Actor James Marsters spoke to Screen Rant about how Lex Luthor nearly had a completely different personality inDC Universe Online.Marsters reveals that he had just wrapped up shooting the animated filmSuperman Doomsday,where he had voiced a different kind of Lex Luthor. Thinking that he was called to recordDC Universe Onlinein the same tone, he nearly gave a similar performance for the game.
In choosing the tone forDoomsday, Marsters says he thought “‘It would be fun to do a quasi-Hugh Hefner sort of Lex Luthor,‘it was very subtle and slightly oily and charming at the same time,kind of soft tones and trying to seduce somebody is how I approached it.” Luthor in the film was described as being interested in Lois Lane, so Marsters decided to carry the voice and tone through all his lines, leading to a nuanced portrayal of the character.
“It was very subtle and slightly oily and charming at the same time, kind of soft tones and trying to seduce somebody is how I approached it.”
Marsters was called into the booth to actually see the character he was voicing andrealized that he had misjudged the tone to adopt for the voice.“I see the character rendering, or mock-up and Lex has got battle armor on, he’s got rocket launchers on both shoulders. I’m just like, ‘Oh, you want me to butch it up a little bit,’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, maybe a little bit!'” The end result was the much more fitting tone of the game’s playable gun-toting Luthor.
Marsters’ Lex Luthor Characters Are Very Different
The DC Universe Online Is Not As Subtle
James Marsters is well known for his acting in popular shows likeBuffy, Smallville,andRunaways.But Marsters has also taken on several voice acting roles in his career, including Lex Luthor’s voice inDoomsdayandDC Universe Online.
Leon Chills Interview: DC Universe Online Episode 45 [EXCLUSIVE]
Leon Chills discusses bringing iconic Milestone universe characters like Static and Rocket to DC Universe Online Episode 45: Shock to the System.
The version of Luther that appears inDoomsdayhas a more human personality. He is always hitting on Lois Lane, though not, according to Marsters, in a creepy way. By contrast,the Luthor inDC Universe Onlineis more like a mech than a human,going into fights with shoulder cannons blazing. Marsters adjusted his acting to accommodate this tonal shift, changing from the smooth and cool acting from the animated film to the morein-your-face super-villain of the game.
What’s Next For James Marsters?
Animation Needs Actors To Be Able To See Their Characters
James Marsters is currently working on a new puppet horror movie,Abruptio,where he voices the main character. The film will feature life-sized puppets, andMarsters admits he didn’t get to see the puppets before starting to record.
Generally, all Marsters needs is proper direction to get the character right. The actor describes trying to “find” the right voice forAbruptio’sprotagonist, without knowing too much about the character since the puppet creators were still “figuring it out” themselves.
Sometimes, though, it’s important to see the character being voiced, to avoid giving them entirely the wrong personality. If Marsters hadn’t seen the rendering of Lex Luthor fromDC Universe Online,fans may have gotten the “charming but oily” voice paired with the heavily armored and strapped-up villain from the online game.
