10 Best Villainous Voice Actors In The DC Animated Universe

4. Clancy Brown - Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor Justice League Unlimited
Warner Bros. Animation

Lex Luthor is Superman's oldest archenemy, squaring off with him for 80 years in the various Superman-led comics. Starting life as a stereotypical mad scientist, Luthor's character evolved, slowly becoming the wealthy, power-brokering, genius sociopath that he is today, driven by his hatred and jealousy of the Man of Steel.

Clancy Brown has perhaps one of the most distinctive voices in animation. His gravelly voice was like oil covering stainless steel, immensely charming and cultured one minute and full of menace the next. Brown's skill at comedy (perhaps honed by playing an animated money-grubbing crab for so long in SpongeBob SquarePants), could provide moments of understated humour that would make you laugh out loud just before he turned around to fire some experimental weapon at Superman.

He was one of the villains in the DCAU that you could almost root for because Brown played him as so damn sure of himself.

Despite being a constant roadblock for Superman and the other members of the Justice League, when called on Brown could give Lex a more human and heroic side, like during Superman's funeral in Hereafter, and in the finale to Justice League Unlimited. (No spoilers - make sure you watch it for yourself!)

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.