Voice Compare: DC edition

Started by Tomato, October 08, 2019, 08:24:32 PM

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Tomato

So every so often, I like to go on the website beyondthevoiceactors.com and look up different portrayals of different voice actors who have done various roles, notably those of comic book characters. Like many, I read comic with a particular voice in mind, particularly since I grew up watching the DC animated shows.

However, while obviously there's a preference there (I think most of us will admit to hearing Conroy and Hamill) others aren't so clear cut. Barry Allen, for example, wasn't in the dcau... The Flash was always Wally West in that series, and even though Michael Rosenbaum went on to voice Barry elsewhere, he's still specifically the Wally West Flash to me. Other characters, like Dick Grayson, have half a dozen solid voice actors so it's hard to say one is definitive over another.

I thought it'd be fun to compare notes, talk about who we hear for a character and why. I should also note that while I call out voice actors, this isn't limited to just animated roles. If you hear John Wesley Shipp as Barry, even though he never specifically "voice acted" the character, say so.

Anyway, just to keep this a bit focused, I figured we'd narrow our focus to ten characters for now. Most of these I expect people here to be on a similar wavelength with, but I'm curious to see how many people break ranks.

Batman
Superman
Wonder Woman
Barry Allen
Hal Jordon
Martian Manhunter
Aquaman
Green Arrow
Black Canary
Hawkgirl

BentonGrey

#1
Cool idea and cool topic, 'Mato!

Yeah, obviously, Kevin Conroy IS Batman.  Full stop.  But it's true, many of the others aren't as definitive.  For the most part, it's Timmverse all the way for me, but there are some gaps, and some of these are not as clearcut as others.  I suppose....


  • Batman: Conroy, obviously.
  • Superman: While I like the JLU version reasonably well, Tim Daly remains the gold standard for me.  He just has more depth and personality, more cheerful strength, in his voice than other actors.
  • Wonder Woman:  JLU was the gold standard for me, but going back and watching through it again over the years, there's a softness to her voice/delivery at times that I don't love.  I haven't heard any that I like better, however.  I'll be curious about what everyone else says about her.
  • Barry Allen: So, as you said, Barry is tough, largely because he just hasn't been voiced that much in distinctive ways.  I suppose I'd have to say the Brave and Bold version would be my go-to.  Barry should have a strong but light-hearted voice.  He benefits most from a more standard 'superhero' voice, methinks, bu the's got to have some humor and joy in his voice too.  Though brief overall, B&B's portrayal of Barry is also one of my favorites.
  • Hal Jordon: Similar problem, not many versions.  However, I think we do have a definitive version, and it is probably not the one that other folks would pick.  The animated series version of Hal is actually quite good, and his portrayal is pretty spot-on, but I think I would have to choose the really excellent version from The New Frontier.  However, if Nathan Fillion was ever given more space to really dive into the character, I feel like he would easily own the role.
  • Martian Manhunter: JLU, unquestionably.  Nothing else has captured the soulfullness, the hidden wit, and the depth of the character.
  • Aquaman: Also tough, because, although he's had several portrayals at this point, most of them have been pretty badly off, even if well done.  He's the 90s, Namor-lite character, complete with deep, gruff voice, in the Timmverse, one of the universe's very, very few missteps.  There are two different voice actors, though, and I think the JLU one is the better of the two.  He's got more lightness and humor...in that he has any at all.  His animated film, aside from being awful in general, also takes a similar approach to him.  B&B captures the personality a LITTLE better, though it swings too far in the other direction.  I have a lot more love for that John DiMaggio portrayal these days than I did at the time, but he's still just not right.  For me, I suppose I'd have to go with the classic version from his own show in the 60s.  It's a fairly flat portrayal, but it's fun and heroic, and just plain joyful.  He's enjoying his adventures.
  • Green Arrow: JLU, without a doubt.  He's got the perfect mix of snark and wit, seriousness and sarcasm.  The episode where he hums his own theme music is one of my favorite bits in the entire series.  That captures the character better than a zillion seasons of the grim n' gritty live-action bow and arrow murderer.
  • Black Canary: Same, though this is more of a matter of a lack of alternatives.  The JLU version is good, but not quite as definitive as some of the others.  Part of that is that she is outshined by Ollie.
  • Hawkgirl: JLU, once again, and once again, unquestionably.  Although the portrayal was pretty one-note at the beginning (whose wasn't?), the actress really brought a lot to the role and captured the character pretty perfectly by the end.  She's always been the more impulsive of her heroic pair (even back in the day), and though they ramp up her aggression in the beginning, they do capture more of her personality eventually as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to say!








God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
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Tomato

#2
So obviously I had some ideas for this list going in, but to be fair I did go back through


  • Batman: So I'm not going to beat around the bush, Kevin Conroy is 100% the best overall Batman voice, period. He balances both Bruce and Batman well, while adding an emotional warmth to the character, at least in the animated series, we haven't really seen much in the years since. However, I will say Bruce Greenwood (Under the Red Hood, Young Justice)'s portrayal, while not really great at distinguishing Bruce from Batman, is also very good and is probably my second choice.
  • Superman: This one is surprisingly tough. Daly and Newbern (STAS and JLU) both give great performances, and both add elements to the character that work well to their respective series. That said, I think Daly's performance is just a bit better, by virtue of having an entire series to develop the character vs Newbern having to share the spotlight with a full League.
  • Wonder Woman: Susan Eisenberg, but mostly because of her later work in the role (JL:Doom being a good example). Her portrayal in JL/JLU was good, but I agree with Benton that it's a bit too soft at times. However, given later portrayals give her more of an edge, I suspect a big part of that was as much direction and fear of alienating young boys as anything else. Were the series to exist now when WW is allowed to be more of a BA because of the film, I don't think we'd be having the same discussion.
  • Barry Allen: Barry's a bit tough because, but after going through the different portrayals, I think Neil Patrick Harris's portrayal (New Frontier) is my favorite version of the character. Neil's take on Barry is sort of old school (in keeping with the nature of the film) but the way he talks as Barry feels quick, but not impetuous like Rosenbaum often felt.
  • Hal Jordon: Meh. Much as I hate to say it, while I love Josh Keaton(GL:TAS) in a lot of other roles... in my mind, he was not the right fit for Hal. Now, don't misunderstand, I get WHY... they wanted a younger, more Ryan Reynolds type to play Hal for the show, and he works well enough even if I'm more partial to an older Hal. As for Fillion... I don't mind him per se, but he tends to be a bit too soft spoken sometimes for my taste, and some of his early performances weren't great. Going back through things, I think my favorite Hal is actually Christopher Meloni (GL: First Flight). He has that older more seasoned type voice, but brings an attitude to the role I think works quite well for Hal.
  • Martian Manhunter: Carl Lumbly (JLU), pretty easily. Not only does he perfectly capture J'onn's character, but he single handedly defined how the character would be portrayed from then on out.
  • Aquaman: Meh... I don't know about this one. What's frustrating is, going through the list of voice actors who've played the character there's a few who only get one line who I'd love to hear more from. Both Alan Ritchson (New Frontier) and Josh Keaton (Crisis on Two Earths) both have decent takes on the character, but because each only gets one line it's hard to extrapolate a whole range (and yes, I'm aware Alan also portrayed Aquaman in Smallville, but it's a completely different take). Of the characters who really got to voice him... I guess I prefer Scott Rummell (JLU) but none of them really fit the character very well.
  • Green Arrow: Kin Shriner, again from JLU. Don't get me wrong, I like arrow more than Benton, but as far as what I hear in my head when I read the comics version, it's the voice from JLU.
  • Black Canary: Honestly, I've gotta give this one to Vanessa Marshall (Young Justice). Part of that is because she has more to DO in YJ, but I also feel like her more sultry, whispery voice voice works better for a character whose power is blasting you back if she yells too loud.
  • Hawkgirl: Maria Canals (JLU), pretty easily. Part of that is my attachment to the JL cast, but tbh there really hasn't been another notable performance for the character in animation.

kkhohoho

When did Kevin Conroy voice Ollie?
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

Tomato

He didn't, I'm an idiot. I believe someone told me when I was younger that GA had the same VA as Batman, so I've always just... believed it without ever actually looking it up. It'll be fixed to Kin Shriner in a second.

Silver Shocker

Kevin Conroy did voice The Crimson Avenger in JLU though. Mind, he has one line of dialogue in a Batman-heavy episode, and JLU did that kinda thing a lot, so there you go.

On the topic of Susan Eisenberg, she reprises WW in DC Universe Online (replacing Gina Torres, who did the voice in early builds of the game) And as she is an NPC mentor leading other heroes into battle, she has a more commanding, sterner tone for much of her material. And a very cheesy shout out to Firefly ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal").

Not much to say. Pretty much all of the above characters get the JLU kudos for me if they were a major character in JLU (with the exception of Black Canary, who, yeah, I'd say was better voiced in YJ).

I have an interesting answer for Flash though. Post-crisis, my Barry voice is Rosenbaum, both because he voiced him in JL: Doom and because pretty much every version of Barry since, well, Grant Gustin in the CW series, has been written to basically BE the pre-flashpoint Wally (jokier, more of a dork, more in a learning stage of being the Flash, as opposed to the more mentor-esque version in YJ) Even Geoff Johns IMO tried to make him jokier in an attempt to sell him to the crowd that grew up on Wally, as opposed to the version that died in Crisis, who, well, was as boring as a lot of characters from comics made before 1986 or so.

On the topic of JLU, since Canada doesn't get the DC Streaming service, instead they got the rights to show a bunch of the DC shows on regular tv, and that includes syndicated reruns of Batman: TAS and JLU. So I've been rewatching JLU lately and it's quite pleasant to see just how well it holds up.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

kkhohoho

Quote from: Silver Shocker on October 12, 2019, 01:07:56 AM
Even Geoff Johns IMO tried to make him jokier in an attempt to sell him to the crowd that grew up on Wally, as opposed to the version that died in Crisis, who, well, was as boring as a lot of characters from comics made before 1986 or so.

I wouldn't go quite that far. There's plenty of characters made before 1986 that are interesting. I'd say it was more anyone from pre-Marvel that could often end up boring. Not that they didn't try to flesh some of those characters out once Marvel took the world by storm, and in a lot of cases they succeeded with aplomb. Just look at GA. But with others like Barry or Hal, it was much more of a struggle.
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

BentonGrey

Great stuff, guys!  Yeah, JLU reigns supreme in so very many ways.  Rosenbaum is good as Barry, but I prefer the more specific to character interpretations elsewhere, like in B&B.  Hmm, I could see Gina Torres doing quite a good WW.

'Mato, First Flight, interesting.  It has been a really long time since I saw that, but I remember it being good and a pretty solid take on the character.  As for your points on Aquaman, your choice is an interesting one, but that one line is just, as you say, very little to go on.  It is a great one line in Crisis.  I would like to hear more from that guy as Aquaman.

Ohh, yeah, the YJ BC is a good choice.  I think that might well be the more definitive interpretation, though she has some fantastic stories in JLU.

As for the side topic of Barry's personality (or lack thereof), I thought that the N52 run, despite its significant problems, nailed WHO he was pretty darn well, bringing to the surface much that was implicit in previous runs.  Barry had a personality in the 60s and 70s, it was just lightly drawn and hard to distinguish from the rather general 'heroic persona' which was the default for most DC characters.  Yet, looking back, you can see the character under the surface.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Tomato

To be more clear, I ultimately went with JLUs va (on mobile so Im not copying all the names this time) as the best option  for Aquaman, but only because he's the best out of what's available. I'd prefer a voice somewhere in the middle between the sternness of JLU, the regality of YJ, and the lighter edge of BatB.

Interestingly enough, I *did* discover that Josh Keaton (CoTE) has, in fact, voiced Aquaman elsewhere, specifically in a moba DC made called "infinite crisis". I have no knowledge of the game (I don't play mobas so if I heard about it I likely ignored it) and the servers are shut down, but one of these days I might pull it up, see if I can't pull the audio files to see if they're any good.

BentonGrey

Ahh, I misread, I see.  Yes, I agree.  I do rather like the characterization (what we see of it) of the YJ version, but having Phil Lamaar voice him means that I just hear John Stewart every time he opens his mouth.  The voice isn't quite right. 

Interesting!  If you ever do that, you'll have to share the results with us!
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

kkhohoho

I mean, Barry did have a personality.

It just wasn't a very compelling one.
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

Tomato

See, I always kinda got Hal's personality, especially after rebirth: hotshot ladies man pilot. A bit bare bones, but it was always there. No, I think the issue with Barry specifically is the fact that he spent so long as Saint Barry, the hero who died saving the Multiverse. Most of what we saw of him in the decades after his death was through the eyes of Wally West, who idolized Barry to a frankly unhealthy degree. For my generation, all there was for decades was comic book Saint Barry, with a touch or two of super friends if you happened to catch that on tv.

Because of that, so much of his original personality had been ground down in people's minds to be the perfect saint DC turned him into, so that even in his Rebirth book he remained basically a blank slate. It wasn't until later stories (n52 series, tv show) that they actually rebuilt his personality: an earnest but clumsy dude who wants to do the right thing using his powers and his mind. That personality was there before, as much as with any silver age character, but because he'd been deified for so long I think even the writers had to go back to the well to bring that personality forward.

kkhohoho

Yeah, I never saw that with Hal. They tried to make him something more, occasionally paying lipservice to being exactly what you describe. But when push comes to shove, he's the ultimate straight man. Not too outgoing, not too reserved. Not too aggressive, not too calm. Not too much of anything to stand out. There are moments where the writers try to paint him as more than that, sometimes going as far as to truly make him a hotshot in flashbacks of his early days or before he became Green Lantern. Or even going the other route and making him more reflective and contemplative. But beyond that, he's the personification of even-keeled. Which makes him bland and banal as all get out.

As for Barry, I don't think his Post-Crisis stuff has that much to do with it. Solo stuff aside, I've read his classic League appearances, and he comes off as a calm and laid back dude, if somewhat dull. Which is fine, but compared to any of the other Flashes, he doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Wally is DC's Peter Parker starting out, and even when he moves on from that, he still has more to him than Barry ever did. Jay has sheer charisma. And Bart is a hyperactive punk who (at least in the comics) was literally raised on videogames and doesn't know how the real world works as a consequence. If you put Barry next to any of the competition, is he really the one you'd most want to read about?
The Golden Age; 'A different look at a different era.'

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1089779/chapters/2193203

Tomato

Meant to get back to this sooner, but for the next batch I want to switch gears over to my favorite DC Superhero team, the Titans. I think this'll be more interesting comparatively, because I don't think there's as much of a clear domination in this case as there was by the DCAU, despite a similarly "definitive" take on the Titans existing during the same time.



  • Dick Grayson*:
  • Aqualad (Garth):
  • Kid Flash (Wally West):
  • Speedy (Roy Harper):
  • Wonder Girl (Donna Troy:
  • Beast Boy:
  • Cyborg:
  • Raven:
  • Starfire:
  • Terra:

*Note that Dick Grayson is not specific to his identity as Robin OR Nightwing. I'll leave it up to you guys if you want to pick a VA for Dick Grayson as a whole, or individual VAs for each identity.

Silver Shocker

#14
Had a nice long reply about Hal and Wally but the board ate it (twice. Though at least the second time I remembered to copy it. And yes, that happens a lot. When I post, I post HARD.) Short version: I apparently sparked a mini debate. Perhaps I phrased things poorly. What I should have said is I grew up with Kyle and Wally, and John Stewart in the JL cartoon, so my exposure to Hal and Barry was pretty much non-existent until Geoff Johns brought them both back. I probably say Barry was "boring" because a lot of fans closer to my age (such as Linkara) tend to describe him that way, and I probably absorbed that instead of firsthand knowledge of the comics.

As for saying characters from before 1986 were boring, that was just me a little too snarky. Truth is, the comics from the 60's forward had plenty of jokes and banter, it's just the humor has changed over time. A lot of the dialogue in older comics is pretty dang corny (case in point: I'm currently reading through the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans run, and Cyborg and BB have more than their fair share of groaners on hand) But Stan the Man made it pretty clear it was fully intended that way, Charlie!  :cool: Not sure how the Distinguished Competition was trying to sell it, though Marv Wolfman swears he was updating the "corny" dialogue that Bucky and Robin were saying that "no actual kid would ever say."

As I look through the thread though, I keep thinking of more angles....

Specifically:

QuoteI wouldn't go quite that far. There's plenty of characters made before 1986 that are interesting. I'd say it was more anyone from pre-Marvel that could often end up boring. Not that they didn't try to flesh some of those characters out once Marvel took the world by storm, and in a lot of cases they succeeded with aplomb. Just look at GA. But with others like Barry or Hal, it was much more of a struggle.

That's a very way of summing it up, as I understand it. Because I'm a stubborn one and apparently hate myself, I often try binge-read as much Golden Age Marvel (and the material that eventually became part of Malibu's body of work) as I can and to say that material has aged poorly is almost an understatement. There just wasn't a lot of depth or substance in terms of characterization (with many of the characters not even getting a civillian ID or origin story until much later) so it really highlights how much attention Marvel put into making these characters readers can connect to (as they say "Marvel is the world outside your door. DC is the heroes you look up to") and DC often went the broad and arch approach (Superman, ect). I've heard Wolfman and Perez Titans was where DC really started to get it to that "Marvel" level, and I can definitely see that reading those stories. Marv wrote in the foreward to the Titans collections that he was frustrated working on Marvel books like Marvel Team Up and yearned for something with solid team dynamics, heavy character developing, and long running plots, and Titans is very much that book. Interestingly, I find in that book Wally is one of the most underutilized characters in terms of deep characterization. His character in that is basically "Madly in love with Raven to a degree that would make Stan Lee proud." Strange how that got lost to time.  :cool:

QuoteNo, I think the issue with Barry specifically is the fact that he spent so long as Saint Barry, the hero who died saving the Multiverse. Most of what we saw of him in the decades after his death was through the eyes of Wally West, who idolized Barry to a frankly unhealthy degree. For my generation, all there was for decades was comic book Saint Barry, with a touch or two of super friends if you happened to catch that on tv.

Because of that, so much of his original personality had been ground down in people's minds to be the perfect saint DC turned him into, so that even in his Rebirth book he remained basically a blank slate. It wasn't until later stories (n52 series, tv show) that they actually rebuilt his personality: an earnest but clumsy dude who wants to do the right thing using his powers and his mind. That personality was there before, as much as with any silver age character, but because he'd been deified for so long I think even the writers had to go back to the well to bring that personality forward.

Ah, yes, so he's Gwen Stacy.  :P That pretty much checks out.  That also reminds me quite a bit of the Young Justice version of Wally West.

QuoteYeah, I never saw that with Hal. They tried to make him something more, occasionally paying lipservice to being exactly what you describe. But when push comes to shove, he's the ultimate straight man. Not too outgoing, not too reserved. Not too aggressive, not too calm. Not too much of anything to stand out. There are moments where the writers try to paint him as more than that, sometimes going as far as to truly make him a hotshot in flashbacks of his early days or before he became Green Lantern. Or even going the other route and making him more reflective and contemplative. But beyond that, he's the personification of even-keeled. Which makes him bland and banal as all get out.

Looking back to Hal, a perfect example of what I'm trying to articulate with Barry can be demonstrated with Ryan Reynolds playing Hal Jordan in the live action Green Lantern film. He's got the Maverick-from-Top-Gun backstory and the love interest, but because it's Ryan Reynolds, the inherent dorkiness and flippant attitude screams Kyle Raynor. Compare that to Nathan Fillion. Fillion is a cowboy - he literally voiced one in JLU and played one in live action in Firefly. That's Hal Jordan. John Wayne waltzing into town on his horse, all swagger, tipping his hat, Pilgrim. Ryan Reynolds isn't the cowboy. He's the party animal.

Dick Grayson: Dick Grayson (and Robin in general) is a very tricky business. Probably Jesse McCarthy from Young Justice. It helps that he grows as the show goes on. The "problem" with Robin in the world of voice acting is pretty much the same problem with Barry and Hal. Pretty much every version of Robin in animation is either A) an earnest version of the Burt Ward version B) An over the top parody (as seen in Lego Batman and Teen Titans Go) or C) a blatant amalgamation of Dick and Tim. (Batman TAS, The Batman). If we're talking about the comics, Jesse's the only one that's "honest" IMO about Dick Grayson (well, the guy from Brave and the Bold was pretty on point, but he was unmemorable. Jess wins because he was in way more episodes and had more material.) Jesse's also the only version that hangs with Batman AND other young heroes as a core component of the show/character. Otherwise "Titans Robin" (Scott Menville) and "Batman Robin" (just about everyone else) are basically wholly separate characters in my mind. Sean Maher from the New 52 animated movies (Batman & Son, Teen Titans vs Justice League ect) is perfect IMO, except he skipped Robin and went to Nightwing. The movies he's featured in also have a running gag where the plot of the movie keeps interrupting his love life with Kory (thankfully, it managed to work out when they kept the casting consistent) but I don't find Meyer's performance undermines it. That's why I give it to Jesse. If I'm reading a comic it depends on the era of the comic. Nightwing does not sound like Grayson's Robin in my eyes (and considering Dick Grayson started out "age 12" it kinda works since kid's voices change as they get older.

I would really like to say Loren Lester (Batman: TAS, Batman & Harley Quinn) because I grew up on him and he introduced me to Nightwing...but I hate to say it, but his version really doesn't hold up. Such a shame, since so many of the TAS/DCAU/Timmverse voices do (with some exceptions...sorry, Red Tornado!) He's too high pitched, too nasally, he just doesn't sound like Dick Grayson to me. His reprisal in Batman and Harley Quinn really made that clear. It's like going back and watching the Fox X-Men 90's cartoon, where nearly every character sounds completely off.

Will Friedel in Batman Unlimited is kinda perfect....except it's the exact same voice as Terry McGuiness from Batman Beyond, soooo yeah.... DC even promoted BU by calling this casting a callback.

If it's a parody version of the character, it's Scott Menville from Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go, who's become so exaggerated in Go that when I think of Robin being completely neurotic and irrational, that's always the voice I hear. If it's an earnest take on the Burt Ward version, it's, well, Burt Ward (who voiced him in the recent Adam West animated movies and the later seasons of Superfriends) (with a tip of the hat to Casey Kasem as Shaggy as Robin, from the early seasons of Superfriends. I should probably stress the Shaggy part is a joke, since Shaggy as Robin is the kind of joke the Scooby Doo franchise can and has done on numerous occasions.)

[EDIT] Oh shoot, I just remembered Neil Patrick Harris voiced Nightwing in Under The Red Hood. While he was great there, there's an inherent "jokeyness" in NPH's voice that doesn't quite hit that balance I like in my Nightwing, so I'll still give it to Jesse and Sean Meyer depending on said modifiers.

-Aqualad (Garth): Will Whedon from Teen Titans. This is where we get into what I'm calling "The Troy Baker Paradox". To be put in layman's terms, the voice actor ends up playing everybody, and thus runs the risk of being the definitive voice of nobody. See also Nolan North, Grey Delisle, Cree Summer, Yuri Lowenthal, ect. See, Whedon is also my go-to voice for Tim Drake --- because he voices him in DCU Online, the ONLY adaptation I can think that's based on the COMICS version of the character. Batman TAS was blatantly Jason Todd's origin and legacy status mixed with Dick Grayson Age Twelve. And since Young Justice Dick Grayson is both Nightwing AND kinda-sorta Tim Drake's dorky wunderkind Robin, YJ's Tim Drake is...Damien  :wacko: And Damien and Jason Todd are.....currently a work in progress (or an elaborate slice of stand-alone fanservice. Or both?) To be continued, same Bat Time...

Getting back to Garth the only problem is...well, in YJ Garth was voiced by Yuri Lowenthal and....well, that's the only thing I can remember about the YJ version of the character (that and Yuri's my go-to voice for the Pre-Crisis Superboy due to the Legion of Superheroes cartoon) The other thing is, while Teen Titans was a goofy show, their version of Aqualad was "The Ace" -- the guy who's confident, intelligent and knows exactly what to do in any situation. The girl's want to date him and the male Titans can't stand him (this naturally is the entire gag when he showed up in Go). I like that version of Garth and Whedon did a pretty good, if slightly generic job of voicing him.

Kid Flash (Wally West): Micheal Rosumbaum. This one's a little bit of a cheat, I concede, but there is a method to the madness. You see, back in the mid-2000s, Teen Titans and JLU, for some bizarre reason (DC's perpetual fear that people can't contextualize that there is more than one version of "DC" at any given time?  :o ) dropped a few hints and/or jokes that the two shows took place in the same universe. In the JLU episode "Patriot Act" (aka the best episode of JLU and I will fight you for that) There was a brief gag where the underpowered heroes wanted some "super" backup, and one of the guys that showed up was Speedy, much to Green Arrow's annoyance. And guess what? He looked and acted exactly like the guy from Teen Titans, complete with the same voice actor (they even tried to cover their tracks relating the timeline by referring to him as GA's "ex-partner".) What did Teen Titans do? Put JLU Flash in Teen Titans in two episodes as Kid Flash with the yellow KF costume, tweaked for the art style and literally no other differences. (other than power level inconsistency, but that was JLU's fault. And the fault of speedster characters in general) This, unsurprisingly, was one of the highlights of the entire series (and when I say highlight, I mean his debut episode was literally just him running literal circles around an entire team of super villains, and then he came back for a brief scene in the final arc of the show and did it all over again.) Since Rosenbaum worked just as well in TT as he did in JLU (arguably better, if I'm honest, since JLU struggled with Wally at times) Well, that's why Rosenbaum is ALL OF THE WALLY where I'm concerned. (except the New 52 and Arrowverse version, obviously.)

Tip of the hat to Jason Spisak in Young Justice. I didn't always like the way character was written in that show, but he did a very admirable job voicing him.

Roy Harper: Crispin Freeman, no contest. One of the standouts of Young Justice, and the only one that isn't overly generic (the version from Teen Titans and JLU) or a cheap gag (Go, in which Scott Menville voiced him with the exact same voice as Robin, as a call back to joke at Green Arrows expense back in TT "I didn't know Robin had a clone!") The reason why Crispin works like gangbusters is he embodies everything on-point about Roy. He's a little bit Harry Osborn - you're supposed to root for him, but also think of him as a bit of jerk and a screwup (after all, which says "baggage" more, "My ward is a junkie!" or knocking up a supervillain who backstabs more than Starstream?). Even Arrow, over in the realm of live action, seemed to get Roy in that respect. Crispin portrays that really well. And shows a lot of subtlety and nuance, which is great, since Crispin is usually known for chewing every last of the morsel of the scenery elsewhere.

Wonder Girl: This one's another tricky one. I want to say Grey Delisle, except for two things.... 1) The Troy Baker paradox and 2) The fact that Grey has voiced BOTH WW and Wonder Girl, both with accent and without  (I have a personal theory that this ended up happening because someone at WB decided to finally bite the bullet and have one of these shows, in this case DC Super Hero Girls (2019), have WW sound like Gal Gadot) and the problem is they both sound nearly identical. Since Comics! WG isn't a parody aimed at younger audiences and Susan is WW, I default to Grey Without Accent for Donna (the fact that Grey was beaten out by Vanessa Marshal for Black Canary helps) I'm of the opinion that WG is underrepresented in the world of what Wikipedia calls "Other media" (ostensibly due to rights issues and/or one of DC's pesky embargos getting in the way for a few years) and as such I'm waiting for that perfect Donna to crop up one of these days.

Beast Boy: Greg Cipes, without question. No one else comes close (though since Ryan Potter plays him in live action, and voices Hiro Hamada from Big Hero Six, and BB is Asian in Titans, and he's kinda great in both of those, I'm of the opinion Potter can voice BB and play Hiro in live action anytime WB and Disney are ready to pull the trigger on that.) True story, when the character popped up in YJ, I literally said "This kid's no Greg Cipes". A few years, and a really great stint as Michelangelo (which I also called years in advance) guess who nailed the "Serious" version of him in Young Justice: Outsiders?  :D

Cyborg: OH YOU KNOW IT'S KHARY PAYTON! See above, but replace "YJ Outsiders" with "that time he played Cyborg in Injustice". Literally everyone else has been forgettable and generic...with one glorious exception....Ernie Hudson from Superfriends. And yes, he is my go-to for the Wolfman and Perez version. When Cyborg's "armor" just looks like a sleeveless shirt and he's rocking an afro, it's gotta be Winston Zeddmore! :D

Raven: I'm still waiting for "Comics Raven." Tara Strong does a great job with the gag in the cartoons, but personality wise, her and the comics version of the character have about much in common as most adaptations of Robin have with the comic book character they are based on. Tara could, presumably, one day follow Greg and Payton's lead and just voice the SERIOUS version herself, (I'm not counting whatever the heck that garbled-sounding monster in Injustice was supposed to be), buuuut that would probably sound exactly like Barbara Gordon.

Starfire: Kari Walgren from the animated movies. Hynden Walsh is fun in a cartoony way, but she's less "Starfire" (in terms of the comic) and more a very separate more "cartoony" character. This was of course the result of having to replace the legendarily sexualized comics character with something that would get approved for a kid show (something the Timmverse was actually REALLY efficient at, come to think of it) and they ended up just rolling with it.

Walgren, on the other hand, came from from a one-scene gag in Batman: Bad Blood (again, part of a running gag involving Dick Grayson) but because they cast one of the more versatile voice actresses working today, and didn't recast for the followup (and they absolutely would have stuntcasted a live action actor if they did, because that slate of movies did that constantly, including in said followup), it ended up really working out. It's implied throughout these movies that her and Dick have a pretty kinky lovelife offscreen, so that's on point, but beyond that, in Justice League vs Teen Titans, she's strong without being cold, bubbly without being ditsy ("Technically, it was a coup") and as a mentor to a team of younger Teen Titans in that film, she's motherly and stern in equal measures. She's perfect.  ^_^

In a case of personal casting, after watching Doom Patrol I REALLY want April Bowlby to voice her (since on Two and a Half Men, she played, basically, that version of Starfire from Red Hood that everyone hated, and on Doom Patrol, a really, REALLY good deconstruction of that kind of character.)

Terra: Eh.....I'm going to have to rewatch my copy of "The Judas Contract" to remember how Cristina Ricci did (I seem to recall she was pretty good), but Ashley Johnston is just so good in Teen Titans (and The Last of Us, and TMNT, and probably something else I've forgotten...). One of the things I liked about her that gets a bit overlooked is she was, at the time, one of the younger actors covered in this thread, and that youth really worked for Terra, making her seem more like an actual teenager (and fortunately that youth still comes through today) Tara Strong does a pretty good job in Young Justice Outsiders but 1) She, like Troy Baker as Geoforce, is going the way of poorly dubbed anime from the end of the millennium and banking hard on a accent to hide the fact that's the voice of just soo many characters that sound way too similar and 2) She sounds exactly like Plum from Bravest Warriors and Paz from Metal Gear Solid and that really distracts me. (She's great in both of those though) That being said, going off the comics version (and Teen Titans) Tara should have some grit and toughness to her, and Ashley Johnson does that moderately well (while slightly running the risk of sounding too cutesy.)

And now I'm sad because I was REALLY getting into this and I ran out of characters.  :(
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Tomato

I'll go into my list real quick but before I get too into it... While I agree that Tim Drake in the DCAU is 100% Jason in all but name (origin, attitude, etc) YJ's Robin is not, by any metric, Damian. At all. True, I wouldn't say he's COMPLETELY Tim either, but he has none of Damian's ego, none of his fighting abilities, nothing. If anything I'd have liked him more if he actually WAS more like Damian, because thanks to Dick getting Tim's hacking abilities and intellect, YJ Tim is barely a character in the series. Admittedly it's been awhile since I watched season 2, but IIRC he gets one memorable episode early on leading B squad (which is mostly about him clashing with Dick about him babying him due to what happened to Jason Todd), otherwise if he's not raising the Jason Todd specter or to exist as "the current Robin," most of what happens to him is in relation to his dating WG. He's BARELY a character, and having a Damian sized chip on his shoulder would have given him SOMETHING to replace the traits given to Dick.


  • Dick Grayson: Jesse McCarthy is probably my go to for this one. Other actors have brought a lot to both Robin and Nightwing, but I feel like Jesse is the only one that nails both. He gets the fun, energetic Robin, but can dip into the more mature leader of men that Nightwing often is. Scott Menville does a good Robin (to the point he'd almost be my favorite in that role) but his Nightwing is a little too try hard in both the original show and the current run. On the flipside, Neil Patrick Harris is great fun as Nightwing, but I don't think I'd like to hear him as Robin.
  • Aqualad (Garth): So while I can see this one dipping into "Troy Bakerism" for some people, I'm actually gonna say Yuri Lowenthal (Young Justice). Admittedly I think he's a better Tempest than as Aqualad, but, eh.
  • Kid Flash (Wally West): Ho boy, this one is tough. On the one hand, I'd argue Jason Spisak does the role better and more consistently as Kid Flash specifically. But while I think Michael Rosenbaum's attempt at a "young" Wally is a bit... off, the fact remains that I do associate him with Wally West as a whole even if he's not the best Kid Flash. So yeah, Rosenbaum is who I hear when I read Wally West speak in comics, but I do think Jason's Kid Flash is better, if that makes sense.
  • Speedy (Roy Harper): Crispin Freeman, but I love that dude's voice generally. I was first exposed to him in an anime called Slayers, and he's a VA who can really straddle the line of comedy and angst. His work as the Harper family is great, and he REALLY sells the ANGST of the character.
  • Wonder Girl (Donna Troy: Grey Griffin/DeLisle, but only for lack of options. Her work in the role isn't BAD, but there hasn't really been a definitive Donna in media due to the WW embargo they had for some reason. And, really, the only real competition is Hynden Walch from TTG, who plays her like a sliiiiightly less bubbly Starfire for one episode.
  • Beast Boy: Greg Cipes. It'd probably be a little harder if not for YJ Season 3, but as SS points out, Greg NAILS the older, more serious take on the character.
  • Cyborg: Khary Payton. Lets be real, he absolutely nailed down how this character sounds for most of us, period. The only other real contender is Bumper Robinson (from JL:Doom) but Khary just IS Cyborg to me.
  • Raven: This one's pretty tough for me. Like SS mentioned, Tara Strong's Raven isn't really the same as her comics counterpart, but we also haven't gotten that take like, ever. Taissa Farmiga is closer, but she's much more of a post-Johns Teen Titans version of the character, younger but with that same subdued attitude. That said, I still hear Tara in my head, partly because she has done other roles which are closer to the comic version of Raven.
  • Starfire: Kari Walgren. Hynden is great for the cartoon, and I love animated Star to pieces, but that is NOT comic book Starfire. Kari is just a better comic Starfire.
  • Terra: Ashley Johnson. While there's no question Christina Ricci's version is much closer to the comics, there's a quality of Ashley's performance that just makes her stand out. I think it's Ashley's subtle accent, it just sells the fact that this is someone who's had this much tougher life. And yeah, Tara's Terra serves its purpose in the show, but I hope if they go further with her they age her up a bit and give her a new VA.

Silver Shocker

#16
So this is going back in time a bit (again) and yet....

QuoteAnd now I'm sad because I was REALLY getting into this and I ran out of characters.

This comment aged exceptionally well.

QuoteI'll go into my list real quick but before I get too into it... While I agree that Tim Drake in the DCAU is 100% Jason in all but name (origin, attitude, etc) YJ's Robin is not, by any metric, Damian. At all. True, I wouldn't say he's COMPLETELY Tim either, but he has none of Damian's ego, none of his fighting abilities, nothing. If anything I'd have liked him more if he actually WAS more like Damian, because thanks to Dick getting Tim's hacking abilities and intellect, YJ Tim is barely a character in the series. Admittedly it's been awhile since I watched season 2, but IIRC he gets one memorable episode early on leading B squad (which is mostly about him clashing with Dick about him babying him due to what happened to Jason Todd), otherwise if he's not raising the Jason Todd specter or to exist as "the current Robin," most of what happens to him is in relation to his dating WG. He's BARELY a character, and having a Damian sized chip on his shoulder would have given him SOMETHING to replace the traits given to Dick.

As with my other comments earlier in the thread about Wally West and Barry Allen ect. I meant that in a much more broad way. When I emphasize that Grayson's Robin is often a mismash, the main element I'm often talking about is the costume and the staff. Again, being a nerdy computer expert and such is blatantly Tim, but still. When I said Damien, it was more 1. Simply process of elimination and 2. In the broad sense of "He's a soldier in Batman's war, carrying out a mission." Tim is, and has always been, a much more normal, grounded and down-to-earth, "humanized" character than Damien. And I realize the irony of that statement, since, as we both said earlier in the thread, Tim is a computer expert wonderkind and also the "Damien saga" (in both the animated movies and the comic books) was all about humanizing Damien (it was damn near the only thing Apocalypse War did right.)

And also I was probably also thinking about the Arkham version of Tim (that's a whole other can of worms)

One more note on Robins in general ("You know Robins, I'm pretty cool too"). The adaptation's care so little when it comes to Robin(s) that in the straight to video Lego movies, along with the TTG actors for Cyborg and Beast Boy and Starfire (they of course also did this in the first DC Super Hero girls - that's how iconic they are - again, I'll get to that in a bit too) They had Scott Menville (TTG Robin) AS DAMIEN. Yeah, they don't give a pig's knuckle.

So anyway...

QuoteCrispin Freeman, but I love that dude's voice generally. I was first exposed to him in an anime called Slayers, and he's a VA who can really straddle the line of comedy and angst. His work as the Harper family is great, and he REALLY sells the ANGST of the character.

Ah, Slayers. I understood that reference. I actually didn't even mention that Roy's voice actor plays multiple versions of the same character, which if you can do that well (as seen in Teen Titans go) that's a plus. Case in point, the episode where all three of them team up was....I think, one of only two episodes of Outsiders I specifically loved (the other of course was the Beast Boy episode, which was, of course, the best episode).

By a similar token, the ONLY reason Hynden was voicing Perdita was because 1. Ariel Winter has aged out of the role 2. Bailey Gambertoglio is ALSO too old to sub for her anymore (she subbed for her in Final Fantasy, and in TF Robots in Disguise 2015 her and Damien's VO blatantly got older, which, I suspect is the reason that Damien barely talked until Apocalypse War) 3. WB blatantly slashed the vo budget (I'm going to get to that again in a bit) and 4. The entire cast of Teen Titans Go were on hand for the parody skit in that episode.

QuoteWonder Girl (Donna Troy: Grey Griffin/DeLisle, but only for lack of options. Her work in the role isn't BAD, but there hasn't really been a definitive Donna in media due to the WW embargo they had for some reason. And, really, the only real competition is Hynden Walch from TTG, who plays her like a sliiiiightly less bubbly Starfire for one episode.

I don't remember if I'd seen those episodes of Go at the time that I read this post by you, but have now, and that batch of episodes was by far some of the best episodes in all of Go (I'll get to that when I talk about Bumblebee) and that particular episode was a treat. That being said, while I appreciate Hynden modifying the voice a bit (and really, the cast of Go does that on a regular basis, since they voice an enormous amount of characters, and they even cross over with themselves) it was really all just a gag so I don't really think it's worth counting. She, like YJ Tim, barely counted as a character, just there for a gag at Robin's expense, and the reason why it was Hynden and not Tara Strong or Lauren Tom is because it's Robin and Hynden voices Starfire so there you go. That same arc features Power Girl as a teenager for some reason, so it's really not meant to be taken too seriously (like everything in Go, of course)

QuoteThe only other real contender is Bumper Robinson (from JL:Doom)
I don't even remember his Cyborg. I suppose I could check his clip on Behind the Voice Actors if I care enough.
That's as good a time any to mention: in his initial appearances, I HATED the YJ:O version of Cyborg. Admittedly, like the Outsiders themselves, they did get better as the show went, but I did not care for their take on the character. Zeno Robinson's a damn fine voice actor in general though.

QuoteBeast Boy: Greg Cipes. It'd probably be a little harder if not for YJ Season 3, but as SS points out, Greg NAILS the older, more serious take on the character.

That's what's up! On that, at least, we can agree. In fairness, I also really liked Stargirl in that show, but I just like her in general so there.

QuoteTerra: Ashley Johnson. While there's no question Christina Ricci's version is much closer to the comics, there's a quality of Ashley's performance that just makes her stand out. I think it's Ashley's subtle accent, it just sells the fact that this is someone who's had this much tougher life. And yeah, Tara's Terra serves its purpose in the show, but I hope if they go further with her they age her up a bit and give her a new VA.

Three things.

1. I didn't think to mention this at the time, but Terra also appears in Go, and like everything in Go, they trolled the fans of the original show and turned the character into a morally depraved parody of the original character. And Ashley Johnston was of course a good enough Vo to sell it. And while I'm on the subject, I think the actress for Rose Wilson is fine, but only for that iteration and she also sounds too old. Funny thing, when Teen Titans Go to the Movies was coming out, I just assumed Kristen Bell's Jade Wilson was going to be revealed to be Rose. The direction they did end up going, mind, was entirely appropriate for the movie and was a highlight of the film. ("MIND MANIPULATON!!!!" "Oh it gets crazy sweaty! And I got this rash...")
On that note, on the topic of Slade, Ron Pearlman if he's serious, Will Arnett if he's a joke, pretty cut and dry. I do approve of the recasting he got in YJO though. Speaking of recastings...

2. I didn't think to mention this, but a comic accurate Terra appears in DCU Online. Thing is, the actress who plays her is decent enough at the sarcastic mean girl material, but the more dramatic material at the end of the game's Judas Contract campaign was a complete fumble. So much so that one of the players who played that campaign made a sarcastic crack about it. So that's why that's barely worthy of a mention.

3.
QuoteAnd yeah, Tara's Terra serves its purpose in the show, but I hope if they go further with her they age her up a bit and give her a new VA.

I wouldn't bet money on that. They didn't even recast Steph, And Cassandra Caine didn't even talk. Besides, Tara Strong voiced Doc Ock 2099 in Shattered Dimensions (and quite well at that) so she can make the character sound older if that's something they want to do. After all, characters do age in YJ. And Nolan voiced Superboy and Superman and made them sound different. Speaking of which, I'd like to see how they cast Cassandra Caine if she shows up again in a speaking role in Young Justice S4 or a different project.

Alright, so anyway on to Bumblebee:

[EDIT: this section rambled a bit much and didn't fit the original intent, so I've modified it]

Bumblebee aka Karen Beecher: Surprisingly, the last two years or so have been spotlighting Bumblebee a lot, appearing a lot in cartoons and the comics. Kimberly Brooks from the reboot of DC Superhero Girls has the most energy and range IMO, but Masaya Moyo (Young Justice, Judas Contract) is the closest to the comics and general version of the character.

Miss Martian: My favorite is Daniella Bobadilla from Justice League versus the Fatal Five.

She doesn't have a lot of material, but I found her to have stolen that movie with a handful of snarky lines and some really touching earnest material ("Looks like I made it") in short moments. I'd really like to hear more of her, either in a future Justice League project or otherwise.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa