Many people know and cherish Mark Hamill for his performances as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, but the actor has also had a prolific career voice acting in animated shows and in video games. Following his time in Star Wars, Hamill most famously lent his voice to the role of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, a role he would go on to define over the course of various DC Animated Universe shows and reprise in Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games. Hamill has become synonymous with the Joker much the same way he has with Star Wars, but his gaming repertoire extends beyond just the DC universe, with the actor lending his vocal talents to the Kingdom Hearts and Darksiders franchises, to name but two.
Hamill was one of the first Hollywood performers to get involved in video games at the beginning of the '90s, making his debut in the medium alongside Tim Curry in 1993's Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, and following that up by starring in the Wing Commander series as Colonel Christopher Blair. More and more actors would join Hamill in the medium as it evolved in the following decades, but it's fair to say he was an early adopter. Hamill has been able to deliver some iconic performances within it too, ranging from comic book icons to totally unique villains and heroes.
Hamill has proven himself talented at playing either role across a variety of mediums, and this has been reflected in video games. His return as DC villain Joker in the Batman: Arkham series led to some of his best moments as the character, while his surprise rendition of Wolverine in X2: Wolverine's Revenge showed that he's just as capable of playing Marvel antiheroes as he is antagonists. Whatever game he's appeared in, Hamill is almost always recognizable, and a key highlight of the cast.
Mark Hamill Voiced Logan In X2: Wolverine's Revenge
Even though Hugh Jackman was featured on the cover art for X2: Wolverine's Revenge, Mark Hamill provided the voice for the character throughout the entire game, which was inspired by the comics more than it was Fox's movie. Players navigated unforgiving levels devoid of reasonably placed checkpoints to hear Hamill's gruff version of Wolverine. His rendition of the popular Marvel X-Men character felt more suitable for the comic-book-inspired plot of the game than Jackman's voice would have. Patrick Stewart also reprised his role as Professor X, which we would go on to do in Raven Software's X-Men Legends series. Still, it was Hamill's Wolverine that players heard the most of as they beat up countless henchmen and popular villains from Marvel's X-Men comics.
Mark Hamill's Video Game Roles - The Watcher In Darksiders
The first Darksiders game doesn't use Mark Hamill's voice as any of its horsemen of the apocalypse, but instead as a sinister version of Navi from the Zelda series. The Watcher guides players as they traverse Darksiders' version of Earth decimated by an apocalypse - a bleak setting made a lot more tolerable thanks to the voice of Hamill's Watcher constantly teasing and berating War's stereotypical tough-guy persona. The Watcher may not have always had something nice to say, but many felt it was a massive improvement from a tiny fairy endlessly asking players to listen to incredibly obvious hints from Ocarina of Time's hated fairy Navi.
Mark Hamill Showed His Evil Side In Dark Cloud 2
Over the years, Mark Hamill has perfected many iconic renditions of a gravelly villainous voice. He has voiced many power-hungry overlords that didn't get the time the performances deserved in games like Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno's Fire Lord Ozai and The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon's Dark Master Malefor. However, in his role as the JRPG Dark Cloud 2's Emperor Griffon, Hamill was able to express the range of his more sinister-sounding voice.
Unlike his parts in the Spyro and Avatar games, Dark Cloud 2's villain received more dialogue to express Griffon's hate and frustration towards the human race he set out to extinguish. The character's anger towards a species that took everything he once knew away from him is perfectly channeled by Hamill's frustrated and defiant performance until the final boss encounter. His role in Dark Cloud 2 was one of many times that players would battle with the voice of Hamill in one of the game's climactic final battles.
Mark Hamill's Role As Kingdom Hearts' Master Eraqus Was Emotional
The Kingdom Hearts series has yet to feature Star Wars, but one of its most wise and Yoda-like characters, Master Eraqus, was voiced by Mark Hamill. The character of Master Eraqus made his debut in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep as the mentor to the game's three playable keyblade wielders, with the game acting as a prequel to the first game in the series. Hamill's performance reflects an old master who has made many mistakes throughout his life, similar, in a way, to the Luke Skywalker seen in The Last Jedi.
Eraqus struggled to balance his relationship with his students and his duty as a Keyblade Master. After one dramatic twist after another, Master Eraqus is tricked into thinking he must vanquish one of his favorite students in a confrontation and performance from Hamill that was emotive. It all ended up being a clever ploy from Kingdom Hearts' main antagonist, Master Xehanort, who the late, great Leonard Nimoy voiced. The series stars a massive number of famous talents, and Mark Hamill has voiced Master Eraqus whenever the complicated plot needs him back.
Full Throttle Is A LucasArts Classic Starring Mark Hamill
After only voicing a few different video game characters, Hamill took on the role of the main villain Adrian Ripburger in the legendary game maker Tim Schafer's directorial debut, Full Throttle. Both men would go on to create many massive and respected projects, but their collaboration on 1995's graphic adventure proved that they both had the chops to tell an incredibly compelling story filled with betrayal and deceit with the perfect amount of humor. Full Throttle ended up becoming one of the best LucasArts adventure games, and one that is still worth seeking out today.
Hamill voices the game's villain, Adrian Ripburger, who betrays his business mogul boss for profits. The performance successfully translates Schafer's Full Throttle script with the confidence and cunning needed to craft the game's big bad. Like any great video game villain, players grew anxious to point and click their way to the character's defeat.
Batman: Arkham Took Mark Hamill's Joker To The Next Level
Arguably Mark Hamill's most iconic role outside of Star Wars is as the Joker, a part he first performed in the seminal Batman: The Animated Series co-developed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski. Hamill would go on to reprise the role in numerous video games based on the DC Animated Universe, but his standout performance as the Clown Prince wouldn't come until 2009, when Rocksteady Studios released Batman: Arkham Asylum. Through outstanding writing and incredibly memorable performances, Hamill's role as Joker in the Arkham Asylum games won him multiple awards, including two BAFTAs. Appearances in two sequels - Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight - would follow, with the final entry ending the Dark Knight's rivalry with Joker once and for all.
So Many Characters, But Only One Mark Hamill
These half a dozen roles are only a tiny glimpse of Mark Hamill's impressive career. The actor has voiced many other video game characters and provided even more voices in the world of entertainment like Masters of the Universe: Revelation's Skeletor and Chucky in the latest Child's Play movie. Hamill has recently starred (and steals the scenes) in live-action series like What We Do in the Shadows and The Book of Boba Fett. Hamill hasn't voiced a video game character since 2019's Kingdom Hearts III. However, he is set to star in the single-player Star Citizen spin-off titled Squadron 42, which has been in development for more than 10 years. Here's hoping that more memorable video game performances are in store in the future.