The DC Comics Villain You Didn't Realize Tim Curry Played

Tim Curry has tragically died at the age of 80. He leaves behind an impressive body of work, notably playing eccentric characters in "Clue" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." However, later in his career, Curry pivoted to more animation voiceover work, including the villainous Hexxus in "FernGully: The Last Rainforest." He clearly had a knack for bad guys, as evidenced by his turn as G. Gordon Godfrey on "Young Justice."

Curry used his suave, articulate vocals to bring Godfrey to life. He's a news anchor with a substantial distrust of aliens and always blames the Justice League whenever something catastrophic happens on Earth. However, we learn later on that he's actually working for Darkseid (Michael-Leon Wooley). That shouldn't surprise comics fans, as Godfrey is based on one of Jack Kirby's creations, Glorious Godfrey. Even in the comics, he's a propagandist who attempts to turn public sentiment against superheroes. 

Curry voiced the character in Season 2 of "Young Justice," but he was replaced with James Arnold Taylor in the 3rd season. This was due to Curry experiencing a stroke during that time that severely limited his work. Both gave an appropriate amount of menace to Godfrey. Many supervillains are larger than life, but Godfrey using the news to sow discord hits far closer to home than it should. 

G. Gordon Godfrey might be one of Tim Curry's lesser-known roles, but it's a testament to how great of a performer he was. Godfrey wasn't prominent in "Young Justice," but you could feel him barely holding back anger whenever he was onscreen. And Curry's charisma made Godfrey oddly persuasive to where you could see how ordinary people could get drawn into his viewpoints. 

But Curry almost played the biggest DC villain of them all. He was the original voice of the Joker on "Batman: The Animated Series," before Mark Hamill took on the role. In fact, the documentary "Stay Tooned! Presents — Batman: The Animated Series" features Joker clips with Curry's voice. But he may have been a little too good as Joker.

Producer Eric Radmoski said in the documentary, "Tim came with a natural theatrical sort of presence with his delivery, which was something we definitely wanted. We didn't want the Joker to be a bumbling, goofy, idiot." It sounds like he may have been a little too scary for a children's cartoon, as Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy explained, "Tim Curry was crazy scary. And Mark [Hamill] was crazy funny and scary." Maybe it's for the best Curry missed out on Joker. Between him and Pennywise, it would be weird if he had played two psychotic evil clowns.