severe illnesses throughout her short life and continued to film through hypothesized kidney failure in 1937.

Baby died only a week later after being sent home. Rumors about her death would circulate for years afterward and captivate the country just like Baby did. However, it’s not so unbelievable that someone who once claimed to be a descendent of Edgar Allen Poe (or, at least, MGM marketed her as such to distinguish her from her peers) would die such a young, tragic death.

7 The Latin Lover Lied

Rudolph Valentino was huge in his time. The Italian actor developed a tremendous following, primarily female, by being one of the film industry’s earliest sex symbols. In fact, the popular nickname “Latin Lover” was coined specifically for Valentino. Alongside his other nom de sex, “The Great Lover,” it is clear that Valentino was the absolute epitome of masculine appeal. While that was true for his professional career, in his personal life, Valentino had little use for his way with women. Only decades after his death did people en masse begin realizing: Valentino was gay.

On the rare occasions in which Valentino’s sexuality was questioned during his life, the actor reacted like a raw nerve, quickly and instinctually. When one Chicago Tribune reporter labeled him a “Pink Powder Puff,” Valentino responded by challenging the writer to a boxing match. More than just being culturally taboo, admitting he was gay would have been career suicide for the Latin Lover.

6 Thelma Todd’s Impossible Suicide

The “Ice Cream Blonde” Thelma Todd was a comedy superstar in the ’20s and ’30s. Until, that is, her premature death in 1935 when she was only 29. After Todd was found dead inside her car, an autopsy and several investigations ruled her death as a suicide, which still stands today. That hasn’t stopped the speculation that foul play was involved, and some evidence at the scene supports that idea.

As the Chicago Tribune writes: “While a grand jury ruled that Todd committed suicide, it was unable to explain her broken nose, the bruises around her throat, and two cracked ribs. Apparently, the grand jury thought Todd also beat herself to death.” That, combined with unofficial claims that her blood-alcohol level was unnaturally high and her immaculate shoes (which would have been impossible to be clean if she had walked the 500 feet through the mud to get to the garage where her car was parked) leave questions in the minds of many.

5 Enemy of the State—Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin was one of the biggest stars of the silent film era. He was a wildly talented actor, comedian, and dancer, and—according to the United States government—a no-good, dirty commie. In fact, Chaplin was one of the earliest stars ever “blacklisted,” as the term grew out of McCarthyist hearings attempting to shun Un-American individuals and destroy their influence.

Due to his simple refusal to answer any questions about his political views, he was officially labeled a security risk and a communist (or, in their words, a Bolshevik). While overseas promoting his film Limelight, Chaplin was informed that the U.S. Attorney General had made it official: Chaplin was no longer allowed to re-enter the United States.

He spent the rest of his days living in Switzerland, his film career never at its pre-accusal peak. Finally, in the last years before his death, the political atmosphere shifted enough that he began to be celebrated stateside once more.

4 Weekend at Barrymore’s

Celebrated dramatic actor John Barrymore, known for both stage and screen, died in 1942 from a combination of ailments, all brought on by decades of alcohol abuse. He was 60 at the time, and his career had been long and lauded, so it wasn’t quite the untimely tragedy common to so many Hollywood actors. Instead, what makes Barrymore’s death so interesting is what his friend then did with his body.

A group of Barrymore’s friends, including legendary director Raoul Walsh, actually stole the late actor’s body from the morgue and brought it to the home of also-legendary actor Errol Flynn. They then propped it up and left it for Flynn to discover when he arrived home as a macabre prank. Though some sources have denied the prank ever occurred, Barrymore’s granddaughter Drew Barrymore (yes, that one) confirmed that the story was indeed true during her appearance on Hot Ones.

3 Fatty Arbuckle: Murderer?

Depending on who you ask, Roscoe Arbuckle, better known as Fatty, was either a violent murderer or a tragic patsy for a troubled woman. Either way, the actor/writer/director’s career has long since been overshadowed by one scandal: his alleged rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe.

While attending a party hosted by Arbuckle, Rappe was found ill and taken to a hospital. There, she accused Arbuckle of raping her and, three days later, died from a ruptured bladder. This ignited a media frenzy and perhaps the trial of the century. And a second trial. And a third trial. Though Arbuckle was eventually acquitted of all charges and even issued a formal apology by one of his juries, the black spot on his image was too dark, and his career in Hollywood rapidly faded away.

2 The Cold Case of William Desmond Taylor

We still don’t know how William Desmond Taylor died. We likely never will. That’s because almost every detail of the case is crazy. Let me explain.

Despite Taylor having an apparent bullet hole in his back, a fake daughter announces his death to be a natural one via stomach hemorrhage. The lack of a break-in and money on Taylor’s person—but not in his bank account—was all still accounted for. There are delusional statements Taylor made in the days leading up to his death. There is a report by local authorities that someone had told them to ease off their investigation. AND there are also the literal hundreds of confessions made by several acquaintances and strangers alike.

Watch the attached video for a start—the Ghoul Boys will get you hooked on this true murder mystery.

1 Most Expensive Scene Ever—Buster Keaton

Adjusted for inflation, it is likely that the single most expensive scene in movie history: the train crash from Buster Keaton’s The General. Keaton, who starred in and directed the film, received a $750,000 budget, equivalent to around $12 million today. Keaton chose to spend an undisclosed large fraction of that money on one scene.

The scene shows a two-car train attempting to cross a burning bridge, failing, and collapsing into a river. In typical silent film-era fashion, all of it was real. The train, the bridge, the fire, the river, the crash. Keaton actually bought the train and demolished it. Because of this, he only had one possible take, so he set up six cameras at once to ensure the stunt wasn’t wasted.

Extreme body transformations are one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood. Now that comic book-based movies dominate the cultural zeitgeist, casting larger-than-life actors requires a little more than a few pushups and good lighting.

Christian Bale showed how black coffee, one apple, and one can of tuna per day could take him from Batman shape to dangerously emaciated within a span of four months. Matt Damon, Jared Leto, and Matthew McConaughey are no strangers to jumping up and down the scale for movie roles. In the superhero genre, there’s nowhere to go but up. Up the food intake. Up the supplements. Up the muscle. When millions of dollars and the future of major franchises are at stake, everyone has got to look the part.

Some stars credit chicken, broccoli, and clean living for their muscly makeovers. Others have admitted to more…say…intense methods to achieve peak cape shape. It may have been either keto and CrossFit or dehydration and deadlifts. These ten devoted actors pushed their bodies to another level by whatever means necessary.

Related: 10 Comic Book Moments That Drew Unwanted Controversy

10 Chris Hemsworth: Thor

Fitness has always played a part in Chris Hemsworth’s life. In earlier roles like Star Trek and Cabin in the Woods, Hemsworth was in good shape, but not god shape.

Hemsworth stated, “In the comic strip, Thor looks to be around 500lb, so obviously that wasn’t my goal.” He added that he wanted to “look the part and be as powerful as strong as I could while still maintaining that element of agility.”

Hemsworth enlisted the help of personal trainer Michael Knight (not the one from Knight Rider) to push him into true superhero shape. When asked about Hemsworth’s workout regimen, Knight reported that the routine was split into two parts; “The first was a bodybuilder-type protocol focused on high-weight, low-rep moves designed to pack on maximum size, while the second was total-body circuits designed to shift his excess fat while maintaining muscle.”

Hemsworth stated that he ate a protein-heavy diet and used monitored dehydration to make his muscle fibers pop. His trainer has gone on record as saying that he wouldn’t recommend his Thor diet and exercise regimen to others as it is not a sustainable model.^[1]

9 Henry Cavill: Superman

Unlike Kal-El, Henry Cavill is but a mere human. His transformation for Man of Steel required heaps of calories, exercise, and mental grit. Early in his acting career, Cavill’s physique could be described as “slim fit.” This was fine for his roles in The Tudors and Immortals, but it wouldn’t cut the mustard as Superman.

To achieve a believable Kryptonian body, Cavill turned to Mark Twight, the man who whipped the cast of 300 into fighting shape. Cavill trained up to two-and-a-half hours a day, four to five days a week. To pack on muscle and help with exercise recovery, Cavill consumed around 5,000 calories each day. This was largely meat, vegetables, and protein shakes. He has owned up to enjoying some pizza and other cheat meals during the grueling six-month process.

Utilizing bodybuilding and CrossFit workouts, Cavill packed on 18 pounds of muscle while keeping his body fat below 10%. Results like this would be nigh impossible for the average Joe. Cavill has openly stated that while steroids were an option, both he and Mark Twight were dead set against it. When asked why he took the tougher route, Cavill said, “To take a shortcut to that place is nothing that Superman would do.”^[2]

8 Chris Evans: Captain America

Apparently, Chris Evans used to skip leg day. As his fitness trainer Simon Waterson stated, “He just trained his biceps, and his chest, and his abs, and that was it. He could do a lot of pushing exercises but not a lot of pulling exercises. So he didn’t deadlift, he didn’t do many pull-ups, he didn’t have very overdeveloped legs.”

Since Waterson didn’t have a vial of super-soldier serum in his back pocket, he opted for a workout plan that would not only build muscle but also even out lagging body parts. Waterson claimed that they used a combination of heavy lifting and dynamic circuits, focusing on both “the aesthetic and the athletic.”

Evans’s diet leaned heavily on protein, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and supplements. In an interview, Evans reported, “Supplement-wise, I used a bit of glutamine, whey protein shakes, branched-chain amino acids, then 500 mg of Omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids.”^[3]

Based on Evans’s physique throughout the Marvel films, it appears he really can do this all day.

7 Hugh Jackman: Wolverine

Rather than showing up to the set of X-Men in Wolverine shape, Jackman’s physique gradually became more savage throughout the first three films. He reached his peak condition 13 years after his first appearance as the clawed mutant.

Jackman had been more of a song and dance man before being cast in X-Men (2000). He was by no means in bad shape, but his shirtless scenes were kept to a minimum. That went out the window by the time production began on 2013’s The Wolverine. In preparation for The Wolverine and Logan (2017), Jackman recruited fitness expert Dave Kingsbury.

Like others on this list, Jackman consumed mass amounts of meat, fish, vegetables, rice, and oatmeal. One key element, according to Kingsbury, was carb cycling. Jackman ate carbohydrates before 3:00 pm on training days and essentially eliminated them every other day. Supplement-wise, Jackman used pre-workout, creatine monohydrate, carnitine, and branch-chained amino acids. Hugh’s workout plan was as regimented as his diet. Kingsbury put Jackman on a four-week weightlifting program focused on progressively higher weight the first three weeks and lighter weight the fourth.

While the details were intricate, the exercises themselves weren’t. Jackman stuck to mostly bench press, pull-ups, squats, and deadlifts…everything a growing boy needs.^[4]

6 Chris Pratt: Star Lord

During his Parks & Recreation days, Chris Pratt looked as though he could be a guardian of the donuts, but not the galaxy. To become Star Lord, Pratt utilized both a fitness trainer and a nutritionist to boost his body from flab to fab.

Dr. Phil Goglia overhauled Pratt’s diet to contain “clean” food and supplements. Pratt reported supplementing with whey protein, a testosterone booster, branch chain amino acids, and fat burners. Although Pratt was trying to drop body fat, his overall caloric intake was increased to complement his intense training regimen.

Pratt worked with ex-Navy SEAL Duffy Gaver to put those calories to work. Pratt spent five months putting in four to six training sessions each week. He utilized a bodybuilding training style by focusing on different muscle groups each session. The results spoke for themselves: Pratt dropped over 60 pounds (27 kilograms) while adding lean muscle to his physique.

While his weight has fluctuated somewhat since Guardians of the Galaxy, he has managed to avoid slipping back to his Andy Dwyer bod.^[5]

5 J.K. Simmons: Commissioner Gordon

J.K. Simmons has starred in two major superhero movies but has never played a superhuman. That didn’t stop him from going to shred city in preparation to play James Gordon in 2017’s Justice League.

The 61-year-old Whiplash star brought on esteemed trainer-to-the-stars Aaron Williamson to build him into the grizzled police commissioner. Williamson said in an interview with Business Insider, “He wants to have some ‘beefing’ guns to show people that he is just not that guy that does Farmers commercials.”

Williamson put Simmons on a two-workout program and mapped out a muscle-bulking meal plan. Three to four days per week, Simmons would ride his bicycle to the gym before warming up with 15 minutes of cardio. Workout #1 focused on chest/back/shoulders, and Workout #2 was all arms and abs (as evidenced by the Instagram pictures he posted then).

Simmons’s diet was like others on the list: Lean meat, veggies, oats, and a few squares of dark chocolate as “cheats.” Considering he wouldn’t have to display his new body in Justice League, the effort he made was impressive… even if he was skipping leg day.^[6]

4 Kumail Nanjiani: Kingo

Kumail Nanjiani put in the extra effort on his way to becoming Kingo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Chase the pain” was the Silicon Valley star’s training mantra.

Nanjiani trained five days a week for the year leading up to shooting Eternals. The bulk of this was with trainer Grant Roberts. He spent the first six months bulking. Utilizing “old school” lifts and electric stimulation devices, Nanjiani focused purely on gaining size.

Next was a “sculpting” phase. This involved classic bodybuilder workouts, drop sets (weight goes up as the reps go down), and cable machines to achieve maximum muscle growth. Nanjiani ate four meals a day, with one cheat meal per week. His diet consisted mainly of eggs, chicken, rice, fish, avocados, and protein bars. In addition, he used a simple supplement stack of pre-workout, whey protein, vitamins, and cod liver oil.

Nanjiani has no plans to test his new physique out in a boxing ring or MMA cage. When asked if he felt he was now more intimidating, he stated, “Not at all. These muscles are useless. They’re decorative.”^[7]

3 Brie Larson: Carol Danvers

“Nine months of training really does some stuff to your body.” Truer words were never spoken by Captain Marvel star Brie Larson. The actress had already attained a lean, sinewy physique for her role in the film Room. But prepping to play Carol Danvers required taking her baseline to the next level.

Larson worked with trainer Jason Walsh of Rise Movement to get her body in Marvel shape. Walsh told Men’s Journal that Larson’s routine focused on mobility work, activation work, and then primary strength exercises. Walsh said, “That could be a squat aspect, bilateral exercises, unilateral moves, hip-hinge work, and a lot of hip thrusting and posterior chain work. Then we’d do circuits of secondary exercises—basically everything other than those primary moves.”

This included a deadlift, back and biceps routine, and a squats, glutes, and legs routine. For her diet, Larson started eating paleo before moving into a “clean food” diet or high protein and low carb food. She supplemented her training with creatine monohydrate.

The grind to get in Carol Danvers shape yielded one unexpected outcome: Larson reached her goal of being able to perform one-armed pull-ups.^[8]

2 Tom Holland: Spider-Man

It’s fortunate for Tom Holland that Peter Parker isn’t built like Thor Odinson. Holland had just been required to lose weight for his previous film, leaving him just six weeks to transform his svelte figure into that of the agile web-slinger.

With the help of trainer George Ashwell, Holland added an impressive 15.5 pounds (7 kilograms) of muscle to his 5’8″ (173-meter) frame. Because time was of the essence, Holland worked with Ashwell every day of those six weeks.

His routine focused on compound movements and functional exercises. This would help Holland fill out the Spidey suit a bit while improving movement and agility. This required stretching, deadlifts, incline bench presses, dips, bear crawls, dumbbell thrusters, renegade rows, chin-ups, and running. For recovery, Holland spent 30 minutes on the massage table after each session.

To keep body fat low while building muscle, Ashwell put Holland on a “two-fist” bulking plan. That meant that each meal eaten contained two fist-sized portions each of protein, carbs, and greens. For supplementation, he kept it simple, using collagen, Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins. For the third Spider-Man film, he also incorporated muscle stimulation devices into his workouts.^[9]

1 Natalie Portman: Jane Foster/Mighty Thor

When Natalie Portman throws herself into film roles, she takes it to the next level of dedication. She shaved her head for V for Vendetta and emaciated herself for her role in Black Swan.

Now that she is taking up the mantle of Thor, another radical body renovation was necessary. This time, the goal was to pack on lean muscle. Portman generally stays fit by running and practicing “Gyrotonic” exercises (Imagine a blend of yoga, tai-chi, and gymnastics).

Trainer Naomi Pendergast worked with Portman for four months before shooting, then all through production. Regarding her preparation for the latest Thor film, Portman has been tight-lipped about her actual routine. She did reveal to Vanity Fair, “We did a lot of weight training and a lot of protein shakes—heavyweight training that I haven’t ever done before.”

Portman has been a vegan or vegetarian since she was nine years old. To fuel her workouts, she took in a lot of iron-rich veggies, fruit, almond milk, leafy greens, oatmeal, and pasta. Her supplement regimen was simple: Vitamin D and a monthly Vitamin B-12 shot.

When asked by television host Andy Cohen if she had a workout plan like co-star Chris Hemsworth’s, Portman said, “Yes, I am training, and I’m in so much pain. Like, I’m not good at this.” Good or not, the results have spoken for themselves. She is worthy.^[10]

It’s terribly unsettling when someone goes missing. Loved ones must deal with uncertainty and terror as they struggle to find out what happened. Police officers and detectives work around the clock to find answers. All the while, the missing person is just… gone. In the best case scenarios, that person is miraculously found and returned to their loved ones. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen.

When the missing person is well known, the emotional upheaval is magnified even further. In the case of pro athletes and amateur sports stars like the ones on this list, their disappearances brought shock to many. Fans who’d grown accustomed to watching them compete heroically were left without answers about their fates. Sadly, the star athletes on this list were never seen again after going missing. Loved ones may yet hold out hope, but answers haven’t come. What happened after their final known moments may never be revealed.

10 Bison Dele

Bison Dele was born Brian Williams but asked others to refer to his chosen name after reaching the NBA. His basketball career started slowly, but Dele persisted through the 1990s. While hopping from team to team, he won a championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1997. Two years later, the Detroit Pistons offered him a $35 million contract. It should have been the culmination of his long career as a journeyman, but he turned it down.

In fact, Dele walked away from the game altogether that year. He was seeking something else in life. So he bought a yacht and sailed halfway around the world. Dele was in the South Pacific Ocean in 2002 with his girlfriend, Serena Karlan, his older brother, Miles Dabord, and the captain Dele had hired named Bertrand Saldo.

Something horrible happened out in the deep ocean near Tahiti. Dele, Karlan, and Saldo disappeared. Months later, Dabord reappeared with the yacht, but there was no sign of the other three. Immediately, people wondered whether Dabord had killed the group. Journalists descended on Tahiti looking for clues. Reports suggested potential problems between the brothers, but nothing conclusive came out.

The FBI had little evidence to go on in the deep sea disappearance. As it turned out, they didn’t have much time to seek justice, either. Dabord died of an insulin overdose less than three months later. He took whatever knowledge anyone may have had with him in death. Dele, Karlan, and Saldo have never been seen again.^[1]

9 Mamie Konneh Lahun

Mamie Konneh Lahun was Sierra Leone’s best long-distance runner. In fact, as a 24-year-old in 2014, she was quickly developing into one of the world’s best marathoners. Her coronation came at the London Marathon that year when she finished 20th. The running world was ecstatic with the impressive finish for the young runner. Analysts believed Lahun had a bright future in the sport. But then, after the race, she just disappeared. Officials were flabbergasted. She had no money on her, no belongings, and no passport. She just had her running outfit on her back. But instead of celebrating what should have been a great marathon finish, she just vanished.

Initially, Sierra Leonean officials worried something awful had happened to her. London police investigated, but they never turned up anything. Sports directors began to wonder whether Lahun had absconded from the event to declare political asylum. If she did, she never came forward to make the immigration request. She was simply gone. Lahun’s loved ones received a shot of hope when a news report later suggested she had been found “safe and well.” However, those reports were later retracted. Investigators were back to square one, with no insight into her whereabouts.

Back in Sierra Leone, her friends were shocked at the situation—and sad about the end of her promising running career. “It’s tragic because her result was just so good,” Lahun’s manager told The Guardian. “She doesn’t know how good she is.” A fellow Sierra Leonean athlete agreed. “If she comes [home], it’s good for her career,” runner Idrissa Kargbo said after Lahun vanished. “If she doesn’t, her career is over. She will have to forget about running.” To this day, Lahun has never been found.^[2]

8 John Brisker

John Brisker was a formidable basketball player. The powerful forward starred for the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1970s. Fans loved his physical play. He was talented and volatile—a difficult court combo but a successful one. But after years of skirmishes with opponents, Brisker tired of basketball. In 1975, he left the NBA.

He soon became a father and was drawn to new business goals to support his family. In 1978, he opened an import-export business. The new venture meant he had to travel to Uganda. At the time, the African nation was ruled by dictator Idi Amin. Political dissidents were under fire. A violent and oppressive group was in charge. That year, while on a trip to the capital city of Kampala, Brisker spoke to his girlfriend by telephone. It was the last time anyone heard from him.

Soon, outlandish (and almost certainly false) tales of Brisker’s death spread. Some said he was killed by Amin’s supporters and served “banquet style” to the dictator. Another rumor alleged he was shot at a dinner party after dishonoring a local politician. One particularly crazy conspiracy claimed Brisker left Uganda for South America, where he died in the Jonestown Massacre. There was never evidence to support those theories, but Brisker’s disappearance was a mystery.

His family didn’t even know where he was. One brother thought he might have actually gone to Nigeria instead of Uganda. Mainstream news outlets got in on unfounded claims, too. In 1980, the Associated Press claimed he’d been shot. That report was never substantiated, either. In 1985, Brisker was declared legally dead. Today, no one knows what happened to the former NBA star.^[3]

7 Trevor Moore

Trevor Moore was one of the best young sailors in America when he disappeared on the open ocean. He had been a key part of the 2012 U.S. Olympic sailing team. In the skiff event that year, he placed 15th—an impressive showing at just 27 years old against high-level international competitors. His future in the sport looked very bright. After that early achievement, he began prepping wholeheartedly for the 2016 Olympic Games. Sadly, he never made it to the event.

On a calm day in June 2015, Moore took a boat out onto South Florida’s Biscayne Bay. It was an otherwise normal day. The weather was good. Moore knew the bay well. He’d been sailing in the area since he was just seven years old. But something happened in the water, and Moore vanished. The Coast Guard was called in and spent days searching for him. Sadly, they never found any sign of the sailor. Moore’s loved ones were heartbroken after they called off the search.

Immediately, loved ones began to wonder what had happened. The Olympian was just 30 years old, so an onboard medical emergency was unlikely. But still, nobody had any answers. The sailing star’s college coach told The Washington Post that something unexpected must have happened on the boat. “The more time you spend around the water, you learn to love and respect the powers of the ocean,” Scott Iklé told the newspaper. “I think for all of us, something happened, and we’ll never know what.”^[4]

6 Urgel Wintermute

Urgel “Slim” Wintermute was the most talented member of the University of Oregon’s juggernaut 1939 basketball team. The lanky, slim center was the star of the “Tall Firs.” The group was known by that name thanks to their impressive height and the fact that their home arena was in the tree-covered Pacific Northwest. Wintermute led them to glory in the NCAA Basketball Tournament that year too. Ducks coach Howard Hobson called him “the best center in the country” in 1939. “I’ve always said that he was the best defensive center I’ve ever coached,” Hobson added. “In fact, he’s the best collegiate defensive center I’ve ever seen.”

Slim’s pro career came long before the NBA was formed. So, sadly, he had limited opportunities after Oregon. He played a few years on a pro team in Detroit and later coached another one in Portland. But basketball soon faded from his life, and Wintermute’s on-court exploits became memories.

The tall star took a job at Boeing in the 1950s. For years, he peacefully worked and raised a family while remembering his glory days. But in 1977, he vanished. Slim had been in a boat on a local lake with a friend. His buddy went to take a nap, and when he woke up, the basketball legend was gone. Neither detectives nor family members believed the friend had anything to do with Slim’s disappearance. But they had no answers for why he’d gone missing.

The former Oregon star had suffered a heart attack seven years earlier, and cops wondered if he’d had another medical emergency and fallen overboard. But even after dredging the lake, Slim’s body was never found. To this day, no one knows what happened to the hoop legend.^[5]

5 3 Congolese Handball Players

The 2014 World Junior Handball Championships were supposed to be a wonderful event for athletes. Held in Zagreb, Croatia, the tournament featured hundreds of players from dozens of countries. Among the nations invited was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The war-torn central African country sent a group of female handball stars to Croatia with high hopes. Sadly, during the tournament, three of their athletes vanished. According to local news reports, 18-year-old Laetitia Mumbala Mayunga, 19-year-old Julie Betu Mvita, and 20-year-old Mirnelle Kele Mazenga all absconded from the DRC’s team hotel.

At first, Croatian leaders expected them to turn up soon and claim asylum. Considering the DRC’s significant internal problems, it’s likely the political plea would have been granted. But when tournament directors went to the hotel to investigate, what they saw puzzled them. All three women had left behind their passports, which they would have needed to claim asylum. All of their personal belongings were in their hotel too. Cops initiated an investigation, but nothing came of it. Weeks went by, and the women weren’t found. They never turned up to claim asylum, either. After six weeks and no answers, police declared the young women had simply vanished into thin air.^[6]

4 Jim Robinson

During his boxing career, Muhammad Ali fought 50 different men in 61 fights. Many of those bouts were iconic, and Ali’s legend has withstood the test of time. Zealous fans have gone to great lengths to collect memorabilia from the boxer’s career. In 1999, one fanatic named Stephen Singer decided to take things a step further. He wanted the signatures of all 50 of Ali’s opponents.

So over the next four years, he went on an expedition for autographed memorabilia. He tracked down old boxers and bought photos and artifacts at auctions. By 2003, he had spent about $35,000. For the money, he’d been able to obtain the signatures of 49 of the men who fought Ali. The only one missing was a little-known boxer named Jim Robinson. And no matter what Singer did, he couldn’t find the former fighter.

Robinson faced Ali—then known as Cassius Clay—in the legend’s fourth fight in Miami in February 1961. Jim was a last-minute replacement for another fighter. Ali wasn’t a superstar yet, but his talent was undeniable. Robinson was overpowered and knocked out in the first round. While Ali’s career flourished, Jim languished in low-level Miami bouts. He ended up winning just 14 of 46 career fights. When his time in the spotlight ended, Jimmy vanished.

“He was a man of limited skills and education, and when his boxing career was over, he just kind of disappeared into the sunset,” Singer told ESPN during his search. “He was like hundreds of fighters who look to boxing for the American dream, and when they fall, there’s no net to catch them. There are lots of Jimmy Robinsons.” By the early 2000s, Singer was so confused by Robinson’s disappearance that he contacted journalist Wright Thompson. The sportswriter spent six years searching for Jimmy, but he came up empty. Nobody knows what happened to Robinson after his bout with Ali.^[7]

3 Angelo Cruz

Angelo Cruz was a New York City streetball legend. Growing up in the Bronx in the 1980s, Cruz made a name for himself on playground courts across the city. He was short, at just 5’7″, but he was lightning quick and blessed with great court vision. His rough-and-tumble street story resonated with Puerto Rican immigrants to the area. As he grew into a teenager, his basketball exploits became a source of local pride.

Cruz’s affiliated hoop career was varied. He played in high school games and tried to make a go of it in college, but nothing stuck. Too short for the NBA, he emigrated to Puerto Rico to pursue his basketball dreams. Everything came together on the island, and he became a superstar. He won two league championships on Puerto Rico’s pro circuit. He even represented the island at the 1988 Olympic Games. But time inevitably wore on.

By 1994, Cruz was retired from basketball and returned to New York City. He struggled with life after the game, though. Friends watched as he descended into drug use. He would go on benders and disappear for long periods of time. He always turned up, though. And while loved ones were worried about him, the ex-street ball legend acted as if nothing was the matter.

Then, in 1998, he disappeared again. This time, he never resurfaced. Family members held out hope that he would come back, but with each passing month, the likelihood diminished. Nobody has ever learned where Cruz ended up. By 2011, he was memorialized with a charity basketball game held in his honor.^[8]

2 The Cameroon Olympic Disappearance

The 2012 Olympic Games were London’s chance to show off its cosmopolitan beauty to the world. For some athletes who traveled thousands of miles, London also meant freedom. During the games, seven athletes from the African nation of Cameroon fled their team dwelling. Five of the central African sports stars were on the country’s boxing team. Soon after they left Cameroon’s quarters, they turned up at a London boxing gym. All five claimed political asylum and were quickly accepted into Britain.

Even though their Olympic careers ended early, they badly wanted a new start in a safe place. Other Cameroonians understood that drive. “The conditions in Cameroon are very difficult,” one of them told The Guardian at the time. “There are no opportunities here, and if you have the chance to go to the UK, it’s understandable that you would want to stay there.”

Sadly, two other athletes who disappeared from Cameroon’s contingent were never seen again. The two stars who went missing were later identified as women’s soccer goalie Drusille Ngako and men’s swimmer Paul Edingue Ekane. Their Olympic visas granted them access to the UK until November 2012. After that, they were required to apply for asylum if they wanted to stay. But according to the BBC, that never happened. In fact, neither Ngako nor Ekane ever turned up again. Now, a decade later, no one knows where the two athletes went after walking away from their Olympic dreams.^[9]

1 Rico Harris

Rico Harris had all the talent in the world as an amateur basketball player in Los Angeles. His storied high school career in the early 1990s became the stuff of legend. One former teammate praised him profusely, years later remembering Harris’s game-changing abilities. “He could do it all,” the teammate told Fox Sports. “He was Lamar Odom before Lamar Odom.”

During his amateur career, Harris’s name was on virtually every list of the best young basketball players on the west coast. But things weren’t as easy for Rico off the court. The volatile star wore out his welcome at several college stops. He lost scholarships and fell out of favor with coaches. As his NBA dreams faded before they ever began, Rico turned to other leagues. He tried his hand with the short-lived International Basketball League. In 2000, he signed on for “a brief stint” with the Harlem Globetrotters. Harris wasn’t a fit there, either, and the showy team jettisoned him.

Back on the streets of Los Angeles, Harris floundered. During an argument with another man, Harris was hit over the head with a baseball bat. He was just 24 years old, but the attack left him with a traumatic brain injury. Any hope for a basketball comeback was dashed. A decade later, Harris was trying to get on with his life. Then, in 2014, he landed a job interview in Washington.

On the drive from Los Angeles to Seattle after a brief visit with his mother, he was in constant communication with his girlfriend and mother. During one phone call with the former, he said he was going to stop and rest for a bit. Harris pulled off the highway to sleep. Nobody ever saw him again. His car was found hours later with a dead battery and no gas in the tank. There were no signs of foul play. An air and ground search of the area turned up nothing. Cops and family members were baffled, but they had no answers. Just as it had been with his untapped potential years before, Rico Harris had simply vanished.^[10]