While doing an AMA (Ask me Anything) on Reddit, Batman: Arkham Origins creative director, Eric Holmes confirmed the identity of Deathstroke’s voice actor.
By and large, I’m a pretty big fan of animation and voice acting. I have a strange fascination with people who can do multiple voices, but of course, I have a strong appreciation for the performance in the voice. You’d be hard-pressed to hear me extol a live-action on-camera actor as much as I would for a voice actor, I can tell you that. On-camera actors have the luxury of using their facial expressions, their hand gestures, their eyes, certain movements to convey an emotion, whereas voice actors have nothing but their voices and they still get the job done.
A couple of nights ago, we got some voice acting news direct from the source. Last Friday, creative director Eric Holmes and senior producer Ben Mattes graced Reddit with an AMA. For those unfamiliar (where’s that rock you’ve been living under?), AMA stands for Ask me Anything, which is a not-so-clever name for a Q&A session on the popular news website/forum Reddit. There, Eric Holmes revealed that Deathstroke will be voiced by the actor Mark Rolston.
Mark Rolston is known to most audiences for his on-camera roles in The Shawshank Redemption as Bogs Diamond and Aliens as Drake. Though us DC fans should know him as the most recent voice actor to play the incorrigible Lex Luthor, having voiced the character in the recently canceled Young Justice animated series and in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Prior to that, he played Firefly in the DC Animated Universe.
I can’t say I remember him in many of his live-action performances, but I certainly enjoyed him in his most recent stint as Luthor. Although I will never forget Clancy Brown’s rich, velvety voice behind Lex’s shiny dome, I wasn’t particularly upset with the cast change in Young Justice. With voice actors that I admire, I often pursue and research any information about them, but that was not the case with this new Luthor, but I will say that I wasn’t quite perturbed by the casting, which is to say a lot considering how I adamant I can be about my casting choices with certain mainstays in certain roles, e.g. Mark Hamill as the Joker, Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn, Kevin Conroy as Batman, etc. Based on what can be heard in the trailers, I’d say it’s a pretty good casting.
Batman: Arkham Origins will be out October 25th, which is when I will be able to properly evaluate Mark Rolston.
What do you think? From what we’ve heard so far, do you think he’s a good Deathstroke? Or would you prefer the version known simply as Slade from the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Ron Perlman? Let me know.
Source – Reddit (via Gamespot)
