10 Best Villainous Voice Actors In The DC Animated Universe

6. Malcolm McDowell - Metallo

Lex Luthor Justice League Unlimited
Warner Bros.

It takes a certain personality to give voice to a hitman-turned-cyborg powered by kryptonite, and McDowell, a horror and sci-fi genre legend, had that personality.

John Corben was a mercenary when he crossed paths with Superman; during their first encounter Superman destroyed an experimental Lex Luthor-build suit of power armor that Corben was wearing. This began a string of events that ended with Luthor putting Corben's experienced mind for combat, tactics, and dirty tricks into a new cyborg body with a Kryptonite heart. Thus, Metallo was born.

McDowell portrayed Corben as a cold, calculating professional who was used to the finer things in life. After becoming Metallo, though, he reflected the frequent rage that Corben felt at being tricked into spending the rest of his life in a robotic body, unable to smell, eat, or feel.

While able to become explosively violent and ready to painfully kill Superman via Kryptonite at the drop of a hat, McDowell also captured the angst of a man forever trapped in a monstrous metallic body.

Contributor

Child of the Canadian '80s. Fan of Star Wars, Marvel (films), DC (animated films), WWE, classic cartoons. Enjoys debating with his two teenage sons about whether hand-drawn or computer animation is better but will watch it all anyways. Making ongoing efforts to catalogue and understand all WhatCulture football references.