First making waves as the character in the iconic Batman: The Animated Series, Mark Hamill marked his return to the Clown Prince of Crime in the 2009 breakout hit for Rocksteady studios, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Taking a premise first made famous by Die Hard and positioning The Joker in the role of puppeteer was absolutely fantastic, and it's fair to say that Hamill brought his A-game to the project. (not that he never does, of course) As Batman, players get to delight in the Joker's taunting voice blaring overhead via loudspeaker, leading to some absolutely stellar dialogue scripted by the great Paul Dini. The game's third act may falter under all its previous build-up, but Hamill is perfect in every single scene. https://youtu.be/FUNspPpwU9I?t=998 With such a standout performance being given every time the actor gets in the recording booth it's easy to see why the character went on to have a domineering presence in all the franchise's follow-ups, even if it did come at the detriment to variety. With Hamill now preoccupied with the Star Wars saga indefinitely, it would appear as though Arkham was his last hurrah as the character - a fitting end to his tenure in the role for sure.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
